Make our justice system work

Written on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 10:19 am | by Arbet

Everyone’s angry about what had happened to those bank personnel who were mercilessly killed by obviously evil people. Who wouldn’t, when the crime was committed in cold blood; and what could be more worst than deliberate murder?

Two of my esteemed co-bloggers here at Filipino Voices have already expressed their opinion (in Rom’s case, her anguish), and this part from Atty. Butch’s post caught my interest:

I’m certain the RCBC murderers took some cold, cruel comfort, while they were pulling the triggers on their victims, from the knowledge that, however heinous their crimes, they would never be lawfully executed by the State.

But they can be extralegally executed, right? Calling Fred Lim and/or Rod Duterte and/or Jovito Palparan. Kidding aside, what’s forty years if you can survive that long? You can launder the money with ease, and get to enjoy the fruits of their crimes afterwards? Of course, that depends on the judge and the prosecution’s evidence. Heck, if I were to handle this case, my judgment (if ever the suspects were truly guilty) would be simple: reclusion perpetua for each murdered victims without any possibility of parole.

However, these criminals take comfort in the fact that it would take some time for the justice system to get them: for the police to apprehend them, for the prosecution to file cases, for the judge to hear the case, till the time the Supreme Court upholds the guilty verdict. That is assuming on several factors: that the police would get them, that the evidence would be overwhelming, that the suspects would hire great lawyers who could delay the proceedings, bribe the judge, or the prosecuting team could be weak. Money makes the world go round, and it can even buy justice. And of course, these criminals know that even if they are found guilty, they will die of sickness or old age, not murder, unless they survive the jungle called National Bilibid Prisons.

In short, they committed the crime because they knew the odds are stacked against the People of the Philippines. Our justice system works in favor of the suspects. And that is why I perfectly understand the sentiments of Atty. Butch and Rom.

We can always do our part as citizens of this country in making our justice system work. Sometimes we have to forgo our concept of self-preservation (the concept that currently ails this country). When we see a crime, report it immediately. When you know something about a crime, contact the police. We should not hesitate to stand as witness during a trial. If a relative has committed a crime, report it immediately; if possible, turn him/her over to the police. Follow the law. It is not easy, but these things must be done in order for our justice system to work. I do not have to state the otherwise part.

Of course, we should call on the police to do their part. Please bring back the police-on-the-beat. Please, Mr. Policeman, get a buddy and start walking the streets again. If it means going back to the brown uniform, so be it. Please get off your airconditioned precints/police cars, and walk with us.

And if you know something about this horrendous crime, please, mighty please, tell the police. If one of the criminals is a family member, please forget blood ties - report him/her to the police. For what is money tainted with blood? That makes you a criminal, too.

Let us make our justice system work. Let us make criminal’s lives harder. Let us make crimes pay.

—

Dedicated to those who forget what accountability and command responsibility are.

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About The Author: Arbet is a technical writer who blogs about non-technical stuff, and since there are no technical manuals about citizenship and civic involvement, he chose to write about these topics. He blogs at AWBHoldings.com when is not busy writing API documentation or having a high blood pressure reading the news or pro-Gloria Arroyo comments.

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Comments

9 Responses to “Make our justice system work”

  1. Jon Limjap on May 19th, 2008 11:00 am

    We could also try and increase the salaries of our police so that, oh, you know, they wouldn’t have to turn into criminals to support their families. ;)

  2. RCBC Cabuyao Bank Robbery Victims and Their Families » A Filipina Mom Blogger » on May 19th, 2008 11:34 am

    […] Make our justice system work by Arbet […]

  3. Arbet on May 19th, 2008 11:36 am

    @Jon Yeah, and that, too.

  4. Prudence on May 19th, 2008 2:29 pm

    Can’t help but agree, Arbet. We may see a lot of deficiencies in the system, numerous entanglements that we could blame responsibility for why we just won’t progress. But in the end, it’s just up to us, if we could only do the little things to make our country better.

