CITY OF CALAPAN –– The Integrated Bar of the Philippines Oriental Mindoro (IBP-Or Mindoro) Chapter condemned the shooting of a prosecutor in the province Monday.
An unidentified gunman attacked Provincial Prosecutor Josephine Caranzo Olivar in front of her house in Barangay Bayanan I in this city around 9:30 a.m.
She suffered bullet wounds in the head and body but was reported to be in stable condition in a hospital.
“This is the first time that a sitting Provincial Prosecutor of Oriental Mindoro has been targeted. While it may send a chilling effect on the legal profession, such attack has no place in our civilized and democratic society,” said lawyer Joel Jabal, president of IBP-Or. Mindoro, in a statement.
“Only thru a swift arrest and prosecution of the attacker/s can this kind of attack be avoided from happening again as we note that at least 40 lawyers, including incumbent and former judges and prosecutors, have been attacked and killed since August 2016,” said Jabal.
He added, “We call on the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice thru the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a thorough investigation to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of this barbaric act.”