A MANILA prosecutor who defied the dangers of the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to process arrests made by the police during the lockdown in Metro Manila was gunned down in Paco, Manila yesterday, becoming the latest addition to the long list of current and former prosecutors who have been attacked.
The Manila police identified the victim as 62-year-old Jovencio Senados, the chief inquest prosecutor of Manila. Also killed was his nephew, Feljie Bagares, who was driving the victim’s Toyota Yaris.
They were attacked on Quirino Highway corner Anakbayan in Barangay 686 in Paco, Manila at around 11:05 am.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra condemned the killing and ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct an investigation.
“We are shocked by the audacity of the attack. It highlights once again the grave peril that our prosecutors face each day in the discharge of their duties. I have ordered the NBI to immediately step in and investigate this horrible murder,” Guevarra said.
During the beginning of the lockdown, Senados insisted that people arrested for minor violations don’t have to be detained. As Manila’s chief inquest prosecutor, he had the final say on inquest resolutions, including the recent release of the Manila Pride protesters while their case is being probed.
Pursuit operations are being conducted against the suspects who fled the crime scene on board a black Montero sports utility vehicle with plate number ABG 8133 and a red Toyota Innova.
Manila Police Department spokesman Col. Carlo Magno said the Toyota Innova swerved in front of Senados’ car while the black Montero took position at the right of the prosecutor’s car and one of the suspects opened the window and “fired successive shots.”
The two vehicles then sped off towards Taft Ave.
Magno said Senados and Bagares died on the spot after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in the head and body.
Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento, the head of the National Prosecution Office, also condemned the attack, saying in a text message: “We condemn this to the highest level.
We will avail (of) all the resources of the DOJ to obtain justice.”
The National Union of People’s Lawyers also condemned the attack. “Whatever the motive and whoever the perpetrators should be credibly established, this is absolutely unacceptable in a supposed civilized and democratic society.”
The group added the attack on Senados belied the peace and order and rule of law in the country as claimed by the administration.
“The claims to peace and order and purported rule of law once again fly in the prevailing culture of violence and climate of impunity engendered by official hate speech and penchant for vindictiveness,” it added.
Since 2016, 14 prosecutors and former prosecutors have been attacked in the line of duty, three of them surviving, namely, Surigao City Prosecutor Manuel Tesiorna Jr., Oriental Mindoro Prosecutor Josephine Caranto Olivar and Caloocan Prosecutor Elmer Susano.
The other prosecutors felled by assassins were Mati City Prosecutor Rolando Acido, Quezon City Prosecutor Noel Mingoa, Caloocan City Prosecutor Diosdado Azarcon, Rizal Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Maria Ronatay, Quezon Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Reymund Luna, Quezon City Assistant City Prosecutor Rogelio Velasco, and Cebu Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro,
In 2018, Madonna Joy Ednaco Tanyag, an assistant special prosecutor at the Office of the Ombudsman, was stabbed dead in front of a lotto outlet on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City.
Several former prosecutors were also killed, among them Salvador Solima of Cebu, Pablito Gahol of Mandaluyong City, and Geronimo Marabe of Ozamis City.
