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Friday, October 15, 2004
Arroyo: Get lawyer Yongco's killer
CEBU CITY -- Responding to outraged Cebuanos, President Arroyo ordered law enforcement agencies Thursday to conduct a speedy investigation and solve the murder of lawyer Arbet Sta. Ana-Yongco.
She then approved the release of funds that can be used to hunt Yongco's killer down.
After a 30-minute meeting with Arroyo, Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes and Police Regional Office 7 Director Rolando Garcia at the Malacañang sa Sugbo past 11 a.m. Thursday, leaders of the Women's Solidarity for Justice emerged smiling and announced their gratitude for the President's intervention.
President Arroyo also signed Mayor Tomas Osmeña's letter of request to authorize the Cebu City Government to use its P3-million intelligence fund.
The mayor wrote the letter Thursday morning, immediately after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 asked for the City's help in the hunt for Yongco's gunman, said Councilor Augustus Pe Jr.
"Under the latest Commission on Audit circular, we cannot use our own intelligence funds anytime even if we have it already, because that needs the President's approval. This morning, she authorized us to use it," Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem told reporters Thursday.
President Arroyo also ordered the creation of a safehouse for witnesses in Cebu, to be funded by the justice department, said Director Garcia.
Meanwhile, an association of lady lawyers urged government legislators to come up with laws and policies to protect all service providers in the administration of justice.
The appeal of the Cebu Lady Lawyers Association Inc. was made in a resolution dated Oct. 13, two days a gunman pumped four bullets into Yongco last Monday morning.
"Arbet, a woman of peace, ironically died violently in her own abode, mercilessly gunned down by criminal authors whose sole purpose was to silence her and the justice system forever," the resolution said.
During Thursday's meeting, Tessie Fernandez of Lihok Pilipina said President Arroyo informed them of the ongoing pursuit and the coordinated efforts of all agencies, like the police, Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Local Government, Criminal Investigation and Detection Division 7 and the National Bureau of Investigation 7.
Although they applauded the efforts of law enforcers, Purita Sanchez, Yongco's fellow women's rights advocate, expressed concern over the publication of the photograph and the identification of the suspect.
"I feel so sorry about it, mentioning the name of this suspect. Wala pa gani. Unya makatago nato siya? (What if he hides?) Media should really refrain from doing this. Media should also have some kind of social responsibility," Sanchez lamented.
Garcia, in a press conference, admitted that the identification of a suspect may affect their operation.
"It will be a little harder for us to track down the suspect," Garcia said.
Alice Morada of Abanse Pinay, of which Yongco was provincial director, said there was no mention of Ecleo's involvement in the case during their meeting with Arroyo.
However, Fernandez urged agencies to exercise caution in handling every aspect of the case.
"Each agency will have to be very responsible and very professional about what they are doing. If these are still mga assumptions, if there are still suspicions and analysis being done, it should be done there," she appealed.
Surigao del Norte Gov. Robert Lyndon Barbers, who attended a meeting with President Arroyo at the Malacañang sa Sugbo, defended Ecleo Thursday and described as unfair the allegations against his political ally, his family or the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association (PBMA) group.
Barbers said he had no knowledge of any violence that involved his friend.
The PBMA members who fired at policemen during Ecleo's arrest in Dinagat Island in 2002 also acted on their own and not on Ecleo's orders, Barbers added.
"It was not his (Ecleo's) decision. It was the supporters themselves who decided na parang lumaban sa batas (to take the law into their hands) to protect their master," he said of the incident, which killed close to 20 people.
Yongco's body will be transferred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) building tomorrow. She will be laid to rest at the Benevola Cemetery in Pulpogan, Consolacion after an 8 a.m. mass at the IBP building on Sunday.
The gunman might have killed Yongco, but the commitment and the principles that she stood for will live and persist, the lady lawyers' resolution said.
Apart from calling for a swift solution of the crime and for the legislators to give protection to social workers, prosecutors, lawyers and judges, the association is also calling for the "swift but judicious disposal and resolution of cases in our courts to prevent injustice and to minimize undue personal risks to the parties involved." (CYR/LCR/JST)
(October 15, 2004 issue)
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