DOJ eyes probe on Negros-based activist’s slay

FILE: DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – A Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation on extrajudicial killings may be undertaken in the case of human rights activist Zara Alvarez, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Tuesday.

“We may consider her case for special investigation under AO (Administrative Order) 35 after some fact-checking,” Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

He was referring to the body formed under AO No. 35 (series of 2012) to look into extra-legal killings, enforced disappearances, torture and other grave violations of the right to life, liberty and security of persons.

Alvarez, 39, was gunned down in Barangay Mandalagan in Bacolod City on Monday night.

She worked as a paralegal for the human rights group Karapatan.

She was released in 2014, two years after her arrest at the Cadiz City Public Market on charges of robbery and murder.

Last March 4, she was acquitted along with eight others in the murder case for the Mar. 7, 2010 death of Army Lt. Archie Lorenzo during an encounter between government troops and the New People’s Army in Sitio Aluyan, Barangay Caduhaan, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.