THE suspect in last month’s killing of a Cebu-based lawyer was arrested in Laguna by the National Bureau of Investigation last Tuesday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday.
Guevarra identified the suspect as a certain Peralta.
“The suspect in the murder of Atty. Joey Luis Wee in Cebu, (a) certain Peralta, has been tracked down and arrested in Laguna and taken into custody by the NBI,” Guevarra said, adding he will release more details once he gets a full report from the NBI.
Wee was shot dead last Nov. 23 outside his law office in Cebu City, less than a week after another lawyer in Palawan — Eric Jay Magcamit — was shot dead on the way to a court hearing.
In the aftermath of the killings, Guevarra directed the NBI to deploy additional field operatives in Palawan and Cebu to find and arrest the killers of Magcamit and Wee.
The killings of Magcamit and Wee brought to 53 the number of lawyers, prosecutors and judges killed under the Duterte administration.
Guevarra said the government is “very much concerned” about crimes targeting lawyers, prosecutors and judges in the country, a statement echoed by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines which called on the authorities to redouble their efforts to arrest the killers and prevent similar incidents in the future.
