SC seeks gun ban exemption after twin attacks on judges

To thwart possible attacks against members of the judiciary, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Commission on Elections to exempt over 2,000 judges nationwide from the coverage of the election gun ban. The call came in the wake of separate bombing attacks that might have targeted judges Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26 and Leo Principe of the Basilan Regional Trial Court Branch 1. In an interview with reporters in Baguio City, SC administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the high tribunal "condemns in the strongest possible term" the twin attacks. The Comelec implemented the nationwide gun ban last January 10 to avert election-related violence. Marquez said he made the request as early as January, but the poll body has yet to act on the matter. "We reiterate to the Comelec our call to review its policy that disallows a gun ban exemption on our judges. We have been asking this since," Marquez said in Filipino. He added that the exemption would enable judges to handle controversial cases without fear of retaliatory attacks from aggrieved parties and litigants, especially during the election period. Violence against judges On Wednesday morning, unidentified suspects blew up Pampilo’s vehicle in front of his home in Taytay, Rizal. The incident occurred minutes before he was about to leave for work. Pampilo handled several controversial cases, such as the alleged cartelization of giant oil firms and the abolition of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group. He recently denied the plea of Manila North Harbor workers to stop the port’s modernization.

On Tuesday night, an explosion occurred in front of Principe’s house in Basilan. It was the same day the series of attacks in the volatile island-province killed 14 people, including civilians, three soldiers, three Abu Sayyaf bandits, and a policeman. It was Principe who ordered the arrest of about 130 Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Abu Sayyaf members believed to have been behind the death and beheading of Marine soldiers in 2007. The last recorded violent attack on a member of the judiciary was on Dec. 2007, when San Juan City Metropolitan Trial Court Judge Philip Labastida was slain in his Quezon City home. International groups have condemned the culture of impunity in the Philippines, where journalists, activists, and human rights advocates had become targets. But rarely had public attention been given on the violence against judges. In 2008, Philippine investigative news organization Newsbreak received the European Commission’s Lorenzo Natali Prize for its piece that looked into the murders of 44 judges in recent years. The story indicated that "the judiciary does not have enough money to assign bodyguards to the 3,000 judges" and "only the chief justice enjoys a security detail." The article quoted former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban as saying, "How can judges give justice to the people when they themselves are victims of injustice?" — with Sophia Dedace/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV