Kin bewail inaction on murder of Negros lawyer

GUNNED DOWN Protesters carry images of victims of continued killings on Negros Island, including that of lawyer Anthony Trinidad, in a national day of protest on Thursday. -Carlo Manalansan/CONTRIBUTED

ILOILO CITY—No arrest has been made in the killing of lawyer Anthony Trinidad, a month after he was gunned down in his hometown Guihulngan City in Negros Oriental.

“We have no update at all. No one has called us,” Andrea Trinidad, a younger sister of the slain lawyer, told the Inquirer on Thursday.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot Anthony dead on July 23 as he was driving a sport utility vehicle in the city center of Guihulngan. His wife, Novie Marie Quirante-Trinidad, who was with him in the vehicle, was wounded.

Police earlier said the lawyer had received death threats.

He was among those named in a list of targets of an anticommunist group for allegedly supporting the New People’s Army (NPA). But the Trinidad family had denied this.

Anthony was among 19 people gunned down in separate incidents in Negros Oriental last month. Also killed were teachers and siblings Arthur and Aldane Bayawa in Guihulngan, former Ayungon town mayor Edsel Enardecido and Canlaon City councilor Bobby Jalandoni.

The Defend Negros #Stoptheattacks network said at least 87 people had been killed on Negros Island since 2017.

Police and military officials claimed that communist rebels were behind the killings but this had been refuted by the NPA and the Communist Party of Philippines that blamed the attacks on “death squads” composed of policemen, soldiers and militiamen.

Trinidad’s family sought assistance from the Philippine National Police headquarters and was assured that there was an order from Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde, the PNP chief, to resolve the case. —NESTOR BURGOS JR.