Ex-prosecutor, wife shot inside home in Cebu

July 3, 2018

The former assistant city prosecutor of Cebu and his wife were shot inside their home in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City on Monday.

Salvador Solima died while his wife Verone is in critical condition, police said.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines ( IBP) said Solima is the third lawyer to be killed this year after Argel Cabatbat last Feb. 13 and Jonah John Ungab, vice mayor of Ronda town in Cebu who served as lawyer of detained drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, last Feb. 19.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and IBP  urged police  to immediately solve the latest shooting incident.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra condemned the killing of Solima but he believed this may not be connected with his being a former prosecutor.

"He retired from the DOJ in 1998. I don't think the murder had anything to do with his duties when he was still a prosecutor 20 years ago," Guevarra said in a text message.

Guevarra  said the DOJ is ready to provide assistance to police, including a possible parallel probe of the National Bureau of Investigation, if necessary.

The IBP Cebu province chapter, through its president  Mundlyn Misal-Martin, described the incident as a "vicious act" and "act of pure evil."

"We call for justice and we call for a fast investigation. We call on to our authorities to resolve this case and to put the culprit in jail," the group said in a statement.

Martin said the killing of Solima was puzzling as he was "a respected prosecutor before he ventured into private practice and is known to be accommodating to his clients."

She lamented how the killing of lawyers is becoming a "norm." DMS