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ROAD ATTACK Police officers investigate the murder of lawyer Eric Jay Magcamit, 35, by two gunmen along a village road in Barangay Malinao, Narra city, Palawan province, Tuesday in the morning. The victim was on his way to an 8:30 am hearing in nearby Quezon City when he was attacked. —RACHEL GANANCIAL / COLLABORATOR
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – A private lawyer was shot dead by two unidentified men while on his way to a court hearing Tuesday morning in the village of Malinao in the town of Narra, Palawan province.
Eric Jay Magcamit, 35, was detained by his assailants on a motorcycle while driving his Toyota Innova car and was shot moments after he was told to get out of his vehicle at 7 a.m.
Police investigators said they were looking at a work-related angle on the murder.
Magcamit handled civil and criminal litigation, dispute resolution, election law, labor relations, immigration, real estate transactions, probate and family relationships, based on his profile of the Timbreza, Magcamit, Gonzales (TMG) Law Palawan law firm.
He was the 52nd member of the legal profession assassinated since 2016, when the president
Duterte took office, according to an unofficial media count, and the second homicide victim in the city of Narra this month, following the November 6 assassination of Roderick Aperocho, president of Barangay Poblacion.
The IBP chapter condemned the “brutal murder” of Magcamit, calling it an “attack [on] the legal order and the justice system through fear and violence ”.
“It is our constant position that violence has no place in this civilized society, especially against those in the legal profession who are courageously assisting in the administration of justice,” he said in a statement.
“This tragic incident is not just an attack [on] IBP member but also an attack [on] the legal order and the justice system through fear and violence. Those responsible must be quickly brought into the hands of the law by the authorities. “
Narra Mayor Crispin Lumba in a telephone interview Tuesday said that Magcamit was passing Narra on his way to an 8:30 a.m. hearing in nearby Quezon City when he was attacked by his killers armed with. .45 along a village road in Sitio Caraniogan, a sparsely populated agricultural area but still part of the city center.
The lawyer had gunshot wounds to his right cheek and left leg.
The gunmen fled immediately after the shooting, he said.
Police said the victim had previously told his wife, prosecutor Ethel Alvarez-Magcamit, that he was being followed by unidentified people in a vehicle.
Investigators had obtained dash cam footage of the two suspects and were verifying images captured by other security cameras in Narra.
Lumba said he would increase the visibility of the police in Narra after the attack.
“A month ago, before the filming of [barangay captain] Aperocho, we have already requested additional police forces here in Narra because now we have few… Before we had 15, now we have 20 policemen ”, he added.
‘Persevering, brave’
The IBP-Palawan chapter described Magcamit as “persevering and courageous.”
“His dedication and commitment to defending the ends of justice has illuminated his last breath. We deeply regret the loss of a brother, ”he said.
Magcamit was admitted to the bar in 2010 after graduating from Palawan State University School of Law (PSU-SOL) in 2009. An academic from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) -Science Education Institute, he graduated cum laude in Environment. Science at PSU in 2005.
The judges of Palawan and the city of Puerto Princesa urged the legal community to condemn in the “strongest possible terms the scandalous murder” of Magcamit.
“We ask the police authorities to fully investigate Atty’s murder. Magcamit and bring those responsible to justice, ”they said in a statement.
In another statement, attorney Maria Gisela Josol-Trampe, deputy dean of PSU-SOL, called on the authorities to “quickly bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to face the full weight of the law.”
“The PSU Law School community strongly condemns the brutal murder of one of our own, Atty. Eric James A. Magcamit, a loving brother, husband and father, a very good friend and a dedicated and passionate court officer, ”the statement said. INQ
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