Crimes and Rewards

Promising rewards for information significant for the capture of big time criminals is not new. However, it does not happen all the time. The PNP rarely offers rewards for information that can lead to the arrest of suspects, notorious or otherwise. In few instances, the victims’ relatives also gamble away a huge amount of money in exchange or vital information that can lead to the arrest of suspects and the resolution of the crimes.

The community is one of the pillars of the criminal justice system. Almost all theories of law enforcement and penology point to the importance of public participation in criminal investigation and prosecution. The preservation of order and public peace serves as the primary goal of law enforcement. The foundation and the ends of the criminal justice system lead to the people. However, because of the continuing failure of the system to assure people of fast and effective justice, public participation has given way to indifference and apathy. These in turn lead to the loss of the civic consciousness of the citizens.

Offering reward to induce public participation in criminal investigations shows the weak state of our law enforcement. It indicates the failure of the law enforcement agencies to do their job of putting suspects behind bars. As stated, it reflects the loss of the civic consciousness of the citizenry.  Material incentives have replaced the spirit of voluntarism which has been the foundation of sound public order.

Law enforcement authorities usually release a “Most Wanted” poster disclosing the bounty placed on the head of each suspect listed therein. Meanwhile, the National Internal Revenue Code states the instances where rewards maybe claimed by informers who tipped off the authorities about violations of the revenue code.

Since rewards cannot be promised in all instances, they also reflect the unequal treatment that government officials give to the cases pending before them. The case of a beautiful and rich young lady who was killed by unidentified suspects after her late night hang-out in Global City illustrates this point. The Las Pinas government has offered a P500, 000.00 rewards for any information that can lead to the identification and arrest of the suspects. Later, Malacanang raised the bounty to P2.5 million.  After the authorities announced the P2.5 million rewards for anyone who could provide information that may lead to the arrest of the suspects, somebody surrendered to the NBI and admitted that he was one of those who abducted and stabbed the victim.

Indeed, money works in mysterious ways. In another instance, a P10 million reward was offered by no less than the highest official of the Aquino administration for the arrest of the suspected mastermind of the pork barrel scam. The ploy seemed to work as the suspect surrendered to Malacanang officials immediately after the announcement of the unusually big bounty. Her lawyer reasoned out that people are out to kill or find her and surrendering to the President would pre-empt bounty hunters from finding her. Hers is a special case of course. In no other instance has any Philippine President offered money for information and the arrest of a suspected criminal. This was first in Philippine history.

Public moneys are usually used to pay informer’s rewards. Yet, not every victim is given this special treatment. Many heinous crimes remain unresolved for many years, if not for eternity, because they have not been given such special treatment. They have become cold cases because no hot moneys were put into them as bounties for their resolution. As in life, victims of heinous killings continue to suffer even after death because of poverty. Their deaths do not make them equal with others who lived and died in affluence. The institution of the living is not capable of giving them the treatment they would have in the afterlife. Yes, money works in mysterious ways. Unfortunately, it does work as such only for those who have it in the first place.

Nth PCOS Question

            Ateneo Professor Lex Muga put it lightly when he disclosed his observation that the election results seem to reveal a 60-30-10 pattern. He did not claim that there was fraud in the election despite his discovery that in all the 16 canvass of ballots, the administration slate consistently got 60 percent of the votes, the UNA got 30 percent, while the independent candidates got 10 percent (see http://wew.interaksyon.com/article/64021/midterm-polls-a-month-after--fraud-doubts-linger-as-pcos-defects-surface).

The Comelec continues to deny the probability of electronic rigging. Contrary to the claim that the vote counts of the PCOS followed a pattern (60-30-10), Comelec is maintaining that the seeming symmetry in the results’ ratios is merely due to computer glitches caused by faulty CF cards. The results do not indicate any technical fraud or a mishandling of the elections.

Assuming that we accept this as a fact, should we feel comfortable about the workings of the PCOS?

The PCOS machines had cost our taxpayers billions of pesos. They were purchased not to make the work of the Comelec easier but to secure the credibilty and efficiency of the electoral process. As such, there should be no room for any question that will give rise to speculations and worries.

The alleged pattern disclosed by the results of the PCOS cannot just be brushed aside as product of computer glitches. The synchronized ratios that the machines have generated are alarming. They feed the people’s distrust of the technology and trigger the suspicion that the election body had played dirty with the people’s votes.

