IBP decries ‘treacherous attack’ on member

Lawyer Argel Joseph Cabatbat (left) tells reporters how he survived an ambush carried out by three men, including PO1 Mark Ayeras, on February 13, 2018.  (QCPD PHOTOS, GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has condemned the “treacherous attack” on lawyer Argel Joseph Cabatbat, who gave chase and rammed his assailants with his Mitsubishi Montero after they tried to ambush him on Edsa last Tuesday.

The IBP noted that many other lawyers, judges, and court officers have been targeted with “pinpoint accuracy and swelling impunity,” which in turn creates “an environment of fear” in the justice system.

“Lawyers must be able to advocate their clients’ causes free from the corrupting elements of fear and intimidation. This ensures that disputes are resolved only within the confines of the law, the evidence, and an impartial tribunal,” the IBP said in a statement on Thursday.

“Hired killers and their masterminds have no place in civilized society. Regardless of the overwhelming merit a cause of action may present, violence directed against the actors in the legal theater must never be countenanced,” the nationwide group of lawyers also stressed.

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Cabatbat was riding his SUV on the northbound lane of Edsa when three motorcycle-riding gunmen suddenly emerged and opened-fire at him.

Surviving the ambush, the lawyer chased his attackers. He managed to ram the two motorcycles with his SUV near Trinoma Mall in Quezon City.

One of the suspects was killed. He was identified as PO1 Mark Boquela Ayeras, through his Philippine National Police ID. The two other suspects were injured – one taken to the East Avenue Medical Center, while the other managed to escape.

“While Atty. Cabatbat has survived to relate the circumstances behind the ambush, he is one of the very few who have narrowly evaded the fatal intentions of a barrel of a gun,” the IBP said.

“We thus call on our brothers in the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine National Police, and other government enforcement agencies, to get to the bottom of this incident and the other unsolved incidents that seriously impinge upon the rule of law,” it said.                       /kga