Just when even skeptics are conceding a measure of success in the efforts of Ferdinand Marcos Junior to remake his family’s image, something comes along to revive memories of the cronyism, corruption and rights abuses that became synonymous with his father’s strongman rule.
At least the ruling was not unanimous in the acquittal of Juan Ponce Enrile, Jessica “Gigi” Reyes and Janet Lim Napoles in the plunder case filed against them for the diversion of P172.8 million from Enrile’s pork barrel into bogus non-government organizations set up by Napoles.
In a dissenting opinion, the presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan, Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, said the Special Third Division of the anti-graft court, which she chairs, should have convicted Napoles of corruption and Reyes of direct bribery.
Napoles, tagged as the pork barrel queen, should have also been ordered to return the P365,437,500 that was diverted from 2004 to 2010 from Enrile’s Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel to the fake NGOs that she set up, Cabotaje-Tang wrote in her dissent.
The case against the two women, Cabotaje-Tang pointed out, was backed by testimonies of several persons notably scam middleman Ruby Tuason plus material evidence, including endorsement letters signed by Reyes, who was Enrile’s chief of staff when he was a senator.
This should have warranted conviction on five counts of bribery, with a prison term of nine years for each count, Cabotaje-Tang pointed out.
When Reyes was temporarily freed last year (with no need to post bail), however, in an extraordinary application by the Supreme Court of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, there was already widespread speculation that she would be cleared. Especially since Reyes’ boss Enrile, Marcos Senior’s defense chief and martial law architect, has been recycled by Ferdinand Junior as his chief legal counsel. And the SC justice who penned the extraordinary majority ruling in 2015 granting bail to Enrile on humanitarian grounds is currently BBM’s executive secretary, Lucas Bersamin.
Also, Enrile’s legal team is led by Ferdinand Senior’s solicitor general Estelito Mendoza, still formidable after all these years, and still the eminence grise in the Philippine judicial system.
Enrile, Reyes and Napoles still face 15 graft cases over the pork barrel scam, but no one is holding his breath that there will be a conviction. At 100 years old, Enrile, like BBM’s mommie dearest Imeldific, age 95, who is out on bail following conviction on seven counts of graft, will never set foot in a prison cell. They’re home free.
Napoles will grow old in prison, but JPE’s reported ex(?)-inamorata Gigi Reyes will likely go scot-free.
This case is Exhibit A for the malleability of Philippine justice; laws can be bent to fit the needs of those in power.
* * *
One thing is sure: there won’t be a new government post or sinecure in some government corporation for Cabotaje-Tang upon her retirement next month.
On the other hand, her colleagues who voted to acquit can hope for promotions to the Supreme Court. Drum roll for the associate justices: ponente Ronald Moreno, Bernelito Fernandez, Geraldine Faith Econg and Juliet Manalo-San Gaspar.
Or maybe one of them can replace Samuel Martires, vanguard of opaqueness in government and threat to press freedom, upon his retirement in August next year as ombudsman.
Martires got the post after joining seven other SC justices in unseating Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice through an unprecedented (and speedy) quo warranto case in May 2018.
As chief graft-buster, Martires has so far shielded the guy who appointed him as ombudsman, Rodrigo Duterte, from being implicated in the Pharmally scandal, along with Duterte’s economic adviser who reportedly brokered the multibillion-peso sweetheart deal, Michael Yang.
At the same time, however, in this election season, Martires has found excuses to unseat local government executives allied with Duterte.
The other justices who voted to oust Sereno were Bersamin, current Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Francis Jardeleza, Andres Reyes Jr. and Noel Tijam. Except for Jardeleza, who reportedly has a personal grudge against Sereno, all were appointed either by Duterte or his ally Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Sereno incurred hostility in the SC from the start, because Noynoy Aquino, who had been squabbling with the judiciary, had ignored the tradition of seniority and made her the country’s second youngest ever and first female chief justice, replacing Arroyo appointee Renato Corona who was ousted by an impeachment court (impressively presided by Enrile).
* * *
We need reforms in the way members of the judiciary are selected, to insulate the process as much as possible from politics and other influence-peddling groups that are notorious for meddling in the administration of justice.
Selection of the chief justice is the prerogative of the president. But for lower positions, there must be a way of reducing the say of politicians and special interest groups in the system of appointment and promotion not only in the judiciary but also in the prosecution service.
To a certain extent, the military has moved to do this, by setting specific requirements that must be met in promotions, and giving military officers a stronger voice in the vetting process.
Foreign chambers and local investors alike have cited corruption, inefficiency and unpredictability in the judiciary as major hindrances to doing business in this country.
The Sandiganbayan ruling on the case of the immortal Enrile can only reinforce the perception that in this country, it’s good to know the law, but it’s better to know the judge. And the executive secretary. And Estelito Mendoza.
For us hoi polloi who can’t afford the best justice that money can buy, we must content ourselves with just tiis.