EDITORIAL — Undermining justice

Probers suspect that the killing of Joseph Wee Sit last Thursday morning was related to his work as presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Isabela City, the capital of Basilan.

The judge was driving from his home in Zamboanga City to catch the ferry to Isabela City at 5:25 a.m. when a motorcycle pulled up and one or both of the riders opened fire. Responders rushed Wee Sit to a hospital where he died an hour later.

Wee Sit, who would have turned 39 this Nov. 21, was appointed to the judiciary only on Sept. 23 last year. The most notable case he handled involved the mayor of Basilan’s Hadji Muhtamad town, Arsina Kahing-Nanoh.

The mayor and several others face charges before Wee Sit’s court for three counts of murder and two counts of frustrated murder. The victims were supporters of Kahing-Nanoh’s political rival Hadji Jamar Abdullah Mansul. Just hours before the May 12, 2025 elections, the victims were attacked by gunmen in a speedboat owned by the mayor in waters off Basilan.

In August this year, Wee Sit ordered the arrest of the mayor, her husband Nadz and relatives Walihul Allama, Tudy Bayro Rahim Kahim, Lucman Kahing and Singh Hassan. No bail was recommended.

Last Sept. 10, Wee Sit rejected the defendants’ urgent motions to recall the arrest warrants and for a reinvestigation.

Probers have not tagged any suspect, but they said they have persons of interest. Suspicions, however, are focused on the mayor, who is at large. If Kahing-Nanoh is innocent, the best way to prove it is to surface and face the charges, together with her co-accused.

Wee Sit is just the latest addition to a long list of legal professionals who have been murdered in connection with their work. Several of those cases were also linked to politics.

As in other crimes, failure to catch and punish perpetrators breeds impunity. Authorities must do more to show that in this country, murder cannot be a tool for eliminating political rivals or undermining justice.