Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 15) — Local authorities are now in search of two gunmen who shot dead a lawyer Thursday afternoon in Bangued, Abra.
The Abra Police Provincial Office identified the victim as Maria Saniata Gonzales Alzate, who was also a Commissioner of Bar Discipline since 2015.
In a CCTV footage, the gunmen were seen firing multiple gunshots at Alzate in front of her house while she was inside a car. The two assailants then fled on a motorcycle.
\”We call on the public to provide us any relevant information that would assist us in our investigation,\” Abra Police Director PCol Froiland Lopez said in a statement.
Department of Justice spokesperson Mico Clavano said Alzate’s murder is “unacceptable.”
\”We hope the manhunt operation will result in the murderer’s capture so he or she can feel the full force of the rule of law,\” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines called on the law enforcement authorities to immediately launch an investigation into all the unresolved cases targeting lawyers.
\”Her brazen murder serves as a stark reminder of the pervasive threats faced by lawyers, judges, and officers of the Court across the Philippines,\” the IBP said.
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers also condemned the crime.
\”Whatever the motive and whoever are the assailants and masterminds, this merciless murder of a young, principled and idealistic lawyer is enabled by impunity engendered by passive, token and ningas cogon responses from State authorities,\” Edre Olalia, transitional president of the group said in a statement.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, on the other hand, held a rally to demand justice for Alzate’s death.
In a Facebook post, Raphiel Alzate, the widower of the slain lawyer, appealed to the public to donate to a legal fund for the continuation of the cases his wife was handling.
