A Cebuano lawyer reportedly handing “sensitive cases” was shot outside his office in Cebu City, Monday, Nov. 23.
Police Col. Josefino Ligan of Cebu City Police Office identified the victim as Atty. Joey Luis Wee.
Wee, 51, had disembarked from his vehicle and was on his way to his office in Barangay Kasambagan, when two men fired at him at 1:30 pm.
Police Maj. Dindo Alaras, Mabolo Police Station chief, said the victim sustained two “critical wounds” but was still “conscious” when rushed to a nearby private hospital.
Alaras said witnesses saw the gunmen leaving the crime scene on a motorcycle.
Atty. Regal Oliva, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter, said Wee fought for “his dear life” but died at half past 3 p.m.
“IBP Cebu City condemns to the highest degree the shooting of Atty. Joey Luis Wee,” Oliva said in a statement.
“The brazen attack to our brother in the legal profession is taken as an attack to the whole legal community,” he said.
The IBP Cebu City chapter called upon authorities to “immediately address” the case and put all perpetrators to justice.
Ligan said investigators were looking into Wee’s cases as a possible motive in the killing. “He does not have illegal drug cases, but he is handling ‘big’ cases,” he said in an interview.
Wee is a member of San Beda College of Law Class of 1994 and Lex Leonum Fraternitas Foundation Inc. His fraternity mates have offered “financial rewards” to whoever could provide information on the identities and whereabouts of the killers.
Wee is the second barrister shot in Cebu in the past two months.
On Oct. 10, 74-year-old Lawyer James Joseph Gupana was shot in Lapu-Lapu City, but survived the attack. Ryan Sorote