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By Jomar Canlas, Reporter
A former mayor of a Misamis Occidental town was
gunned down inside the Manila Regional Trial Court on Tuesday,
prompting the Supreme Court to demand for beefed up security.
There is now an urgent need for law enforcers to
secure courtrooms, which are normally stationed inside city or
municipal halls, Chief Justice Reynato Puno said in a statement.
“What happened in Manila, as well as in Taguig
City and Quezon City last year, stresses the urgent need for law
enforcers to secure our courtrooms and our personnel,” Puno added.
In a Taguig City trial court, an accused in a
civil case held hostage his accuser and was eventually gunned down
by police. In Quezon City, in another trial court, an accused man
held hostage the court stenographer with a screwdriver. He
eventually surrendered to police.
Also last year in Las Piñas City, in still
another trial court, the husband of a woman who was seeking
annulment of their marriage also held hostage his wife’s lawyer, a
woman. During the commotion, the husband, who had been holding a
gun, opened fire, killing the lawyer.
The Chief Justice urged “law enforcement
officials to increase their vigilance in the face of these events,
and to exert all efforts necessary to apprehend those responsible
for these horrible acts.”
Lawyer Jose Midas Marquez, the chief of the
Supreme Court’s Public Information Office, said lack of funds
prevents the judiciary from hiring personnel to secure courtrooms.
The High Court also recommended awareness
training for their personnel. Marquez added that the awareness
training will help court personnel to immediately detect possible
threats inside the courts.
Murder in Manila
Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila said the assassin of
former Mayor Yap of Sapang-Dalaga, Misamis Occidental, appears to
have escaped during the confusion after the murder. Yap was in court
Tuesday as the accused in a murder trial.
Lim added that the gunman, who was wearing a
police uniform, took the stairs to go out of the building. In the
five-story Manila city hall, most of the branches of the regional
trial courts are located on the fourth floor.
Initial reports said the lone suspect seized a
gun from a guard and shot Yap and his bodyguard, Peter Villanueva.
Another victim, Bella Santos, was also shot on the foot.
Witnesses described the suspect as 5’8"
to 5’9" in height, 30 to 35 years old, clean-cut and wearing
police uniform.
After the shooting, the assailant reportedly ran
to an elevator, which got stuck on the second floor of the building
after power was cut. Police Special Weapons and Tactics agents later
forced open the elevator, which they found empty.
Violent past
Yap was found guilty of shooting and killing
former Mayor Victorio Cebedo of Rizal, Zamboanga del Norte, also in
southern Philippines, before the 1992 local elections. He was
sentenced to life imprisonment. Yap was reportedly a known political
rival of the Cebedo family.
In 2007, the Court of Appeals reversed the
ruling and ordered Yap’s release, citing conflicting accounts of
the shooting.
In the Eastern Police District, its Chief Supt.
Nilo de la Cruz said parties in all high-profile cases there always
get proper security before they face the courts.
He added that they have always tried to ensure
that people entering the courts during high-profile hearings are
being inspected thoroughly.
Security in the various Hall of Justices in the
police district is being provided by the Supreme Court.
-- With Rommel Lontayao and Francis Earl A. Cueto
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