SC evaluating reports on attacks on lawyers —Gesmundo

The Supreme Court (SC) is evaluating the reports submitted by various groups on the attacks on members of the legal profession.

At a news conference on Friday, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said the justices had referred the submissions to a committee for scrutiny. The committee will then come up with a report and recommendation to the Court.

On March 23, the justices asked the lower courts and law enforcement agencies to provide them with relevant information on the attacks in the last 10 years.

The SC also urged the public, including the organizations of lawyers and judges, to provide “vetted information” on any incident of such threat or killing.

“We received a lot of data and we have to go over them so that we will be able to understand the matter,” Gesmundo said.

“We will act on the report and recommendation [if it is] within the jurisdiction of the judiciary. If it is outside the judiciary’s jurisdiction then we will endorse them to the appropriate entity or institution of government for them to address these issues.”

The justices earlier said the information provided would help the Court decide on the next courses of action, including the amendment of the relevant rules, or if necessary, the creation of new ones.

The magistrates also directed the Office of the Court Administrator to investigate the case of Mandaluyong City Regional Trial Court Branch 209 Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio, who was the subject of a tarpaulin linking her to organizations considered by law enforcers as communists and rebels.

“We have yet to receive a report from the PNP (Philippine National Police) on who is responsible for putting up those tarpaulins along EDSA. We are coordinating with the police on this issue,” Gesmundo said when asked for an update.

“One thing [for] sure, we addressed the security concern of the judge involved.” —LDF, GMA News