Kidnapper chokes fiscal after verdict

MANILA, Philippines - A man convicted of the kidnap-slay of a former judge’s son choked a state prosecutor in a Quezon City courtroom after his sentence was read to him yesterday morning.

Onofre Surat Jr. – charged for masterminding the kidnapping and killing of Mark Bacalla – in 2001, attacked Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon following the promulgation of judgment before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 226 in the Hall of Justice.

Clerk of court Anna Castillo del Mundo said Surat used his handcuffs to choke Fadullon in the courtroom at around 10 a.m. She said the attack happened when Surat was supposed to sign the minutes of the court proceedings.

Jail guards managed to move Surat away from Fadullon. Members of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety also responded to the incident.

Fadullon suffered a gash on his neck and was brought to a hospital for medical examination.

Minutes before the incident, Judge Manuel Sta. Cruz Jr. sentenced Surat to reclusion perpetua – a prison term of 40 years – without eligibility for parole in connection with the kidnap for ransom with homicide case.

Earlier reports said Bacalla, a son of the late Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge Marciano Bacalla, was kidnapped on May 2, 2001. His body was found a few days later in a shallow grave in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija.

A month after the incident, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police arrested Surat, a naturalized American citizen.

A few weeks later, however, Surat escaped from the East Avenue Medical Center when two jail officers and two US embassy personnel took him for a medical check-up.

He had been in the most wanted persons list until his re-arrest in Rizal in December 2008.

A copy of the judgment has yet to be released by the court that handled the case.

Fadullon once headed the prosecution panel in the Maguindanao massacre multiple murder trial.

DOJ wants better courtroom security

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sought more stringent measures in courtrooms following the assault on Fadullon yesterday.

“We urge the courts to tighten security measures in the courtroom during (court) sessions to ensure the safety of the public including prosecutors and judges,” Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, head of the DOJ’s prosecutorial arm, told reporters.

Arellano said it was a glaring proof of the lenient security in courtrooms.

Court Administrator Midas Marquez of the Supreme Court said he has directed the executive of Quezon City RTC to submit a report on the incident.

“There are security protocols in place. I am almost certain that untoward incidents like these could have been avoided if the security protocols were strictly followed,” he said.

In 2008, former Sapang Dalaga, Misamis Occidental Mayor Reynaldo Yap was shot dead in the courtroom of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19 judge Zenaida Daguna.

Last year, a physician and a lawyer were killed while a female prosecutor was wounded when Canadian John Pope went on a shooting rampage in the Palace of Justice in Cebu City. He killed himself following the rampage. – With Edu Punay