June 4, 2012
BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA
MALAYA
THERE is a move, skillfully implemented, that seeks to stop the Ombudsman and the Bureau of Internal Revenue from filing criminal information against convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The supporters of the plan are playing to the Filipino sense of pity for a man who they say has been punished enough by the impeachment court.
In law, there is such crime as multiple murder, double murder, syndicated estafa, etc. One count or crime is separate and distinct from the rest, most of the time because the victims are different people.
A respondent can be found guilty in one count and not guilty in another or the other counts. He can be found not guilty in all counts. He can be found guilty on all counts.
What is important is the respondent is fairly tried and a verdict is rendered by a court which had no other basis except evidence. The rest of the complaints are another matter.
What could be wrong in morals and in law if the BIR holds Renato Corona liable for what it believes is a case of tax evasion? He should not be prosecuted because he has already been convicted in the impeachment trial? The argument is lame and does not sit with law.
It smacks of selective justice.
That is saying that the only crime Corona can commit is an impeachable offense. He cannot be sued while occupying the position is bad enough. It will be travesty of justice if after conviction by impeachment he is set free of other liabilities under other laws.
The supporters of Renato Corona are pleading for pity, mercy and compassion. He has been convicted in the impeachment trial and thrown out as Chief Justice. That should be enough?
‘The culture of impunity is constantly promoted by our wrong sense of pity.’
Not under the law.
It cannot happen that when a respondent is convicted in one offense, he should not be tried for the other offenses because he is “kawawa.” Have mercy. Pity the sinner.
The conviction of the Chief Justice by the impeachment court is not related to possible charges that the Ombudsman may file with the Sandiganbayan, this time for alleged violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act.
Nor a possible criminal case the BIR may file with a competent court for alleged tax evasion.
Are we going to exert pressure on the Ombudsman not to file criminal cases with the Sandigan because Renato Corona has already been convicted by the impeachment court?
Should he be free of possible liabilities under another law because he has suffered enough?
The culture of impunity is constantly promoted by our wrong sense of pity. We rend our hearts for the big sinners or criminals but we do not shed a tear when law is used against us by the powerful.
This is the very reason we continue to be abused by people in authority. This is the very reason the powerful are not punished according to the law.
We seek punishment for their crimes. But after they are convicted in one of many charges, we want to pity them. We do not want them to take full responsibility for their crimes. It’s “awa” or sense of pity that works all the time.
We should start with ourselves. We should pity ourselves for being abused with abandon.
Let us examine the records of the life-termers in the national penitentiary. I dare say majority of them are either ignorant or poor or both. Do we pity them for being possible victims of injustice?: We don’t. We say it is their lot.
But we have convicted but influential murderers living out of prison walls while the poor are cramped in small cells and get sick of communicable diseases like tuberculosis. Because we do not pity them!
We have considered ourselves serfs of the powerful. The powerful criminals are treated differently. This happens because of our culture of “awa” or pity. We cry for justice for all. When it is evenly and impartially applied to all, we exempt the powerful. They cannot suffer like us, the poor, the shirtless, the toothless. The law is not for them. It is against them. The law is for powerful people.
Pity or “awa” is the principal reason we cannot mount a revolt against an oppressive regime. We did it twice in two EDSA revolutions. We thought people power, done twice, would introduce the change that we have long sought but did not do much about except mount a bloodless revolt.
As they say, the more we try to change, the more things look the same. We do not, in truth, even try to change. How can we when we hero-worship the criminals after they are convicted or thrown out?
All these prove that those who do not learn from the lessons of history are condemned to repeat it.
This is the case of Renato Corona. We should stand proud and tall because finally, a regime of justice and fairness came to pass. This is the new beginning we all hope for. Now we have it. But we do not want to pursue it to its logical end.
The oppressor or violator of the Constitution and the laws one of whom happens to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court cannot be punished for other alleged crimes. In fact, we do not even want him tried for those other alleged offenses. “Kawawa”. Have pity. Have mercy.
We are not demanding conviction. We want a fair trial. That is not too much to ask. But because the man was powerful, we must pity him.
So there goes the struggle.
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Email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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