MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday expressed its condemnation over the killing of Malolos City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 84 Judge Wilfredo Nieves and vowed to provide justice for him and his family.
The chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court on behalf of the Philippine judiciary expressed their outrage and sadness over the killing of Nieves, shot dead by still unidentified gunmen on Wednesday. They added will probe the killing.
“The Court condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Judge Nieves and calls on the authorities concerned to take all necessary steps with all deliberate speed to do justice for Judge Nieves by fully investigating the killing,” the SC statement read.
The SC’s Office of the Court Administrator, supervising all courts nationwide, also coordinated with the concerned authorities to gather information on the killing of Nieves.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez on Thursday said he already requested Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva to visit Bulacan as soon as possible and get more details on the incident.
On Wednesday, the initial report from the police said Nieves just left his courtroom at the Capitol Compound and was onboard his vehicle on his way home when still unidentified gunmen onboard a silver Toyota Innova and a motorcycle disembarked from their vehicles and started firing on Nieves’s vehicle along MacArthur Highway, Barangay Ticay, Malolos City.
Nievez suffered from multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body causing his death.
The slain judge ruled against the suspected leader of a carjacking syndicate Raymund Dominguez, convicted in April 2012 and was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment.
Last September, Baler, Aurora RTC Judge Erwin Alaba was also shot to death by unidentified armed men while heading to his courtroom.
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