JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday assured the public that the National Bureau of Investigation is working round-the-clock to bring to the bar of justice the perpetrators behind the killings of lawyers Eric Jay Macamit and Joey Luis Wee who were separately murdered recently.
“The NBI is working hard on the investigation of the violent deaths of Attys. Magcamit and Wee. More field operatives have been deployed in Palawan and Cebu to intensify their hunt for the perpetrators of these treacherous crimes,” Guevarra said in a message to reporters.
“The government is very much concerned about the increasing number of crimes committed against lawyers, prosecutors, and judges, and while these are generally considered to be part of the hazards of the profession, the government is committed to bring the perpetrators of these crimes before the bar of justice,” he continued.
Magcamit was shot and killed by still unidentified assailants last week in Narra, Palawan. He died on the spot.
Wee was gunned down in front of his office last Monday along J. Panis Street, Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has called on authorities to expedite their investigation into the twin killings.
“The brazen attack on our brother in the legal profession is taken as an attack on the whole legal community,” read a portion of IBP Cebu City Chapter’s statement.
For its part, the IBP-Palawan said:” The perpetrators must be swiftly brought into the hands of the law by those in authority.”
Guevarra has issued separate orders to the NBI to assist the Philippine National Police in investigating the two lawyers’ murders.
