By BEN SERRANO Correspondent SURIGAO City’s lawyers on Monday decided to drop all drug cases for fear of becoming falsely accused of being protectors of crime groups, and of becoming targets for extrajudicial killings and collateral damage in the government’s so-called “war on drugs.” The decision was arrived at during an emergency meeting of the Surigao chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) following the gun attacks on city prosecutor Manuel Navarro Tesiorna Jr. on Monday morning, and the shooting death of retired judge Victor Canoy on Feb. 1. The IBP stated that lawyers in Surigao would withdraw from all the drug cases until the killers of Canoy and the attempt on the life of Tesiorna are arrested. Tesiorna was airlifted to Cebu after he was attacked by motorcycleiding gunmen while he was in his garage on Monday. Surigao Mayor Ernesto Matugas said the condition of Tesiorna, who was badly wounded, has improved. Lawyer Noel Pangilinan, IBP-Surigao president, said Canoy and Tesiorna were believed to be victims of false accusations. A Feb. 6 statement by the IBP in Surigao del Norte reads: “We are protesting the shallow understanding of legal processes which led to accusations of our colleagues as alleged drug coddlers and protectors because of drug cases that have been dismissed before their offices... “We withdraw our representation from all drug cases starting today until all perpetrators have been apprehended. We will not be able to do our jobs if our lives are in peril, including our families’.” Pangilinan said that another regional judge was also feeling the pressure, and decided to go home after the city prosecutor was attacked. He said the judge feared that he was also unfairly included in the “narco-list.” “Except for some court personnel, judges in Surigao City, five prosecutors in Surigao del Norte and another five prosecutors in Surigao City, are afraid to report for work. Only court employees are in the Hall of Justice,” he said. Pangilinan said that as early as October last year, the IBP in Surigao was already aware that some of its members were either warned or received death threats. He said the lawyers, including Tesiorna, dismissed these as empty threats as they maintained their innocence. “They just took those warnings... death threats for granted. We are not guilty of it,” Pangilinan said. He said only when gunmen killed Canoy, and wounded Tesiorna did they take the threats really seriously. Pangilinan said one lawyer opted to go into hiding because he accessed information that he was unfairly included in the “narco-list.” Pangilinan said that another regional judge was also feeling the pressure, and decided to go home after the city prosecutor was attacked. He said the judge feared that he was also unfairly included in the “narco-list” that allegedly had the names of Canoy and Tesiorna. Pangilinan said that a day before Tesiorna was attacked, he asked Surigao del Norte police director Senior Supt. Anthony Maghari to provide him with security escorts. At 7 am the following day, the city prosecutor was attacked in his house at Canlanipa Homes in Barangay Canlanipa, Surigao City. Police said Tesiorna suffered gunshot wounds in the neck, chest, stomach and back. Members of the local IBP chapter would take to the streets tomorrow to decry the “senseless killings and attacks.” Pangilinan said judges, prosecutors and lawyers in Surigao strongly condemned the gruesome killing of Canoy, and denounced the attempt on the life of  city prosecutor Tesiorna.