Filipino judges to carry handguns

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Killings in the Philippines have for a long time made meting out justice a dangerous job, but now, threatened judges are fighting back.

The Supreme Court is now allowing judges to carry guns for their own protection and will even give them a 'handgun loan'.

Judges of lower courts who are not older than 67 and meet several other requirements can get help to buy firearms with the high court helping to negotiate with gun companies for better prices.

Since 2001, 14 judges and 26 lawyers have been killed.

Just last month, Judge Roberto Navidad of Calbayog City regional trial court, was shot and killed in a high-profile assassination.

The Supreme Court's move to let judges carry guns is the latest step it has taken to ramp up security of lawyers and judges. Previously, it had ordered more security personnel to be posted in the courts and set up a system allowing judges who received death threats to apply for protective security immediately.

'The gun trumps justice any time,' said Mr Dante Jimenez, founding chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, who likened the judiciary killings to the spread of the Mafia.

The prevalence of guns for hire who kill for as little as US$100 (S$138) a contract, he added, had made it worse.

'In at least two regions, we know that a criminal syndicate handles the killings of lawyers and judges.'

The killings, say lawyers, judges and anti-crime groups, undermine the Philippines' criminal justice system. Many victims were also representing or handling cases of human rights violations and the killings are seen as a setback to the cause of human rights in the country.

Some also accuse the government of being behind the killings - a charge it denies.

The Human Rights Watch observed a 'climate of impunity' in the Philippines, noting that as a result, the judiciary's credibility had suffered serious setbacks, with public distrust in the justice system deepening.

An international fact-finding mission attended by Filipino and European lawyers last year found that no killers of lawyers and judges had been convicted and that the threat against lawyers and judges 'makes their work completely impossible'.

Like many, Mr Neri Colmenares, executive director of the National Union of People's Lawyers, said the threats discouraged lawyers from representing clients.

'With all these killings and threats, we fear that those who cannot afford lawyers or those who become victims of abuses will become even more marginalised and victimised.'