JUSTICE SECRETARY Menardo I. Guevarra will order the department’s task force on extra-judicial killings (EJK) to investigate the murder of a lawyer in Nueva Ecija if his death is related to his advocacies. The 73-year old Bayani P. Dalangin was killed by unidentified gunmen in his office in Talavera, Nueva Ecija last Friday. “If there are any indications that the murder of Atty. Dalangin had anything to do with any of his advocacies, I will direct the inter-agency Administrative Order 35 task force on EJK to conduct its own investigation,” Mr. Guevarra told reporters in a mobile-phone message. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has denounced the killing of Mr. Dalangin, saying the increasing number of attacks against lawyers “demand serious attention.” In a statement over the weekend, the CHR said, “These grave threats and attacks impair the ability of lawyers and other members of the justice sector to provide effective legal representation and hamper them to freely exercise their profession.” The commission also appealed to the Philippine National Police and other enforcement agencies for the swift and full investigation of the cases, and asked the government to provide protection to lawyers. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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