Justice Denied is Corruption Personified

By Fr. Shay Cullen
(Fr. Shay’s columns are published in The Manila Times,
in publications in Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, and on-line.)
http://www.preda.org/archives/2009/r09020401.html

The one thing that is sure to seriously damage or even destroy any family, community, organization, society, a nation, or even the international trade and banking system is when those in power and authority act immorally, unjustly and subvert the rule of law or manipulate it to benefit themselves. The offender can be a father or relative that abuses a child, a local official who condones it, a prosecutor who accepts a bribe to dismiss the charge, a judge who rules unjustly on technicality, a leader who encourages death squads, or manipulate election results, is mired in corruption and fraud or a powerful nation that oppresses a poorer one.

All are perverts and criminals of one kind or another, even bankers steeped in greed and avarice, especially the rich that exploit the poor must be made answer for their crimes. The impunity that government officials grant themselves, the failure of the justice system, the corruption that brings cholera, massacres, death squads, dictatorship, misery suffering, anger and rebellion to a nation is why we need a stronger International Criminal Court. What is needed is restorative justice that heals the victims, rights terrible wrongs, and brings the criminals to a just and truly-deserved punishment. The greatest pain is when the rich and powerful subvert government and use it to their own greedy ends and cause hardship and deprivation to others.

In the Philippines, the good, honest, hardworking prosecutors and staff of the Department of Justice (DOJ) are not the only ones to be depressed and disheartened by the unsavory allegations of bribery, case-fixing and justice for sale throughout the DOJ. The erosion of trust and confidence in this, the most important department of government, is very alarming.

While I know and admire prosecutors of great integrity, there are those who sympathize with the rapists of children; we have many such cases and it is shocking in the extreme. The scandalous case of an American citizen accused by his wife of sexually abusing her 5 year-old child despite strong evidence that established probable cause was granted bail despite this being a child rape that is non-bailable. Instead, the same prosecutor in Iba, Zambales that recommended the granting of bail by the judge also recommended the prosecution of the mother for allegedly abusing her 10 year-old son who is in the custody and control of the American. Clearly this is a set-up counter charge and since she is poor, she could not get bail and is now the one in jail, hopeless and forlorn. Her little girl is taken by the the DSWD. What a travesty of justice. Is there no one courageous, honest person in authority capable of righting this terrible wrong?

The case of a group of fishermen from Parel Botolan, Zambales is another shocker enough to make one run to the hills. In 2002, a wealthy foreigner and his wife set up fish cages near the traditional fishing grounds of the village. The families faced salvation and made a petition exercising freedom of speech to the government to have them removed. The rich family filed two charges of libel against the fisher folk and the prosecutor resolved the case in favor of the rich family. The fisher folk faced jail or pay bail. They appealed to the Department of Justice and a good state prosecutor dismissed the charges. In 2004, the fisher folk still tried to have the cages removed and the rich family filed a charge of falsification of private documents saying some of the 100 signatures in their petition were false.

The justice system is their favorite weapon of choice with a biased prosecutor helping them. That prosecutor was eventually dismissed from the DOJ when she was caught forging the signature of a judge and using his seal on a marriage annulment. Today, she is the private lawyer of the fish cage owners and she is prosecuting the fisher folk. All previous cases prosecuted by her ought to be reviewed by the DOJ and those victimized by her are ought to appeal their cases. With prosecutors like this and those releasing the drug trafficking suspects and allowing child rapists to go free, how can there be justice and peace. Is this why the Philippines has been marked as the most corrupt in Asia? END

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Contact Fr. Shay Cullen at the Preda Center, Upper Kalaklan, Olongapo City, Philippines.
e-mail: preda@info.com.ph
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PREDA Foundation, Inc.
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