4 persons summoned to shed light on lawyer’s slay

Lawyer Rex Jose Mario Fernandez was gunned down by an unknown assailant along R. Duterte Street in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City on Thursday, August 26. (NESTLE SEMILLA/INQUIRER VISAYAS)

CEBU CITY––Police investigators have summoned at least four persons concerning the murder of Cebuano human rights lawyer Rex Jesus Mario Fernandez last Thursday.

Col. Josefino Ligan, director of the Cebu City Police Office, said the four individuals were mentioned by Fernandez in an Aug. 19 post on Facebook as the persons whom authorities should investigate if he got killed.

Ligan did not reveal any name and stressed that they were not considered suspects yet.

“We just want to interview them to shed light on issues surrounding the death of Atty. Rex Fernandez,” said Ligan, who formed a task force to look into the lawyer’s killing.

Fernandez’s post on Facebook before his killing had something to do with his ugly experiences in the condominium where he lived.

Aside from the police, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas also stepped in to probe Fernandez’s slay.

Lawyer Rennan Augustus Oliva, NBI Central Visayas director, said they would share notes with the police to expedite the investigation.

“I already deployed investigators to the crime scene to look for witnesses and CCTV (closed-circuit television) footages,” he said.

On Aug. 13, Fernandez held a “hunger strike” after the management of the condominium where he stayed cut off his water supply for non-payment of condominium corporation dues.

Fernandez had told reporters that he chose not to pay since the law states that condominium corporation dues were the payment for the maintenance of “common areas” such as hallways, roads, and swimming pools.

He said homeowners should contribute a certain amount to maintain the property, and the management should not impose a price of P90 per square meter or equivalent to P3,240 per month as ordered by the condominium where he stayed.

Based on his conversations with Fernandez’s family, Ligan said the lawyer did not receive any death threats before his death.

Ligan said in a news conference Friday that investigators were looking into all possible motives in the slay of Fernandez.

“We will review all the cases he handled as well as his conflict with the management of the condominium where he lived,” he said.

Fernandez, 62, was on board his car when shot Thursday afternoon by the gunman who waited for him at the corner of R. Duterte Street in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.

The lawyer, who was sitting on the passenger front seat, was killed on the spot. His driver, Darvie Pondar, was in critical condition after a bullet hit his spine.

The lawyer’s secretary, who was at the back seat of the car, was unscathed.

Ligan believed the assailant was a “gun expert” or a “gun-for-hire” by how he committed the crime.

“He knows what to do. I think he’s not a neophyte gunman,” he said.

Ligan said investigators had yet to establish why Fernandez was in Guadalupe though some of their sources claimed that the lawyer had a house there.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu chapter denounced the killing of Fernandez and called on law enforcers to solve the slaying.

“The entire legal community cries in anger at this ruthless murder which brings immeasurable horror to the family, friends, and colleagues of Atty. Fernandez,” said the lawyer’s group in a statement.

“We. therefore, urge the law enforcement authorities to investigate this case promptly, otherwise if no definitive resolution is made, threats and deadly assault on lawyers will persist with impunity,” it added.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL)-Cebu Chapter also decried the ruthless killing of Fernandez, who was a founding member of the group in 2007 and a counsel of human rights organization Karapatan.

NUPL-Cebu said Fernandez was the 57th lawyer killed under the Duterte administration.

Before his death, Fernandez served as the legal counsel for numerous human rights cases in Central Visayas, including the murder charges filed against political prisoners Eduardo Sacamay and Jigger Geverola; illegal possession of firearms case of Nito Banga; and cases of simple disobedience and violations of the Public Assembly Act of 1985 against the eight individuals in Cebu, who got arrested for alleged violations of community quarantine rules during an Anti-Terror Law rally last year.

“NUPL Cebu demands justice and accountability for the killing of Atty. Rex and the unresolved killings of lawyers, paralegals, and human rights workers. We shall continue rising to the occasion in our promise to uphold human rights for all. We will hold the line even more,” it added.

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