A 35-year-old lawyer on the way to attend a court hearing was shot dead by unidentified gunmen yesterday morning in Palawan.
Police reported that Eric Jay Magcamit was gunned down at about 6:55am when he was traveling to Quezon town. He was flagged down by the two assailants, and he was shot three times when he alighted from his car.
“Victim sustained two gunshot wounds in his right cheek and one gunshot wound in his left leg that resulted in his instantaneous death. [The] suspect fled away going to South direction after the incident,” the police report said.
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Before he died, Magcamit told his spouse that a vehicle was tailing after him on several occasions. The police are investigating if his killing was related to his work. He is the 52nd lawyer to be killed since President Rodrigo Duterte came into power in July 2016.
Magcamit worked for Timbreza, Magcamit, Gonzales Law, where he handled civil and criminal litigation, dispute resolution, election laws, labor relations, immigration, real estate transactions, succession and family relations. His biography on the law firm’s website said that he graduated from the Palawan State University School of Law in 2009 and was admitted to the Bar a year after.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines Palawan chapter said that his death was an “attack [on] the legal order and justice system by means of fear and violence.”
“It is our consistent stand that violence has no place in this civilized society, especially against those in the legal profession who are courageously helping in the administration of justice,” the group said in a statement.
