Slain lawyer got texted death threats
CEBU CITY — The family of lawyer Jonnah John Ungab said on Wednesday he received a threat hours before he was gunned down last Monday near the city’s courthouse.
Facing the media for the first time since the killing, Pearl Ungab, wife of the slain lawyer, who was also the vice mayor of Ronda town, Cebu, said her husband received a text message, saying it was up to him to choose between his life and that of his client.
Ungab attended the promulgation of self-confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa Jr. at the Cebu City Hall of Justice minutes before a gunman on a motorcycle pulled alongside his car and shot him several times.
Espinosa was convicted for violating the election gun ban but was cleared of an illegal possession of firearms charge.
Pearl said her husband shrugged off the threat, saying he had nothing to be afraid of because he was only doing his job as a lawyer.
“He had no bodyguard. No guns, no protection of any sort,” Pearl said in a press conference at Saint Peter’s Memorial Chapel.
Pearl said Ungab had received threats in the past but they turned out to be from people who wanted to extort money from him.
The police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas are conducting separate probes on the Ungab killing.
Jonald, Ungab’s older brother, said they are asking investigators to look into three angles.
“We want them to check if this is politically motivated. My brother planned to run for mayor in Ronda in next year’s elections. And also, he was expected to assume as Ronda mayor because we learned that the current mayor has a pending suspension order for violation of RA 3109 (Anti-Graft Practices Act),” he said.
The current mayor is Mariano Blanco, Ungab’s uncle.
“We also want the investigators to check if the killing had something to do with the high-profile drug cases that he handled. We also want to know if it had something to do with his personal life because admittedly, my brother was also known to be a lover boy,” said Jonald.
The Ungab couple figured in a controversy in 2015 when Pearl was accused of hitting a female lawyer she suspected of having an affair with her husband with a baseball bat.
The family denied insinuations that Ungab was involved in illegal drugs.
“His ties with Kerwin was a pure lawyer-client relationship. A previous client only referred Kerwin to my husband,” Pearl said.
The Ungabs also wondered why the killing was staged in Cebu.
“If it was about drugs, why was he killed in Cebu? They could have easily picked him up in Leyte or Manila because he was going to these places to attend hearings,” said Jonald.
The family refused comment on a statement by Chief Insp. Jovie Espinido, director of the Ozamiz City Police Office, who said in a radio interview he was happy with the death of Ungab.
“We respect his opinion,” said Jonald.
It was Espinido who accused Ungab of being Espinosa’s partner in the illegal drug trade.
Pearl said her husband had helped many people, and now that they are the ones in need, the family is hoping that these people would come forward to help solve the crime.
“We call on witnesses to please come forward and help us unmask the perpetrators,” she said, adding she now needs to work hard to raise their six children.
As she struggled to fight back tears, Pearl recounted what happened Monday.
She said she and her husband were on their way to the NBI office after they were invited for lunch by Espinosa after the court hearing. The couple were in a Suzuki Kezashi car driven by the lawyer. (With Lesley Vestil)