ALL prosecutors and support staff of State Regional Prosecutor Office in Northern Mindanao will be wearing black on Friday, October 6, in accordance to the nationwide "Black Friday" protest.
Regional State Prosecutor Merlynn Uy said wearing black is to express their solidarity and grief in the series of prosecutor killings nationwide.
Uy added that the prosecutors in Northern Mindanao were personally affected by the killings due to an unsolved case involving a provincial prosecutor in Lanao del Norte and other incidents in Mindanao.
"We still have have one unsolved case involving the murder of former Provincial Prosecutor Macadatar Marsangca of Lanao del Norte who was gunned down last august 2010. There are other incidents of murder and ambush of prosecutors in other parts of Mindanao as well," Uy said.
Northern Mindanao presently has 83 prosecutors and 72 support staff.
Uy said they still have a 46 percent vacancy rate for prosecutor positions in the region.
"The only solution is the appointment of more prosecutors by the president because all prosecutors are presidential appointees. We have pending applications for promotion and appointment in MalacaƱang and we earnestly pray that new appointments or promotions will be released soon," Uy said.
According to Memorandum Circular No. 57, all state prosecutors and staff of the Department of Justice National Prosecution Service are allowed to wear black on Friday in reference to the request of the Prosecutors League of the Philippines.
The memorandum, which was issued by Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Tuesday, October 3, states that all prosecution offices nationwide may require their employees and staff to wear black only to express their grief and are hereby reminded not to cause any disruption in the operations and delivery of service.