Tuguegarao mayor, IBP decry lawyer’s slay

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines – The city government and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cagayan chapter have condemned last Wednesday’s killing here of a trial lawyer and called on authorities for the immediate arrest of those behind his slay.

IBP Cagayan chapter president Alexander Simeon Jr., in a statement, also appealed to the public to refrain from making speculations surrounding the killing of lawyer Isagani Garcia, which came in the wake of the filing of graft cases against Mayor Jefferson Soriano.

“We do not want to speculate on his murder or point an accusing finger to anyone. We do not have personal knowledge as to the circumstances of his death,” said Simeon, describing their colleague’s killing as “unacceptable” and an “act of barbarism.”

Soriano, a lawyer himself, deplored the killing a few hours after the incident, dismissing insinuations from his political rivals that Garcia’s slay might have something to do with the two graft cases which he was handling against him.

The graft cases against Soriano were filed by city councilor Maila Ting-Que with Garcia reportedly acting as the legal counsel before the Office of the Ombudsman.

Que is a daughter of former mayor Delfin Ting, whom Soriano, also a former police general, defeated in last year’s elections. Soriano’s victory ended the Tings’ political dominance over the city’s top post, which they held for more than two decades.

“I did not even know that (Garcia) was the legal counsel of the graft cases against me. I have nothing to do with his deplorable killing. I called on my former colleagues in the Philippine National Police for the arrest of those behind the killing,” he said.

Garcia, 35, who hailed from Tumauini, Isabela, was shot dead by motorcycle-riding men while on board his car along the provincial road here last Wednesday night. Reports said he sustained at least 10 gunshot wounds.

Reports said Garcia, also a law professor at the Cagayan State University-Tuguegarao campus, also reportedly handled high-profile cases, including election-related ones, at the time of his killing.

Superintendent Jay Cumigad, city police chief, said Garcia had just attended his class when his assailants overtook his car and fired at him.