Atty. Elaine Bathan. CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
Atty. Elaine Bathan, the past governor of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines- Eastern Visayas, expressed disgust on ex-Albuera police chief’s elation over the death of Atty. Jonnah John Ungab.
Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, who is now the current director of Ozamiz City police, told Cebu Daily News that he is happy that Ungab was killed, being a consequence of his alleged involvement with illegal drug trade.
Ungab served as counsel of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa.
Espenido previously filed a complaint against Ungab for protecting Espinosa, but the same was dismissed.
“Regardless of the situation, I dont think it is not right to rejoice the death of somebody. No person has the right to rejoice over someone’s death. We are better than that,” Bathan said.
Bathan emphasized that several lawyers were killed, which were left unresolved since 2004.
“Many of these cases were left in the archives of the police, kay wala ta’y nakitan na lead and sakto ka information para sa resolution of these cases (Many cases were left in the police archives, because of the absence of information that could help resolve the cases),” she said.
On Monday morning, Ungab was shot twice in broad daylight inside his vehicle.
Initial police investigation showed that two unidentified assailants were involved in the killing of the lawyer.