IBP to set up aid fund after Lawyer Hidelito Pascual, president of the IBP Cebu City Chapter, condemned last Thursday’s ambush in Mandaue city and noted that several lawyers in Cebu have been killed in the past 10 years.
“Lawyering has become a risky job. But we will continue to give service to our clients the best way we can,” he told CDN over the phone.
Aside from the IBP passing a resolution urging investigators to solve the crime quickly, and arrest the perpetrators, Pascual said he wants the IBP to set up a fund for lawyers who need assistance in the future.
Pascual said he hopes to raise P1 million every year so they will have enough funds for lawyers who can’t afford to pay for medical and hospitalization expenses.
For now, the IBP is set to give P20,000 as financial aid to the mother of Amelie.
READ: Motive for murder?
Baldomero Estenzo, dean of the University of Cebu’ College of Law, described Amelie as a student whom others easily get along with.
“She was one of the better law students of UC. She was diligent. She was soft-spoken and well-loved by her classmates,” Estenzo told CDN.
Amelie studied law in UC from first to fourth year. She was admitted to the Bar in 2008.
“I could not image a lady lawyer getting killed. This is a cowardly and dastardly act. I call on the police to really investigate so we can put the perpetrators behind bars,” Estenzo said.
Since 2004, six other lawyers in Cebu have been killed while a government prosecutor survived a a shooting.
The most recent and prominent case was the car ambush of Noel Archival in Feb. 8, 2014. He was killed with two other companions during a car chase with assailants who followed their vehicle in
Dalaguete town in southern Cebu as the lawyer was heading home from a court hearing in Dumageute City.
Police personnel from the Highway Patrol Group in Region 7 were charged with murder.
In 2013, lawyer Jubian Achas, along with his client Dr. Rene Rafols, were shot dead by a Canadian retiree, a disgruntled litigant, who followed them into a court room of the Cebu Palace of Justice.
John Pope’s shooting rage injured female prosecutor Maria Theresa Calibugan-Casiño.
In 2010, former Regional State Prosecutor Hernando Masangkay was killed inside his residence in Talisay City.
A year earlier, Cebu City Assistant Prosecutor Patrick Ian Osorio was ambushed in his car in Mambaling, Cebu City.
In 2008, lawyer Richard William Sison was shot dead while driving his car in Cebu City. The mastermind was never found.
In 2004, a paid gunman shot dead lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco in her office-home in barangay Zapatera, Cebu City.
The lawyer was prosecuting the parricide case of cult leader and congressman Ruben Ecleo, who was later convicted of killing his wife Alona.