MALOLOS CITY—The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Central Luzon has issued a statement condemning the killing and called on authorities to leave no stone unturned to get the killers of Bulacan Regional Trial Court Judge Wilfredo Nieves.
IBP-Central Luzon Gov. Jose “Peng” dela Rama Jr. said: “We strongly condemn this act of cowardice and treachery. He was a good man and loyal to his profession. Lawyers and judges must be protected under our laws.Members of the bar and bench must always be vigilant at all times.”
Meanwhile, Bulacan police are now investigating the whereabouts of a silver Toyota Innova and a gray Hyundai Tucson used by the hired assassins of Nieves.
Sr. Supt. Ferdinand O. Divina, Bulacan police provincial director, said they are offering a cash reward of P2 million to anyone who could provide information leading to the arrests of the suspects.
Nieves, presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (Branch 84), was on his way home Wednesday afternoon when the assassins shot at the Toyota Fortuner he was driving.
The incident took place at a stoplight along McArthur Highway in front of the Bulacan Industrial Park in Barangay Tikay here.
Divina also formed a special investigation task group to solve the murder of Nieves in the shortest possible time. The reward money was pitched in by friends and relatives of the victim, he said.
Nieves left his chamber at the Bulacan Hall of Justice at the capitol compound past 4 p.m. Police said the hired killers might have tailed Nieves car when it left the premises of the Bulacan RTC and after it stopped at the junction. The gunmen alighted from their vehicle aided by a motorcycle-riding tandem, one of whom also joined the shooting.
Nieves died on the spot from bullet wounds in the forehead, neck and body.
Supt. Arwain Tadeo, Malolos City police chief, told The Standard they are securing a footage from closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in the area for an image of the suspects.
In April 2012, Nieves convicted Raymond Dominguez, one of the suspected leaders of a car theft gang operating in Metro Manila and Central Luzon, and sentenced him to up to 30 years in prison.
Police are not discounted the possibility that the remnants of the carjacking syndicate were involved in the ambush of Nieves, who had been receiving death threats since last year.