Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Wednesday denounced the killing on Tuesday of Tagudin, Ilocos Sur Regional Trial Court Judge Mario Anacleto Banez, the 31st judge killed since January 1999.
He urged law enforcement agencies to leave no stone unturned in their probe to arrest Banez’s killers.
Following the assassination, Deputy Speaker Johnny Pimentel renewed his call for the creation of up to 3,000 new positions for armed judicial protection officers.
“We cannot allow these brazen attacks on judges to go on without a forceful answer,” said Pimentel, a representative of Surigao del Sur.
“Our judges deserve strong protection considering they have become increasingly vulnerable to aggression and violence, presumably from disgruntled and hateful litigants.”
Bañez was attacked while he was on his way home in La Union and was declared dead on arrival at the Lorna Hospital in San Fernando City.
“On behalf of the Judiciary, I strongly condemn the killing of Regional Trial Court Judge Mario Anacleto Bañez of Tagudin, Ilocos Sur,” Peralta said in a statement.
“I call on law enforcement agencies to exert their best efforts and be relentless in their investigation for the immediate apprehension of those responsible for this atrocious and dastardly act.”
Peralta also condoled with the family of the slain judge.
Peralta earlier called for the establishment of a US Marshals Service-type agency to protect judges and justices.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said that of the 31 cases of judges killed since 1999, only five had been resolved so far. With Maricel V. Cruz