MANILA — The Department of Justice (DOJ) has directed the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate the murder of former Cebu City Assistant City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro.
“I have immediately directed the NBI to investigate the ambush of Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro and to identify the perpetrators at the soonest possible time,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters Friday.
Castro, 50, was gunned down by motorcycle-riding assailants as she was driving a yellow Nissan Juke along Escario St. in Cebu City on Thursday.
The killing of Castro came almost a year after another lawyer, 44-year-old Jonnah John Ungab, vice mayor of Ronda town in south Cebu, was shot dead after attending a court hearing at the Cebu City Hall.
Reports earlier said Ungab, a lawyer of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, also represented Castro in at least one of the many cases she was a party to.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said at least one lawyer is killed every month since August 2016. -PNA
