SC, Bulacan court to keep tabs of probe into judge’s murder

MANILA, Philippines — As the Supreme Court called for the swift investigation of the murder of a Bulacan judge, a court official has ordered the Bulacan Regional Trial Court (RTC) to closely track the progress of police action on killing.

Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva directed on Thursday Bulacan judges “to form a task force to monitor the progress of the investigation” of the shooting of Bulacan RTC Judge Wilfredo Nieves, the magistrate who convicted the leader of a  notorious car theft group in 2012.

Villanueva met with RTC judges and personnel, local police and officials to check up on the investigation, learning from authorities that Raymund Dominguez, the high-profile convict who met his fate in
Nieves’ sala, was the primary suspect in the slay.

In a report to Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te, Villanueva said local police were “getting reliable information from many callers as a result of the P2-million reward put up to solve the case.”

Unidentified men had attacked Nieves on his way home from the court at 5 p.m. Wednesday, while aboard his Toyota Fortuner along MacArthur Highway in Malolos City.

Gunmen aboard a Toyota Innova and a motorcycle sprayed bullets at Nieves’ vehicle as he approached a stop light.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court expressed “outrage and sadness” at Nieves’ death Wednesday night.

“The Court condemns in the strongest terms the killing of Judge Nieves and calls on the authorities concerned to take all necessary steps with all deliberate speed to do justice for Judge Nieves by fully investigating his killing,” said the high court in a statement.

During his visit in Malolos, Villanueva also met with local government officials to air the “security concerns of the judges.”  He said the authorities “responded positively on the matter.”

Nieves was the second magistrate to be felled by bullets in less than three months.

On Sept. 1, Baler RTC Branch 91 Judge Erwin Alaba died of multiple gunshot wpunds  when motorcycle-riding men attacked him and his wife just outside the court.

His wife was wounded but survived the attack.  SFM