Lawyer shot dead in broad daylight in Cebu City

Two unidentified men gunned down lawyer Joey Luis Wee, 51, as he walked from his car up to the stairs of his office in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City, at around 1:30 pm on Monday, November 23.

According to the city police, the suspects ran up to the victim when he opened the gate of the office and shot him. They fled on motorcycles.

“He was alive when the ambulance got there and died at the hospital,” Police Major Dindo Alaras, chief of the Mabolo police station that oversees Kasambagan, told Rappler in a phone interview. “We’re currently looking for the two suspects who did this.”

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Cebu City Chapter condemned the killing in a statement, saying “the attempt to take any life will never be tolerated in a civilized society.”

Wee, a graduate of San Beda College of Law, was a partner of the Wee, Lim & Salas Law firm here in Cebu City.

Wee was known to take cases involving elected and appointed officials.

In 2010, he defended former Rizal, Palawan, Mayor Nicolas Montaño Sr, who was accused of raping a woman from Cebu, according to a report in SunStar.

He also defended some of the regional Department of Public Works and Highways officials linked to the 2007 alleged overpricing of lampposts installed during the ASEAN Summit then.

In 2019, lawyer Innocencio dela Cerna was also ambushed in broad daylight here after leaving the Cebu City Hall of Justice. Dela Cerna survived and was able to fire back at the attackers. (READ: Defense lawyer in Bohol kidnapping trial survives attempted ambush)

Wee is the 53rd judge, lawyer or prosecutor killed under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to Rappler’s running list. – Rappler.com