Law dean in stable condition after shooting; suspects in police custody

BATAC CITY, Feb. 15 (PIA) –The dean of the College of Law of the Mariano Marcos State University was declared in stable condition after he was shot on Thursday night inside the school’s parking lot in Batac City.

Police investigators said lawyer Ramon Leaño, also the university’s Vice President for Administration and Corporate Affairs, had just finished his class around 6:45 pm and was about to board his car when he was attacked.

Leaño bore gunshot wounds in his belly. Two suspects, who were seen moments after the shooting, are now in police custody.

SPO3 Dennis Juan, Batac PNP chief investigator, said Jomar Quezada, 24, and Reynaldo Pagatpatan, 32, both of Nueva Era town were later caught at a checkpoint in Pinili town.

“The suspects were earlier seen waiting in an eatery across the campus. Witnesses were able to identify them because they were not wearing masks,” he said.

Found in the suspects’ possession was Leaño’s bag containing documents and identification cards.

The police have yet to establish the motive behind the attack.

Leaño has not been actively engaged in private practice but he represents the university in court cases.

Law students describe him as kind-hearted and accommodating on students who are unable to regularly attend his class.

“But he has a reputation of being strict on university employees,” a student who requested anonymity said.

Leaño is said to have recently fired a campus security for a minor infraction.

The attack on the school dean was the fifth incident involving lawyers in the province.

Of the five incidents, four lawyers, two of them judges, were murdered in a span of 12 years beginning 2001 with the assassination of Judge Ariston Rubio, then presiding judge of Branch 17 of the Batac Regional Trial Court.

The other killings include Judge Fredelito Pingao also of Batac RTC in 2011, young lawyer Eddie Gregorio in 2009 and former Laoag legal officer Antonio Pastor in 2007.

All killings remain unsolved. (PIA1 Ilocos Norte)#