Judel’s murder is State-sponsored

The Beekeeper

By Pet Melliza

The cold-blooded murder of Atty. Edeljulio Romero is the latest -- but not the last -- blood of lawyers tainting the hands of Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte who must be held responsible for the bloodbath jolting this wretched land since the day he became tenant of Malacanang, July 1, 2016.

“Judel” as we fondly call the victim, was shot at the back of his head inside an eatery in Culasi Port, Roxas City, while his common-law wife Iris was buying tickets for a boat ride back to Manila, noontime of September 28. He was in Roxas City to represent his client in a court hearing.

Three assailants disembarked from a grey SUV, although only one drew a handgun to execute the plan. The PNP is still investigating and admits it is facing a blank wall although it is consistent with its knack to insinuate blame on the victim that thus de facto justifies the attack. This in effect, lays ground for future excuse for its failure to solve the crime -- the murdered lawyer was a “drugs personality”, in the case of Judel,  the “third” “most valuable target” at the files of the Molo PNP Station, Iloilo City.

The murder of Judel came a day after, Duterte in a televised interview,  owned up to the EJKs (extra judicial killings) done by State agents in his war on drugs, a bogus one at that if we recalled that Duterte had promised to solve the menace in three - six months. The war on drugs, an utter failure, continues to drag through this date claiming 27,000 dead, 54 of whom are children, and still counting. Most victims came from blighted communities while known drug lords like Peter Lim remain at large and enjoying the friendship of Duterte. The bogusness of the campaign is synonymous with the “war on the poor.”

The EJKs follow a predictable pattern -- they start with public villification of suspected users and pushers followed by fatal attacks. No investigation is done, or if there were one, it only ends in the statistical recording of the event documenting the name and other personal circumstances of the victims and incident. No perpetrator is brought to justice and no case is filed. The murdered victim is further shamed by the planted drugs and paraphernalia and guns at the crime scene to show “nanlaban” that caused the staged shootout.

These EJKs remind us of the dying Roman Empire characterized by the restiveness of the people in Rome and occupied lands caused by economic hardships and oppression. The Roman rulers stymied the popular unrest by holding gladiator matches, the slaves and captives armed and called gladiators, to fight beasts and fellow slaves.

The blood spilled and lives snuffed out in the arena ignited cheers from the crowd who called for more blood, like afficionados do now in cockpits, like the “tards’ do now every time news of these drug-related EJKs hit the headlines.

Judel is just one of the lawyers joining the cold statistics of EJK victims in the war on drugs that Duterte must answer to.

Since January there were eight lawyers attacked in the Philippines, Atty. Edeljulio Romero being the latest. Two victims survived -- Argel Joseph Cabatbat and Quinones Donasco.

Cabatbat’s companion in their vehicle managed to fire back on their attackers February 13 in Quezon City, killing one of them who turned out to be PNP officer Mark Ayeras.

The other survivor, Quinones Donasco, 44, sustained only minor injuries at around 7:30 am, September 26; his attackers missed him. The incident was just meters from the Davao City Hall of Justice.

The attack on Donasco came two days after a lawyer in Tagum. Davao del Norte, Connie Villamor died in an ambush.

A month before, Rafael Atotubo, 62, was murdered in front of his house in Bacolod City, August 23. He handled drug cases.

February 19, near the Cebu City Palace of Justice, Atty. John Ungab fell from assassins bullets.

Cebu City will still be visited by yet another tragedy in the legal profession with the murder of Salvador Salima, a former public prosecutor. He was attacked right inside his residence in Guadalupe, Cebu City July 1. His wife Verose was injured.  

Columnist Atty. Mel Libre writes in SunStar, February 24:

If lawyers, as officers of the court, are killed with impunity, the justice system itself is under threat. One of the principles of the criminal justice system is the presumption of innocence, which connotes that the accused must be heard before being condemned. Corollary to this is the right of the accused to be assisted by counsel. If an accused can’t afford one, the government assigns a public attorney.