MANILA,Philippines — A special task force to investigate the murder of an Ilocos Sur judge on Tuesday was created by the Ilocos regional police office yesterday.
Brig. Gen. Joel Orduna, Ilocos police director, said probers are looking into all possible leads, including the drug cases that Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 25 Judge Mario Anacleto Bañez had handled.
“May mga hinawakan syang mga kaso tungkol sa drugs since 2014,” Orduña said in a phone interview.
Banez, 54, was driving home in his Hyundai Accent when he was shot in Barangay Mameltac, San Fernando City, La Union at around 6 p.m.
Bystanders brought Bañez to the Bethany Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
The task force is validating pieces of evidence, including footage of closed-circuit television cameras, at the scene.
Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta condemned the incident even as he called on law enforcement agencies to exert their “best effort” for the immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
Peralta described the incident as an ”atrocious and dastardly act.”
Security team
To protect members of the judiciary, House Deputy Speaker Johnny Pimentel renewed his call for the creation of up to 3,000 positions for armed judicial protection officer.
“We cannot allow these brazen attacks on judges to go on without a forceful answer,” Pimentel said.
“Our judges deserve protection considering that they have become increasingly vulnerable to aggression and violence, presumably from disgruntled and hateful litigants,” he said.
Pimentel had earlier supported Peralta’s proposal to create a security team for judges and justices patterned after the United States Marshal Service.
5th killed
Bañez is the second judge killed this year and fifth under the Duterte administration.
Last May, Zamboanga del Norte RTC Branch 28 Judge Reymar Lacaya was shot dead in the parking lot of the justice hall.
Ricky Begino, San Jose-Lagonoy Metropolitan Circuit Trial Court presiding judge, was killed by a lone assailant in Barangay Sta. Maria, Presentacion, Camarines Sur in June 2018.
Ozamiz City RTC Judge Edmundo Pintac, who handled the drug cases filed against Ozamiz Vice Mayor Nova Princess and her brother Reynaldo Parojinog Jr., was gunned down in October, also last year.
Butuan City RTC Branch 4 Judge Godofredo Abul Jr. was killed while his wife Bernadita was wounded in a gun attack in Barangay Tiniwisan in August 2017.
Records at the Supreme Court showed that Bañez is the 31st judge killed since January 1999. – With Robertzon Ramirez, Delon Porcalla