Chief Justice orders heightened security at courts after Manila judge's slay

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta has ordered stricter security in Philippine courthouses after a Manila judge was killed, allegedly by her own clerk, inside her own office.

Judge Ma. Theresa Abadilla of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 45 was shot by her clerk of court on Wednesday afternoon, police said. She was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead past 3 p.m. She was 44 years old.

The clerk of court, 42-year-old lawyer Amador Rebato, Jr., killed himself after shooting the judge and also died, police said.

In a statement, Peralta said that although courthouses have security protocols, he has directed Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez to "employ stricter measures to prevent incidents like these from happening again."

"The passing of Judge Abadilla is indeed a big loss to the Judiciary because I personally know her to be an upright and highly competent magistrate," the chief justice said.

He said Abadilla worked at the Supreme Court as a law clerk for more than a decade before she became a judge. He offered his condolences to the judge's family, whom he said he knows "very well" because they are also from his province of Ilocos Norte.

Retired chief justice Lucas Bersamin, for his part, said Abadilla was like family to him and his wife.

"She was a hardworking judge. Her death, which was senseless, diminishes us all," Bersamin said in a statement.

"I condole with the Abadilla family, and we pray that their profound grief over the tragedy be tempered by the thought that we share their irreparable loss," he added. -NB, GMA News