Senatorial candidate Richard Gordon called on the National Bureau of Investigation to quickly solve the murders of judges and journalists, due to their chilling effect on press freedom and the administration of justice.
In a statement, Gordon urged the NBI to work the cases of slain judges and journalists following Wednesday’s murder of Bulacan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Wilfredo Nieves in Malolos by unidentified gunmen.
‘‘Just as kidnapping and bank robberies are automatically logged as federal crimes in the US to be investigated by their Federal Bureau of Investigation, killings of judges and journalists should be investigated by our NBI with the support of our police investigators. The authorities would have a better chance to solve these killings if the NBI gets involved from the start.”
Gordon said the latest killing of a judge followed the murder on Sept. 1 of Aurora RTC Judge Erwin Alaba in Baler by a gunman who also seriously wounded Judge Alaba’s wife. That killing prompted the Supreme Court to issue a statement condemning the murder and calling on the authorities to quickly catch the guilty.