EDITORIAL - Archived

Minor mischief can evolve into major felonies. Especially if the minor offenses go unpunished. In 2004  there  was a debate on whether strewing steel spikes along EDSA, one of the country’s busiest thoroughfares, constituted a minor offense. The spikes blew out several tires. Fortunately, these did not cause serious accidents, but traffic was snarled, and owners of the vehicles with damaged tires were rightfully enraged.

Perhaps if the consequences were grievous, police would have found the energy to file criminal charges against those responsible, who were reportedly following orders from their leader, lawyer Ely Pamatong. The man dismissed as a nuisance candidate in the 2004 presidential race was instead charged with inciting to sedition, for threatening to burn schoolhouses if Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not resign as president.

The sedition case was filed with the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court’s branch 33. There the case gathered dust, with Judge Edgar Pacis reviving it only in February 2013 and explaining that the case was inadvertently relegated to the archives.

Pamatong ignored summonses for his arraignment, even after Pacis was given a new assignment and Judge Joel Socrates Lopeña took over the case. After being similarly ignored, Lopeña ordered Pamatong’s arrest. Last week Pamatong was finally apprehended, but quickly posted bail amounting to P12,000.

The arrest clearly was pursued not because of the seven-year-old sedition case, but because  Pamatong was being implicated in a foiled attempt to bomb the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Chinese embassy and two Chinese establishments in protest against Chinese activities in disputed waters. Three suspects in the alleged bombing plot face charges of illegal possession of explosives.

Some people may laugh off the story as the latest silly stunt staged by someone with a chronic craving for public attention. But there are those who aren’t amused, among them Chinese officials. Explosives are far more dangerous than spikes. If mishandled, even a crude improvised explosive device can cause a lot of harm.

This is why mischief makers who endanger lives must be prosecuted and imposed appropriate punishment. The laws prohibiting such acts must be enforced. If cases are allowed to gather cobwebs in court for an appalling seven years, it guarantees that the perpetrators will strike again.