Will government bungling lose us the case against Janet Lim Napoles?
That seems to be the ominous sign hoisted at the pre-trial for the plunder case against her and various other characters (including Senator Juan Ponce Enrile). When the case was called, it was discovered that State Prosecutors, led by Edwin Gomez, had not yet filed their pre-trial brief.
The immediate result of this snafu was that the pre-trial was postponed to next month (as in, late next month) and the prosecutors were fined a thousand bucks. Not too big, but hopefully it stings. Meanwhile, the case stews a little while longer.
Earlier on, the Supreme Court had already granted an earlier petition filed by Senator Enrile for him to be given the courtesy of a bill of particulars. For those who aren't lawyers, a bill of particulars just means that Enrile is saying he can't make heads or tails of the accusation against him, and that the government has to be more specific. Enrile wanted names, dates and places of when he supposedly participated in the crime of plunder, and for him to be able to prepare his defense, he needed these critical details.
The fact that the Supreme Court granted the Motion for the bill of particulars likewise sends signals that the highest court agrees that the original complaint is vague, and hence the government must do a better job of detailing the crime it accuses the Senator of committing.
But judging from what just happened, if the government cannot submit a pre-trial brief after more than a year, do we think it can prepare an adequate bill of particulars that the top legal minds harnessed by Senator Enrile won't be able to pounce on and rip to shreds?
Senator Enrile can already smell blood. In an interview last Friday, he said he was mega prepared for trial with this newspaper quote: "It's like throwing a fish in the sea. If you're a fish, you can swim in the ocean. I've been trained as a lawyer, a trial lawyer, an all-around lawyer. I'm not a half baked lawyer."
Sounds like an insult to me. If they're not careful, the government lawyers won't just be half-baked, they'll be fried pretty soon, cooked in their own oily morass of incompetence.
If this government is serious about prosecuting thieves and corrupt officials, it needs to throw the very best talent and an abundance of resources towards this effort. This stage, the preparation stage, is critical. This is when the theories are solidified, the arguments are envisioned, critiqued and then deployed, the game plan is agreed.
If those elements aren't settled this early, when the current administration is (self-proclaimedly) battling corruption, what might happen over the next five years while this case wends its slow way through the justice system under another President whose agenda isn't as pristine?
Disaster. The progress we have achieved on good governance will lose momentum, and it will be the hey-days again for the criminal elements in our society. I can just imagine (like what Malaysia is doing to the investigators of the missing government billions) that the prosecutors will be re-assigned to other cases (or better yet, "promoted" to where they cannot do harm). Or, because they're doing such a good job of bungling it anyway, the existing prosecutors will just be left just where they are to finish the job to its sad and sorry conclusion.
End result, all those congressmen and senators who have been fingered in this scandal of the century will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. All those government funds will start losing their way again into the hands of bogus organizations. And we will bear the brunt of it, as government service descends its majestic way down to unbearable and unsustainable levels.
I am alarmed. And you should be too.