Bernie Madoff should have lived in the Philippines

Bernie Madoff is the man who they say singlehandedly did more damage to the “private banking or personal investment” sector in the United States. His biggest mistake was that he sat it out in the US and believed that he could somehow salvage the situation by using his money, influence and his high priced lawyers. None of that prevented the long arm of the law from grabbing his sorry butt and charging him to jail.

It may have taken a long time for people to discover his scam but it did not take a long time to file charges against him. It did not take a long and complicated process to arrest him. It took only a few months to determine what crimes he committed, what laws he broke and how he did it all. It took even less time to try and sentence him to a lifetime in prison.

Even more painful is the fact that the US government confiscated every known possession of Bernie Madoff, which resulted in leaving his so far innocent wife suddenly homeless and penniless in her senior years.

In comparison to similar cases in the Philippines, chances are that if Bernie Madoff had squirreled all the money in Manila and correctly invested or shared his loot with some local politicians, he could have bought a few years of delay from being investigated by the concerned government agency.

All you ever need to delay matters is a telephone call from a high-ranking official in Malacanang or a member of Congress. Remember how long a guy named MJ managed to thwart every move of the FBI and the US government to make him face charges related to illegal campaign contributions? In fact it took longer to “arrest” Mark Jimenez than the time he had to serve in jail.

If Madoff had been in the Philippines and a government agency actually conducted an investigation, he could have delayed the process by offering to be resource speaker at a Congressional investigation, which would start by tormenting government officials like what happened to the officers of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Trade.

In the process, the government officials would start pointing fingers at each other. In the ensuing blame game, Madoff could have bought himself a few more months of delay while Senators and Congressmen try to untangle the mess of accusations.

Even if all the legal mess and accountability was determined, the government and the complainants would have to get through the first obstacle called the “State Prosecutor” who have been known to make matters worse or impossible for ordinary people to file such cases. This again would be worth a few more months of down time.

Madoff would still be OK even if Congress or the State Prosecutors find probable cause and allow for the filing of charges and complaints because the complainants would have to raise the required “acceptance fees” of lawyers.

If the complainants manage to miraculously find lawyers who waive the acceptance fees, the case or the complainants will certainly die from natural causes before they manage to raise the money for the mandatory filing fee.

Even if all the costs were paid, there is still the question whether a warrant of arrest will be issued and if an officer of the court would be willing to enforce a warrant of arrest without a fee.

If the warrant is actually issued, you can bet that guys like Bernie Madoff will know in advance because of their well-connected lawyers. This will then buy him enough time to call a doctor, who will then have him admitted at the Sanctuario De Accusado, the only hospital in the Philippines known as a place of refuge for the criminally pursued.

There he can be billeted in a hotel-like suite, have his annual check up and act like a sick and tired old man too ill to be arrested.

If Bernie Madoff were smart enough to have applied for Philippine citizenship and became a retiree in Clark or Subic he probably would still be free and bar hoping on friendship highway or cruising around Subic bay on a yacht.

Instead, he is now beginning the long and agonizing process or rotting in prison because in the United States, they don’t believe in prolonging the process of very public crimes.

So while dedicated officers of the court try to enforce a warrant for the arrest of Celso de los Angeles with futility, I can only wish that Chief Justice Reynato Puno would take a long hard look inside his own backyard and clean up the mess that he and many members of the Justice system are responsible for.

While we speak of moral recovery, let us help pensioners and retirees recover their money without having to look for the money to pay filing fees. Please put a stop to doctors and hospitals that thwart the law out of a misguided sense of obligation. And lets clean up the process and the people every step of the way.

Until then, let us not call it Justice when people tell you “Just tiis” the system.