CHR lawyer gunned down in Cebu City
THE Commission on Human Rights will conduct a parallel investigation into the killing of a lawyer by unidentified assailants in Cebu City last Thursday.
Attorney Rex Fernandez died on the spot due to multiple gunshot wounds. His driver was injured.
Fernandez and his driver were traveling in a Toyota Camry when ambushed by the motorcycle-riding suspects in Bgy. Guadalupe, Cebu City.
He was the same lawyer who recently went on a hunger strike outside a condominium in Mandaue City, when the management reportedly cut off his water supply.
CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said a quick reaction team was assigned to conduct an investigation.
“CHR decries the brazen assault against a person’s right to life. No reason can ever justify any act that will arbitrarily deprive a person of their life,” De Guia said.
“We have also seen numerous assaults against lawyers. It is tragic that those too in the legal profession have fallen victims to injustices and human rights violations that they have sworn to fight,” she added.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers condemned the killing of Fernandez.
“No words, indeed. Another colleague has fallen with his boots on. We had lost count. It has not stopped and every lawyer is a sitting duck. Rex was a founding member of NUPL in 2007. He was also Karapatan counsel for years,” the NUPL said in a statement.
