EDITORIAL – Assault on the judiciary

Less than two weeks after a judge was shot dead in Malolos, Bulacan, another judge was killed Sunday afternoon in Northern Samar. Reynaldo Espinar of the Laoang municipal trial court was watching a cockfight in an arena in Pambujan town when a man came up to him and opened fire. As Espinar lay dying, his security escort managed to also gun down the killer.

Police said Espinar was also ambushed two months ago but survived because he wore a bulletproof vest. Espinar is the third judge to be murdered this year. On Sept. 1, Regional Trial Court Judge Erwin Alaba was shot dead in Baler, Aurora. On Nov. 11, Bulacan RTC Judge Wilfredo Nieves was gunned down as he drove home from work.

Nieves was the judge who had sentenced notorious carjacker Raymond Dominguez to 30 years in prison. Police arrested the suspected gunman, Arnel Janoras, last Saturday in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. On the way to his inquest on another case yesterday morning, however, Janoras was shot dead after he allegedly tried, while in handcuffs, to grab the firearm of his police escort.

While Janoras’ death may be seen as swift justice by some quarters, his guilt has not yet been established. If the accusation against him is true, his killing eliminates a link to the mastermind of Nieves’ murder. Police higher-ups must investigate the circumstances that led to Janoras’ death. If he had been permanently silenced, like witnesses against Dominguez, it indicates that the convicted carjacker wields influence even over the police.

Janoras had reportedly identified as an accomplice a regular visitor of Dominguez at the national penitentiary. The carjacking ring, also tagged in the murders of two car dealers, can strike again, undermining the judicial system in the worst way. So will whoever ordered the killing of Espinar in Samar.

Killers – both the triggermen and the brains – must not only be arrested, they must also be made to face the courts so that their guilt is established and they get appropriate punishment. If the state fails to do this, the unsolved murders will have a chilling effect on the justice system, which is weak enough as it is. The nation cannot afford such brazen assaults on the judiciary to go unpunished.