Using Filipino in Sandigan doesn’t serve justice

My good friend, Dr. Jose Dacudao, a neuro surgeon practicing in Butuan City emailed me a short response to an article he read last week entitled, "Sandigan Holds First Hearing in Filipino". Frankly speaking, I too was kinda surprised about this bit of news, why the Sandigan was conducting the Erap trials in Filipino? Was this perhaps another Erap ploy to sow confusion in the courts? For what advantage can anyone get with using Filipino in the trial?

Dr. Dacudao who is also one of the pillars of the group, Defenders of Indigenous Languages of the Archipelago (DILA), wrote, "You don’t have to conduct a hearing in Filipino because it really doesn’t serve the interest of Justice in having the trial in Filipino or Latin for that matter." More importantly, Dr. Dacudao insists that we still don’t have a national language to speak of because right now and we quote his exact words, "Filipino in its present form is taken 99.9 percent from the Tagalog language and therefore, Filipino as it is presently being taught in our schools is a mere dialect of Tagalog."

Let me reprint a portion of that report, "This is the first in the Sandiganbayan. But in judicial history, this is not the first," special division spokesman Renato Bocar, who is also legal division chief of the anti-graft court, said. Chief Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa Ignacio told reporters before the hearing that they all wore barong for the very purpose that defense counsel Alan Paguia filed his pleading, entitled: "Mosyon pangrekonsiderasyon," in Filipino. He said they would just want him to know that they too can speak and understand the national language.

What’s obvious here is that the Sandigan merely proceeded in using "Filipino" during the trial of Erap simply because they merely wanted to prove to one and all that they know how to speak this language. Frankly speaking, no one really dared them to do so which proves that this move was nothing but an exercise in futility. But we would like to caution the Sandigan not to continue with this circus simply because the Erap trials are important not only to Philippine jurisprudence but to the whole nation and therefore, we would like to see the English version of the transcripts of this trial to benefit also the Filipinos like me or Dr. Dacudao who were not born in the Tagalog speaking regions.

Finally, Dr. Dacudao wrote, "The purpose of justice hearings or classes held in Tagalog/Filipino is not to promote justice or turn a student into a learned person, but to promote Tagalog Nationalism." If you didn’t know, DILA supports the move to preserve our indigenous languages that are totally unintelligible with Tagalog/Filipino, like Cebuano, Chavacano, Waray, Illonggo, Karay-a or Pampango or Ilocano. Forcing non-Tagalogs to speak this language is akin to ethnic cleansing because it is detrimental to our native languages.

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Talking about the Erap trials, it is quite interesting to note that Erap, through his lawyer Atty. Paguia has openly declared that if his client cannot seek relief either in the anti-graft court or the High Tribunal, he would seek redress from the highest court of all, the Heavenly Court. Apparently, back in 1995, Atty. Paguia lost an ownership case for the Iligan Cement Corp. in the Supreme Court and instead of making an appeal to the Supreme Court, he wrote an appeal entitled "Heavenly Court: An Appeal to God" which almost earned him a contempt threat, which was merely left hanging.

Atty. Paguia says, "I’m an optimist," adding he believes in miracles and the power of prayer. Ironically, Supreme Court Chief Justice Davide Jr. also believes in the same things and reads the Bible regularly, something Atty. Paguia questions. But yes, the Heavenly Court is undoubtedly available to Erap except for one minor thing he has to die first to get God’s justice! Worse of all, if God finds Erap guilty, he goes not to jail, but eternal damnation!

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When the news about the super-controversial albeit long delayed decision by the Sandigan Bayan to declare the Coco Levy Fund as public funds came out, we expected businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco to be taken aback by this decision. A man with so many connections like Danding probably misread the Sandigan and of course, his close allies like former Sen. Ernesto Maceda were highly-suspicious of the timing of this decision, especially when Danding is being propped up to run in the next Presidential elections.

But the poor and small coconut farmers have waited 30 years (16 years in the court) too long for this decision to come out… a grave injustice has already fallen upon them, after all, we succumb to that dictum, "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied!" Cojuangco can complain all he can and we can expect him to appeal this case, hence we should caution the small farmers not too get too excited yet. This legal battle is far from over.

But this decision changes the equation at the United Coconut Planter’s Bank (UCPB) and even San Miguel Corporation (SMC) which faces a possible takeover by the government. After all, if as the Sandigan says that money belongs to the Philippine Republic, therefore, Danding can’t control it anymore. So if his control of SMC comes from the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), then by all means, he shouldn’t be using this as if it were his.