Archival killing another failure of justice

The killing in Dalaguete town of Atty. Noel Archival and his staff, Candido Minoza and Alejandro Jaime, in an ambush once more urges us to ask the question: how can we protect ourselves from killers on the loose? I have no doubt that the killing is related to his profession. Lawyers after all are no different from journalists. Lawyers only represent the interests of their clients. But like us, more often than not, it is the messenger that gets killed.

I'm sure Philippine National Police (PNP) investigators have their own of finding out who ordered the hit on Atty. Archival. What is imperative for us is that the killers are brought to justice. Ah, but as we've been saying for so long now, justice in this country is as elusive as ever. When the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship ruled this nation, the slogan that we used after the dastardly assassination of Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was "Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All!" (JAJA). But nearly 28 years since the EDSA Revolution, justice is as elusive as ever.

The problem with Atty. Noel Archival is that since he is a sort of a celebrity lawyer (being the younger brother of BO-PK Councilor Nestor Archival) he has a huge number of high profile cases like in the parricide case of Ruben Ecleo, after his lawyer Atty. Salatandre left Ecleo. Then there's a host of robbery and drug related cases that he took. For sure, the killers knew that he came from Dumaguete for that rob case he was handling and they could have tailed his car or set up that ambush where they peppered his vehicle with so many gunshots. At this point, we'd like to know how fast the PNP can find his killers.

Meanwhile, this incident reminds us all of another dastardly incident that happened last Jan. 22, 2013, a year and a month ago when Canadian John Pope went inside the Palace of Justice and shot dead Dr. Rene Rafols and his lawyer Atty. Juvian Achas. He also shot Assistant City Prosecutor Maria Theresa Casino, who survived that shooting, and then shot himself dead. With the assailant dead, the case was closed. But then it shouldn't have happened. It only proved how lax security was inside our courtrooms.

But with the Palace of Justice still waiting to be fixed from the effects of the Oct.15th earthquake, our courtrooms in tents are most vulnerable to revenge killings because these tents are located alongside the road behind the Provincial Capitol. Then there is the matter of security for our lawyers. With the new gun laws in place, it is now harder to secure a permit to carry firearms outside your residence and very clearly those strict gun laws are a boon to criminals who couldn't care any less what laws the PNP implements.

Of course the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu Chapter was quick to condemn the assassination of one of their own. Let's just hope that the survivor of this ambush, Paolo Cortez, would live to identify the vehicles that boxed their vehicle and fired on them.

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It's been more than a 100 days since Super typhoon "Yolanda" struck the Visayas region, destroying many places like Guian, Samar, Tacloban City, Palo, Tanauan and Ormoc City in Leyte, and the towns of Northern Cebu and Panay. But yesterday, Pres. Aquino made another appeal to foreign governments for assistance, especially from the private sector. In truth, the Aquino Regime has been a total failure in addressing the needs of the victims of typhoon "Yolanda."

But the final insult was slapped on the faces of the Filipino people when Social Weather Station (SWS) claimed that the popularity of Pres. PNoy wasn't dampened by the typhoon. It was in my book the biggest lie perpetrated against the Filipino people in order to prop up the sagging image of PNoy for doing nothing to help the victims of the typhoon. Here in Cebu, the last time Pres. Aquino came was three days after the Oct.15th earthquake. But he never visited the towns in northern Cebu.

Last Monday, a group of typhoon victims belonging to "Tindog People's Network" marched to Mendiola to make a direct appeal to the President to fast track the help for Leyte. In their official statement Tindog People's Network said, "After 100 days, we continue to find and count our dead, the wounded and the thousands displace by the disaster. It is depressing to learn that after 100 days, the government is still unable to reach out to all typhoon-affected communities. Aid is arriving in trickles and basic services are still non-existent in many villages." Now the truth is out. Pres. Aquino failed to help the typhoon victims.

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