A twist in a blogger’s podcast

In a democracy, the justice system is built on the principle called the rule of law as it ensures that laws are applied fairly and equally to all. In essence, all people and institutions within a political body are subject to the same laws. No one is so high that he is above the law. The rich and the poor all are equal before the law. This is boldly written in the very first section of the Bill of Rights of our constitution thus “(N)o person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”

I believe in the primacy of the law and the fundamental equality of men before the law. For instance, one person may just be a lowly clerk employed in a government financial agency but if he is accused of corruption involving few thousand pesos, he is supposed to enjoy the same legal rights as a senator who is accused also of corruption involving millions of pesos. Yet, I have come across a social media post that painted a grim picture of our brand of democracy. What I read from that internet posting differed from the rule of law tenet that I cherish. The blog defamed our justice system when it declared that “xxx (I)n the Philippines xx justice bends where influence begins. Connections erase accountability. xx Money can rewrite morality.”

If we reckon the daily headlines of practically all newspapers and the columns authored by our leading opinion makers in the mainstream media, the social media post could just be expressing a fact derogatory to our constitutionally enshrined dogma. There was this indictment called Articles of Impeachment leveled against no less than the second highest official of our government. For many weeks, this was the headline story. It supposedly featured, among other things, the siphoning of some P125 million by the vice president in a blinding speed of eleven days. Yet what happened? The blogger provided the answer. “Justice bends where influence begins. Connections erase accountability.” Instead of proceeding to the trial of the impeachment case forthwith, the senate bent no less than the constitutional provision of conducting the trial immediately. It now appears to me that blogger got it right when he said that “when the powerful commits crimes they call it politics” as indeed, the vice presidential connection seems to erase her accountability.

Of late, the Senate legislative investigation unearthed few names of their peers who were accused of corruption in times past. The accusations raised against them involved millions of public funds but their reported dismissals from office were inexplicably unimplemented such that they continued to hold senate seats. Yet, I remember that when our own city mayor was ordered dismissed for failing to give the salaries of certain employees, he was effectively physically barred from entering office. Again the blogger was correct when he said something like ours is “a nation where money can rewrite morality (where the) truth is never the strongest defense. It’s just the most dangerous.”

There is a silver lining to the negative podcast of the blogger. It is a kind of twist of fate as Andy Williams sang a haunting song of that title. The government has recently announced starting to file charges against those reportedly involved in the “flood control project scandals”. Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, the words of the blogger “(e)xpose the untouchable because the justice that protects the powerful is injustice to every one else” are not only relevant. They seem to be providential.