IBP forms task force to probe violence vs. lawyers

Days after the death of the lawyer of confessed drug distributor Kerwin Espinosa, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Friday resolved to create a national task force to investigate, document and prosecute or assist in the prosecution of cases of violence against its lawyer members.

Citing the creation of an "impression of impunity" by the state and a consequent "chilling effect" among practitioners of the law, the resolution recognized the "paramount need" to probe, document and prosecute such cases of violence, which will lead to penalization of suspects.

It mentioned two separate incidents this month: the fatal shooting of Jonah John Ungab, the vice mayor of Ronda town of Cebu and Espinosa's lawyer, and the failed ambush on lawyer Argel Cabatbat in Quezon City, which happened just six days apart.

One of Cabatbat's attackers, whom he had killed, was a dismissed police officer.

"[T]he investigation of these cases has remained open-ended or unresolved nor has there been any of the said cases prosecuted before our courts of justice, with the perpetrators roaming freely in our midst and with the families of the victims haplessly and silently bearing the pain and suffering of a murdered loved one," read the resolution.

This, it claimed, "create[s] an impression of impunity, wherein State forces appear indifferent and helpless, or worse, in one case, even involved in such violent assaults."

'[T]his impression of impunity, in turn, creates a chilling effect on members of the Bar, who, in the discharge of the solemn duties as officers of the court and guardians of the Rule of Law, are placed under a serious, grave and imminent threat to their life and family," it said.

The task force will be composed of a chairman and four members in "good standing of the Integrated Bar and of proven probity, independence and competence" who will be appointed by IBP president Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo.

Upon appointment, the task force's members will organize the group and its staff support, propose a budget, and report its work twice a year to the IBP Board of Governors, according to the resolution.

The IBP is the mandatory organization for all Philippine lawyers. — MDM, GMA News