EDITORIAL - An unreliable system

Norwegian Sven Erik Berger and his Filipina wife Karen are now on the offensive. Following their detention on suspicion of being behind the disappearance and killing of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique last year, the couple is now suing the Philippine government for alleged human rights violation.

The complaint, filed by the couple before the United Nations Human. Rights Council-Office of the High Commissioner, said that their “human rights were violated by the acts of the employees of the Republic of the Philippines by baselessly detaining them for 16 days and that the Philippines is congruently liable to the damaged caused by its employees.”

The complaint stemmed from the Bergers’ arrest and detention days after the body of Pique, who was abducted from her school in Calajoan in Minglanilla, was found in a ravine in Barili. The victim’s head bore a huge wound, which policemen believed was caused by a hard object.

The couple sought a staggering $60 million in damages from the respondent, the Philippine government headed by President Benigno Aquino, for allegedly violating their human rights.

However, as far as Cebu Provincial Prosecutor Jane Pepita Petralba is concerned, the Bergers cannot expect to receive any financial reward since the UN council is not a tribunal. Only a tribunal or court can consider a monetary reward, Petralba had explained to The FREEMAN.

But whether the couple has gone to the wrong venue in seeking for financial compensation, the complaint has only placed the Philippines in a bad light. For it only shows how badly the law enforcement and the justice system fare in the country.

For resorting to the UN council, the Bergers may have already lost faith in the Philippine government. The fact that they chose other venue to file the complaint in their quest for justice only tells the world that what we have is a system that is unreliable.

So the real issue here is not whether the Berger couple has gone to the wrong venue. They can definitely file the complaint here in the Philippines if they chose to. Perhaps they do not want to file the case in a country where there is no chance of obtaining justice.