    As for increasing the salaries of our policemen, I do agree that they need such, though I doubt if it will effectively decrease the number of policemen turning to criminal activity to augment their meager income. I think it’s more because of the taste of power that’s why some do these things.

  5. Jon Limjap on May 19th, 2008 3:14 pm

    Prudence,

    Well, it doesn’t solve all of the problems, but it’s much easier to entice a hungry man into rage than one who has a full stomach.

    Besides, we should outgrow the “crime does not pay” naivette and recognize that it’s precisely why a lot of people turn to crime. Crime pays big, hard money — as in cold, cold cash. And that’s part of the reason people do it.

  6. butch on May 19th, 2008 8:16 pm

    You said it, Arbet. The odds are stacked against the People of the Philippines, whether they be murder or other crimes, like large-scale corruption, which all trample upon our rights as a people.

  7. cocoy on May 19th, 2008 10:24 pm

    Ah justice. What is Justice?

    I’m not an advocate of the death penalty. I don’t think it is a deterrent. I mean, drug dealers, bank robbers— criminals live each day with the threat of death on their head. They still do the thing they do, day in, day out. What makes anybody think, we the people can scare them that way?

    OK, our jails are… well the next thing to hell i suppose but even that isn’t a deterrent.

    The Philippines is like the Wild West.

    But you are right. We need a better justice system. Not just a justice system that fast tracks cases, and makes it to put it bluntly economically viable to seek judgment from the court but also a police that well, actually works.

    How many bank robberies occurred in Manila in the last 12 months? And how many did the police solve? A lot of crimes happen in Manila and Police can’t respond for the simple reason that they have no way to communicate with one another to direct and commit assets into play. That’s in Manila, what more outside of it?

    Like many services in the Philippines— hospitals, education, fire fighting, jails etc., the National Police is stretched thin. It is a monolithic system that has assets committed at the wrong places. It is inefficient by the nature of its “hugeness”.

    If I remember correctly the reason for a national police was a fear that local government would use the Police as their own private army. 20 years later, people still have private armies and we have an ineffective national police. I hate to say it, perhaps all these services should be sent back to Local Government so each City/Town/Province would know exactly just how much of what is needed and can afford, instead of everything being so out of sync.

    Even if that doesn’t happen, there are things that can be done to improve the delivery of justice. Give police a communications system. Give them radios, whether or not they’re walking the street. What good is police, if you can’t get them coordinated to catch a perp? Give their squad cars ,radios and the police helicopter a radio so all those pieces are in play and coordinated.

    I don’t want police to be just walking the street, though that would be a good 2nd step after beefing up their communications system. They need to earn our trust that they can actually solve cases and not live in fear that the police will be taking advantage of people.

    Putting in Cameras across the City would be a great idea, especially for post game analysis of big crimes and increased police presence.

    Where is Justice without honor?

    The next thing is the court. In a country where everything can easily be bought and paid for, even frivolous cases, even justice… having a fair Court of Law would be third best thing after the Police.

  8. Jon Limjap on May 20th, 2008 9:54 am

    cocoy,

    But, I fear, putting the control of police back to them feeble-minded-small-town-mayors will turn an inefficient police force into a non-existent police force. You only have to be reminded of the way these police were used by mayors to be their goons and hitmen, and as such, the trust with police forces totally eroded. Do you want to go back to that “zero trust of Police” environment as opposed to our “little trust of Police” environment that we have right now?

    There are ways to improve the National Police, and I don’t think giving them back to imbecilic, megalomaniac small-town/small-time mayors is a solution.

  9. Jon Limjap on May 22nd, 2008 4:48 pm

    Three RCBC suspects killed in shootout:

    http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080522-138045/3-RCBC-massacre-suspects-killed-in-Tanauan-City

    I wanna be totally objective about the incident and hope a proper and fair investigation will be conducted by the NBI to determine whether the death of the suspects are justified.

    This comes only a day after the lone suspect in the Calamba massacre was also killed in a 15-minute shooting match with the police.

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