EDITORIAL – Long battle

How long does it take to resolve a sequestration complaint in this country? Twenty years, and perhaps 20 more. This week the Sandiganbayan handed taipan Lucio Tan a major victory by ordering the government to lift its sequestration of four Tan companies: Allied Banking Corp., Fortune Tobacco Corp., Foremost Farms Inc. and Shareholdings Inc. The companies were taken over by the government shortly after people power forced dictator Ferdinand Marcos into exile in February 1986.

The battle for control of the companies, however, looks far from over. The Presidential Commission on Good Government has vowed to appeal the Sandiganbayan ruling and take the case all the way to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, PCGG officials said, all four companies remain under sequestration.

Whatever the final outcome of this legal battle, the case is yet another showcase of the weakness of the justice system in this country. Compared to the amount of wealth believed amassed illegally by the Marcoses and their cronies for 20 years, the amount of assets recovered so far is but a pittance. This weakness of the justice system has also sent the wrong message that crime, including corruption, goes unpunished. Twenty years after the first people power revolt, no member of the Marcos family has been punished for the abuses of the dictatorship. And five years after the second people power revolt, there is still no resolution in sight for the plunder case filed against deposed President Joseph Estrada.

The glacial pace of the judicial system has made Filipinos tolerant of short cuts to justice including summary executions. Justice delayed is justice denied, and injustice has become a major recruitment tool of insurgent groups. Like red tape, the system also breeds corruption as litigants try to bribe their way to a faster resolution of cases in their favor. There is still a long battle ahead between the PCGG and Lucio Tan. Their protracted battle is but another indictment of the Philippine justice system.