What went before: Crime against prosecutors

Ten state prosecutors have been attacked, with nine of them killed, since President Duterte took office in mid-2016.

Assistant Special Prosecutor Madonna Joy Ednaco-Tanyag, who was five months pregnant, was stabbed thrice as she was getting into her car on Visayas Avenue at Barangay Vasra in Quezon City, shortly before noon on June 4. Tanyag was rushed to the East Avenue Medical Center, but died minutes after.

A suspect was arrested hours after what the police described as a “robbery gone wrong.”

A week before Tanyag was killed, Geronimo Marabe Jr., who recently retired as Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, prosecutor, was gunned down by still unidentified assailants.

Marabe handled some of the criminal cases brought against the Parojinog family of Ozamiz, whom President Duterte had tagged as drug lords.

On May 11 this year, Quezon City deputy prosecutor Rogelio Velasco was shot to death inside his car by several men who intercepted his vehicle. His two daughters who were with him were unhurt.

Seven other government prosecutors were killed by unknown assailants, while another survived an ambush.

On Oct. 26, 2016, Mati City, Davao Oriental prosecutor Rolando Acido was shot dead as he was getting out of his car.

Quezon City assistant prosecutor Noel Mingoa was gunned down outside a restaurant on Jan. 11, 2017.

Almost a month later, on Feb. 6, 2017, Surigao City prosecutor Manuel Tesiorna Jr. was wounded when a gunman on a motorcycle opened fire at him outside his house.

On May 22, 2017, Caloocan City assistant state prosecutor Diosdado Azarcon was shot several times in the head by a man on a motorcycle as he was about to leave his house.

Rizal provincial prosecutor Maria Ronatay was also gunned down by two men on a motorcycle on July 18, 2017, as she was driving on Ortigas Avenue Extension in Taytay, Rizal.

Former Mandaluyong City prosecutor-turned-barangay chair Pablito Gahol was shot dead on Sept. 2, 2017.

Days later, on Sept. 29, 2017, Quezon province assistant prosecutor Reymund Luna was shot dead on his way home from a court hearing. —INQUIRER RESEARCH