Palace condemns killing of Ozamiz judge

MANILA, Philippines — The Malacañang on Tuesday condemned the killing of Ozamiz Judge Edmundo Pintac by unidentified men.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, in a press briefing, said that “the murder of Judge Pintac was discussed in the Cabinet meeting yesterday [October 8].”

Pintac was shot while he was on his way home. He was a Regional Trial Court judge for the past 15 years.

He had handled the drug cases against the Parojinog siblings, Vice Mayor Nova Princess and Reynaldo Parojinog Jr. The cases were later transferred to a court in Quezon City.

Roque said that Duterte has tasked the head of the Philippine National Police to exert all efforts to identify all people linked to the killing in the soonest possible time.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, meanwhile, said that he will let the PNP to first lead in the investigation of Pintac’s murder.

He said, in a text message to reporters, that the National Bureau of Investigation—under the DOJ—is on “stand by.”

The Commission on Human Rights, meanwhile, said that it “shall be investigating this case in the interest of finding the truth and demanding accountability from the perpetrators of this injustice.”

Palace on killing of PDEA personnel

Roque also said that the Palace extends its condolences to the bereaved of the five members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency who were killed in an ambush Friday last week.

Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said the slain PDEA agents were from a dialogue with former drug dependents in Tagoloan town when their ambushers shot their vehicle with assault rifles while at a secluded stretch of a highway in Barangay Malna, Kapai.

Mijares identified the PDEA-ARMM fatalities as Kenneth Tabulo, Kristine May Torlao, Joy Amar, Binzo Dipolla and Diobel Pacinio.

The Palace spokesman said that the investigation into this killing has already started, and Duterte himself is on top of the said probe.

“We strongly condemn these kinds of killings. These are proof that threat our authorities face in curbing illegal drugs are real,” he added in Filipino. — Kristine Joy Patag