Part of the problem

Thanks to the flood control scandal, the nation suddenly remembers scams in the previous years. And the big fish who got away, leaving only the minnows to suffer behind bars.

Now that sacked public works assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez has tagged former senator Bong Revilla in the flood control mess, people are wondering if he ever complied with the Sandiganbayan order for him, his aide Richard Cambe and pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim Napoles to return “solidarily and jointly” P124.5 million to the national treasury.

The anti-graft court, in a weird ruling, had convicted Napoles and Cambe but cleared Revilla of criminal liability. Cambe, left holding the bag, died in 2021 while serving his sentence in the New Bilibid Prison.

Revilla’s lawyer, Raymond Fortun, told “Storycon” on One News last Tuesday that prosecutors could file a motion to execute the court’s civil judgment.

Such a motion was in fact filed by the Office of the Ombudsman way back in February 2019, but the Sandiganbayan reportedly found it “prudent” to wait for the result of Revilla’s appeal of the order, which was filed with the Supreme Court, arguing that civil liability was extinguished with the dismissal of the criminal case.

Until last year, the SC had not ruled on the appeal. It’s unclear if it has issued a final ruling.

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Judges are supposed to see to it that their orders are executed, according to the former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Domingo Cayosa.

But the reality is that so many judicial orders nationwide are not implemented, Cayosa told Storycon last Wednesday.

Cayosa said judicial courts have sheriffs who should see to the execution of court orders. Defiance of a court order, including the return of public funds, carry separate penalties, he said.

With Cambe’s death, his assets can still be attached for that joint return of the P124.5 million, Cayosa said.

But to this day, the Sandigan order is stuck in limbo. There are so many court orders that have not been enforced, Cayosa said, as he blamed this “failure to execute” for emboldening the corrupt.

In the exposure of the systemic rot that bred impunity in corruption, the judiciary has so far remained “unfortunately... under the radar,” Cayosa said.

The judiciary is part of the problem, he stressed; any anti-corruption campaign must be accompanied by judicial reforms and cleansing.

Wealthy defendants can pay “parking fees” to prevent the execution of court orders such as the payment of civil liabilities, Cayosa said. Cases are “dribbled” through delaying tactics by the defense. And then they can move to have the case dismissed for “inordinate delay” in the prosecution. Corrupt judges readily oblige.

Justice delayed is justice denied – except for criminals who want to be cleared due to inordinate delay.

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Former president Rodrigo Duterte will agree with Cayosa’s call for judicial reforms. Duterte often cited the weakness of the legal system for his take-no-prisoners approach to criminality. He won the presidency by a landslide. And there are many Filipinos who continue to support his stand.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson himself is known for his hardline approach to criminality. These days there are people who openly wish, in half-jest, that he could deal with the flood control thieves in the same way that he dealt with the Kuratong Baleleng bank robbery gang in 1995.

A compromised legal system raises public tolerance for extrajudicial short cuts to law enforcement. It promotes corruption. It drives people to insurgencies.

It can affect even economic activities such as tourism. For several years now, South Korea has been the largest source of tourist arrivals in our country. The arrivals, however, have slowed down, and this year has plummeted by about 30 percent.

Korean expats have attributed the drop to personal security concerns, with Korean tourists being mugged and killed. The concerns started with the kidnapping for ransom of Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo, who was snatched from his home in Pampanga by police anti-narcotics agents under Rafael Dumlao who staged a fake drug bust in the early months of Duterte’s drug war. Jee’s wife paid P5 million in ransom, but he was strangled to death in his car at Camp Crame, cremated in a funeral parlor and his ashes flushed down the toilet.

Angeles City Regional Trial Court Judge Irin Zenaida Buan allowed Dumlao to post bail in 2019. RTC Judge Eda Dizon acquitted him in 2023. Last year, the Court of Appeals overturned Dumlao’s acquittal and convicted him to life in prison as the mastermind, but of course he can no longer be found.

A convicted criminal who is at large can commit the crime again. Why should Koreans risk suffering Jee’s fate when traveling abroad? There are safer countries to visit.

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Judges and justices, particularly those who have granted defendants’ moves for dismissal of a case due to inordinate delay, should also be subjected to lifestyle checks.

Former ombudsman Samuel Martires, a retired Supreme Court justice, not only ordered statements of assets, liabilities and net worth kept under lock and key, he also considered lifestyle checks illogical.

The anti-graft campaign lost six years under Martires. His replacement will have to make up for those wasted years.

Several lawyers, through IBP chapters across the country, have volunteered to help in building cases against crooks in the infrastructure scandal, Cayosa told us.

He is urging the people to also wake up the prosecution and judicial services to the bane of corruption: “Gisingin natin ang ating justice system, because it is part of the problem... they have the legal responsibility... they are accountable to the public.”