Ambushed Negros Oriental judge dies

A judge who was shot in an ambush in Negros Oriental succumbed to his injuries Friday morning, even as the police remain clueless as to who killed him. Supreme Court (SC) spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said Judge Orlando Velasco of the Bayawan City regional trial court died at 6 a.m. Friday. He was 57. "The first report we got was that he survived the ambush and was recovering," Marquez said in Filipino during an interview on dzRH radio. SC Chief Justice Reynato Puno condemned the ambush, urging the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to "to unleash the powers at their disposal" to apprehend Velasco's attackers. He described the incident as "the latest act of violence against a member of the judiciary." For his part, Bayawan City police director Superintendent Roy Abella said investigators are back to square one after releasing two men who tested negative in paraffin tests Thursday. In a separate interview on dzRH, Abella said he received word of Velasco's death at 7 a.m. He said they continue to work together with the NBI and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Crime Laboratory. "As of now we are still at a loss on the identities of the suspects. We have some leads but I am not at liberty to divulge them now," he said in Filipino. Initial investigation showed that Velasco and his wife were going home from a birthday party at about 7:20 p.m. Wednesday and were aboard a vehicle when a motorcycle sidled up to them. Shots were heard and the assailants escaped aboard a motorcycle driven by another man and sped toward an unknown direction. Velasco sustained two gunshot wounds on his lower back and was rushed to the Silliman University Medical Center for treatment. Abella said the motive was likely work-related, adding that the judge was not born and raised in the area. "Hindi siya taga-rito (He does not come from here). He hails from Zamboanga del Norte, and does not appear to have personal case involving property," he said. - GMANews.TV