Baguio lady government lawyer gunned down

BAGUIO CITY — A government lady lawyer was killed just before entering the garage of her house by still unknown gunmen Monday night.

Atty. Eugenia Vinluan Campol, 36, a Public Attorney’s Office lawyer in Baguio City, was found dead by authorities inside her car at around 8:45 p.m. Monday at Woodsgate Subdivision in Camp 7, here.

She sustained four gunshot wounds, all frontal wounds on her head, face, neck and chest from a caliber .45 firearm.

Alarmed residents of the plush subdivision called police when they heard gunshots coming from the direction of her house in the said subdivision.

Police however are still in a quandary looking for eyewitnesses top the slaying.

Baguio City police director Sr. Supt. Isagani Nerez said the police are eyeing a "work-related" angle in the killing of Campol.

The victim is a university professor of law at the University of Baguio College of Law.

She was recently assigned at the Baguio City PAO office after her stint as government lawyer in Boliney town, Abra province, her husband’s hometown.

Nerez further claimed that Campol earlier as a government lawyer filed a graft complaint against an Abra politician.

Alarmed with the gruesome killing, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Baguio Benguet chapter headed by Atty. Abelardo Estrada condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the senseless killing.

He said they are now coordinating with the local police to unravel those behind the slaying.

Estrada said the slain lady lawyer was an amiable, loving and caring woman.

"She is a lawyer with an unbridled dedication to her profession."

He added that all lawyers in Baguio and Benguet province "are grieving with her passing because she is not only a loss to her family but to the IBP as well".

Campol is the second lady lawyer killed here. Two years ago, Atty. Victoria Sturch was gunned down at close range by a lone gunman before dusk along Harrizon Road, here.