By JEFFREY DAMICOG, REY PANALIGAN
Four suspects in the killing of retired Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Normandie Pizarro have been identified by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra bared Monday.
“The NBI is focusing on four persons of interest. One of them is willing to divulge what he knows,” said Guevarra.
On Monday, the NBI confirmed that the remains the agents recovered in Capas, Tarlac last Oct. 30 was that of the missing magistrate.
Guevarra said the remains underwent DNA examination.
“The NBI forensic chemistry division report showed a 99.99999% DNA match,” he said.
The NBI recovered the remains of Pizarro who was believed brutally killed after the magistrate’s family reported him missing.
“He was last seen at a casino in Clark last 23 October,” said Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay, the undersecretary in charge of the NBI.
“His car, an early model Honda Accord, was later on discovered somewhere in San Simon, Pampanga,” said Sugay who cited reports from the NBI.
“He last spoke with one of his sons on 23 October at around 11:30 to 12 noon,” the undersecretary added.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta said yesterday “the killing and murder of any person is never tolerated by our laws.”
“In fact, our courts will always condemn it,” Peralta said in his statement on the death of Pizarro.
“I ask our law enforcement agencies to press on with their investigation so that the perpetrators of this barbaric act be caught and brought to justice,” he said.
The Chief Justice also extended his “sincerest condolences and sympathies” to Pizarro’s family.
Pizarro retired in 2018 a year before his mandatory retirement at age 70 years old.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) also urged on Tuesday the government to address the continued killing of lawyers as it puts the country in bad light
“The unabated killing of lawyers, too often with impunity, is a sad reflection of the spiraling violence and disregard of, if not contempt for the rule of law in our land,” said IBP President Domingo Egon Cayosa in a statement.
