SC asks QC executive judge to explain choking incident

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has ordered the Executive Judge of Quezon City to explain how a senior prosecutor could have been choked inside a courtroom by a convicted kidnapper.

“There are security protocols in place. I am almost certain that untoward incidents like these could have been avoided if the security protocols were strictly followed,” Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said Thursday in a text message to reporters.

Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon was suddenly grabbed and choked  by Onofre Surat  after Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Manuel Sta. Cruz Jr. handed down the guilty verdict Thursday morning.

Marquez issued the statement as Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, head of the Department of Justice’s National Prosecution Service, called on all courts to step up security measures in the courtroom.

“The recent assault on prosecutor Dong Fadullon who was attending a promulgation in court shows some laxity of security by court personnel and injury could have been avoided,” Arellano said in a statement Thursday.

Marquez said he has asked the Executive Judge to provide a report on the incident.

“In the meantime, let me reiterate to all our judges and court personnel the strict observance of our security protocols,” he said.

Marquez is the head of the Office of the Court Administrator, tasked to assist the Supreme Court in the administrative supervision of all courts as prescribed by the Constitution.

This is not the first time that violence inside the court occurred. In January last year, Canadian national John Pope opened fire inside a Cebu court killing a doctor, a lawyer and seriously injuring a prosecutor.

In 2001, a former mayor of Sapang Dalaga in Misamis Occidental was shot to death while waiting to hear a murder case filed against him at the Manila City Hall.

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