Press Release
November 25, 2015

Koko condemns killing of another judge

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III today condemned the killing of Judge Reynaldo Espinar of the Municipal Trial Court of Laoang, Northern Samar, saying such brazen attack against the judiciary has a chilling effect on the country's justice system.

Pimentel, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said the police, must exert extra effort to get the killers quickly because the latest killing came less than two weeks after another judge was shot dead in Malolos, Bulacan.

He said it is important that the brains of the attacks against provincial judges are unmasked and arrested to face trial in order to regain the waning public trust and confidence in police authorities whose record in solving high-profile cases is pathetic.

Pimentel expressed concern over the growing impunity not only against members of the judiciary, but the media as well brought about by unsolved media killings especially in Mindanao where many journalists became victims of savage attacks.

He had been asking the police and the military to step up their intelligence network in order to prevent the rampant killings that have made the Philippines one of the most unsafe countries in the world because of an increasing crime volume.

Pimentel said no amount of Senate inquiries would help stem the tide of killings unless the police and the military joined hands in running after the killers and for the judiciary to fast track the resolution of pending cases.

On Nov. 11, Bulacan Regional Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Nieves was ambushed while he was on his way home for work. Last Sept. 1, RTC Judge Erwin Alaba was gunned down near his office in Baler, Aurora province.

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