INTEGRATED BAR OF THE PHILIPPINES
DAVAO CITY CHAPTER
Board of Officers: (2009-2011)
Socorro T. Ermac Cabreros
President
Cres Dan D. Bangoy
Vice President
Robert Michael N. Razon
Secretary
Antoinette G. Principe
Treasurer
Lucilo B. Sarona, Jr.
Auditor
Martin B. Delgra III
Public Relations Officer
Board of Directors:
January Faye L. Risonar
Jessie Marvin G. Melodias
Jonathan M. Jocom
Heraclio T. Malaki III
Jaime M. Lopoz, Jr.
Manuel P. Quibod
Immediate Past President
& Ex-Officio Member
IBP Legal Resource Center, B. Aquino Hall of Justice Compound
Candelario St., Ecoland, Davao City
Telefax No. (082) 296-0070; (082) 299-0753
Email Address: ibpdavao0709@yahoo.com.ph
STATEMENT OF THE INTEGRATED BAR OF THE PHILIPPINES-
DAVAO CITY CHAPTER ON
THE MASS MURDER OF INNOCENT CIVILIANS IN
SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO ON NOVEMBER 23, 2009
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao City Chapter strongly condemns
the abduction and mass murder of the group of innocent civilians in the town of
Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao Province on November 23, 2009. Reportedly,
members of a political clan were on a convoy of several vehicles to file their
candidates’ certificates of candidacy at the Commission on Elections (C0MELEC)
office in Shariff Aguak accompanied by a number of media practitioners and their
two lady lawyers when they were waylaid by group of armed men allied with a rival
political clan, who later abducted and killed all those in the convoy.
The manner by which the crime was executed is the lowest of its kind as it
clearly shows the depravity and the lack of respect for human life by the
perpetrators. There is no legal nor moral justification whatsoever for the mass murder
of innocent civilians who have family members who rely on them.
The IBP Davao City Chapter doubly denounces and deplores the killing of
the two lady lawyers who were there to simply assist their clients in the practice of
their profession and the media practitioners who were also there to witness
democracy at work. Reports of the rape and mutilation of some of those killed
seriously aggravate these terrible crimes and utterly have no place in our civilized
society governed by the rule of law.
We firmly appeal to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to exercise her
utmost political will by immediately ordering the leadership of the Philippines
National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to conduct a thorough, swift
and impartial investigation of these heinous crimes and bring the perpetuators to the
bars of justice – who ever are responsible. This gruesome murders should and ought
not to be dismissed and classified as simply another political killings which is
prevalent in our ever fragile democracy, for to do so is to degenerate in our political
maturity as a nation and worst, makes us complacent to think and act like the
perpetuators themselves who, in their sick and neurotic mind, think that democracy
is won by the barrel of the gun and the enormous wealth and power of those in
power.
Atty. Socorro Ermac Cabreros
Chapter President
Atty. Martin B. Delgra III
Public Relations Officer