Baguio woman lawyer shot dead

BAGUIO CITY — A prominent woman lawyer here was shot dead by a lone assassin last Tuesday afternoon while she was waiting for a ride home in front of a Landbank branch along Harrison Road.

Fifty-five-year-old Victoria Mangapit Sturch, a long-time corporate law professor at the Baguio Colleges Foundation, succumbed to a bullet from a caliber .25 pistol in the nape.

Last September, Sturch was stabbed six times in an attack believed to be work-related.

Her fellow lawyers have condemned the killing and called on the police to work double-time to solve the case.

Police have formed a crack team to handle the case and even offered a P100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of her killer. The National Bureau of Investigation has also stepped into the case.

Probers said the assassin did not try to hide his identity and merely fled on foot along with a companion who served as a lookout.

Kira Espino, a daughter and personal secretary of Sturch, believes that her mother’s gunslaying was work-related.

She revealed that her mother had discussed with her the possible suspects in last September’s slay attempt. She, however, refused to name them.

Sturch’s remains will be brought to Batac, her hometown in Ilocos Norte, today.

Lawyer Daniel Mangallay, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines’ Baguio-Benguet chapter, condemned Sturch’s murder.

He convened a meeting among IBP officers yesterday to discuss any form of assistance they can extend to the city police for the speedy solution of the case.

Mia Joy Cawed, president of the Association of Lady Lawyers in Baguio and Benguet and a cousin of Sturch, echoed Mangallay’s condemnation of the killing and prodded the police to hastily solve the case.

Former vice mayor Daniel Fariñas, now the dean of the University of Baguio’s College of Law, expressed alarm that such a killing could happen in broad daylight.

Several weeks ago, Roberto Fernando, assistant regional director of the Department of Transportation and Communications, was shot and wounded by motorcycle-riding men in front of his house. Police remain clueless about the attack.