Aguirre wants NBI to probe killing of Rizal prosecutor

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to probe the death of a Rizal prosecutor who was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Taytay town on Tuesday afternoon.

Aguirre directed the NBI to probe and build a case against the assailants of Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Maria Ronatay.

Ronatay was driving her car along Ortigas Avenue Extension in Barangay San Isidro, Taytay around 5 p.m. Tuesday when the unknown assailants suddenly approached the vehicle during heavy traffic and shot her to death.

The gunmen fled toward Kaytikling Circumference in Tanay after the incident.

Police said the assailants could be contract killers.

Aguirre condemned Ronatay's killing, describing it as "dastardly" and "evil."

“On behalf of the DOJ [Department of Justice] Family, I offer our solemn condolences to the family of Prosecutor Ronatay," he said in a statement.

"In addition, our prosecutors cannot be hapless sitting ducks. We should also take a very serious look at possible ways and means to assist our prosecutors obtain licenses to carry firearms as an additional protective measure."

Ronatay is the fourth prosecutor killed in the last nine months.

Mati City Prosecutor Rolando Acido was shot dead by two unidentified men on board a motorcycle while on his way to the Mati Hall of Justice on October 26 last year.

On January 11, Quezon City prosecutor Johanne Noel Mingoa, who used to work for Aguirre when he was still in private practice, was killed in front of a restaurant in Barangay Old Balara, Quezon City.

Four months later, Caloocan Assistant City Prosecutor Diosdado Azarcon was killed by masked gunmen on May 22 outside his residence in Barangay 63. —ALG, GMA News