Justice from Justices

I never thought that in my lifetime I would ever witness again corruption whose magnitude can only be described as Marcosian. For the millennial generation, I am referring to the unbridled corruption of the Marcos era.

The scandals of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration are literally sprouting all over. It is getting difficult to keep track without using a diagram and a computer. But the amounts are staggering.

There is the Napoles P10-billion pork barrel scam; the P23.6-billion  disbursements from the Malampaya Fund by the Arroyo administration; and, a COA report that showed 200 senators and congressmen who gave P6.156 billion worth of pork barrel to fake NGOs, including six politicians that allocated funds through foundations that they themselves managed.

This list does not include previously exposed scandals that are still awaiting resolution. There are still charges against Arthur Yap and Jocjoc Bolante for overpricing of the purchase of P432 million worth of fertilizers. This was later linked to a bigger scandal, the P728-million fertilizer scandal that again involved Jocjoc Bolante and Janet Napoles. Then there is the so-called foreign funded bridges project that ended with millions of pesos spent to construct bridges that were later discovered to be non-existent.

But what is the motivation behind all these callous acts of corruption? There is, of course, the political motivation. It is hard to believe that it was pure coincidence that 60% of the Malampaya Funds were approved for disbursement a few months before the 2010 elections.

Former party-list congressman Teddy Casiño is also quoted as saying that selected lawmakers received extra funding from their pork barrel beyond their normal allocation in a bid by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to stop attempts by Congress to impeach her.

But it is moral values that really determine the level of corruption in government. Corrupt governance at the highest levels and institutional deficiencies allow persons with corrupt moral values to dominate the public sector.

I have met politicians who brazenly justify their corrupt acts. Their most common excuse is that “everyone does it and even non-politicians do it.” Then there are the politicians who claim that the high cost of campaigning and staying in power forces them to look for “extra funds.”

The worst are those who have reached such a state of callousness that they actually believe “greed is good.” These are the ones who publicly display ill-gotten wealth with houses all over the country and abroad. There are political families that have a whole compound of houses.

It is good that the three offices that will spearhead the investigation are the Department of Justice headed by Secretary Leila de Lima, the Commission on Audit headed by Grace Pulido Tan and the Office of the Ombudsman headed by Conchita Carpio Morales.  It is also possible that the corrupt officials and conduits will also be investigated for possible tax evasion by the Bureau of Internal Revenue headed by Kim Henares.

It seems to me that these four personalities are not only the most fearless in this administration but also are not afraid to publicly show their anger and disdain for corruption no matter where it is discovered.

I hope I am not accused of being sexist, but it is noteworthy to point that these four anti-corruption crusaders of P-Noy are all women. Maybe the President and Secretary Purisima should seriously consider appointing a woman to head the Bureau of Customs.

P-Noy has ordered the Justice Department to file cases against the guilty parties in all these pork barrel scandals. But this is where I fear the most serious obstacle to weeding out corruption will begin.

According to Senate President Frank Drilon, there are at least 2,600 graft cases still pending before the Sandiganbayan which is only able to resolve less than 100 cases a year. He also said that the litigation of graft cases filed at the Sandiganbayan usually takes five to eight years before they are promulgated.

I believe in P-Noy’s message:”Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” I believe in his vision of a Philippines where the Rule of Law is institutionalized.

But it is not enough to clean the Executive and the Legislative branches of government. There is now an even more desperate need for judicial reform. For example, a lawyer friend told me that the recourse when one is aggrieved by a judicial decision is to file an administrative case against the concerned judge in the Office of the Court Administrator.

But when I asked what has been their experience with filing cases, he quoted the lyrics from a song, “they just lie there, and they die there.” But let me quote the second paragraph from a press release of the judiciary made on July 27, 2011. The title is “SC bares list of 2011-2013 executive judges.”

“Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez met with newly designated executive and vice executive judges in Metro Manila and immediately gave them marching orders to eradicate graft and corruption in their respective courts and areas of responsibility. He also urged them to observe transparency and fairness in the discharge of their administrative and adjudicative duties. He cautioned them to be conscientious in issuing warrants and temporary restraining orders...”

In the spirit of transparency, assuming the Court Administrator is serious and sincere, the public should have a report on the state of judicial reform from him. I was informed that there are over 180 administrative cases filed against judges lying in the office of Administrator Marquez.

I am not a lawyer, but in the spirit of transparency I would like to know how to get a copy of all these cases and share it with my readers.  Surely no one, most especially the judiciary, is exempt from the Rule of Law.

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Email: elfrencruz@gmail.com