The PCOS machines had counted something more than a public opinion. They have scanned and tabulated the sovereign will of the people. Any error or possibility of error in their results must alarm us about the credibility of their functionings. The flimsy ratiocination of the Comelec will not be sufficient to dispel serious questions on the manner by which it has handled the past elections. Understandably, the Comelec will defend the PCOS against the assaults of critics since they were conceived as its saving grace from previous controversies. However, its blanket denial of the questions about the PCOS is highly reprehensible. Its constitutional duty is to safeguard the elections and not to shield any election system from public questions and scrutiny. Failing in its constitutional duty, the Comelec should be made accountable for violation of its mandate. More than giving a general response to the critics’ claim of high-handed rigging, the election body owes us a credible accounting of how it has administered the last election. 

Questions related to the 2016 Presidential election have dominated the broadcast and print media already. News about government and politics are linked to the coming Presidential election. For sure, the Comelec will find means to make its works easier again. In fact, it has intimited its inclination to use same PCOS machines in 2016. Unfortunately, such intimations have only worsened the continuing distrust on the system that the Comelec has adopted in running the elections. The Comelec officials have to deal with the doubts about the automated election system to assure that the next elections will be more acceptable and trustworthy. They should not fail in rectifying whatever mistakes that they have committed during the past elections. Whether they like or not, the PCOS is one of the biggest mistakes that they have to account for and rectify before the next election. This must be so because the future of the country is too high a price to gamble away for these dubious machines. 

New Faces, Old Problems

The difficult days of new local officials have started. By tradition, their first 100 days are expected to showcase the changes that are bound to happen under the new administration. Solutions for the most pressing problems, or at least the efforts at finding them, must be evident if the newly installed administration is to get the support of its constituents during its term.

The problems left behind by past administrations are usually intractable. They are real problems which may involve the machinery of the government or the lives of the people whom the elected officials have sworn to serve. They are not a product of simple miscalculations or indiscretion in the use of public power. For most part, they are about lack of resources and the failure of governance in the face of grave societal problems such as environmental degradation, poverty, violence, deep-seated apathy and the distrust among people.  

New officials will soon feel the crippling helplessness that others before them have felt. The dysfunctions of government and the temptation to give up at finding solutions seem inevitable as the tasks needed to address even the most basic social problems continue to pile up with the passing of time.

While finding solutions to these concerns is extremely difficult, the efforts needed to resolve them are not insurmountable. Of course, such task will demand not only resources but the best of talents as well. Resources and talents are exhaustible materials; unfortunately, they are sometimes both lacking in our local government units.   

Experience shows that the national government does not devote sufficient resources for any local concerns. Sometimes, autonomy and devolution tend to worsen the stagnation and paralysis of many poor municipalities and provinces. Most of the time, local government units have to secure loans from private and public financial institutions to carry out their development programs. Also, partnership with private companies becomes convenient leeway to build new infrastructures and acquire equipment and facilities to deliver social services to the people. Because of this, many local government units have started to become excessively entangled with the complexity and problems brought by privatization of public functions and the liberalization of public policies.

            Local governments should be encouraged to link with educational institutions to address their shortage of creative human resources. The synergy that this partnership creates will work well for both of them. On one hand, this will help local govenments find the needed skills and talents to resolve many of their concerns. On the other hand, this partnership can enrich the academics as they will have the chance to test their knowledge and theories through practice.

Guns and Justice

Assistant Provincial Public Prosecutor Alexander Sandoval was shot to death yesterday. He was young but an experienced prosecutor. Police investigators confirmed that he had sustained 9 gunshot wounds. The killers took their job seriously. They made sure that he would no longer stand up to prosecute criminals and violators.

But who can probe the mind of a killer?

Nobody knows for sure what prompted the assassins to kill Prosecutor Alex. Seldom would killers make known what motivate them in carrying out their nefarious design. Money usually serves as attractive motivation to the gun wielders. To the masterminds, however, stories are usually deeper than the money plot—well, one can only guess the evil that lurks behind the dark regions of those brains.

Prosecutor Alex was the second member of the Bar to have been killed in the province for the last ten years. The shooting of the late Judge Voltaire Rosales in Tanauan City on June 10, 2004, still rings up to this day. Both were ambushed by unidentified assailants; both were riddled with bullets a distance away from Hall of Justice.

Those nine bullets have shattered not only the lives of Prosecutor Alex’s family. Regardless of the motives that propelled them, they have pierced through the heart of Justice as well. With a prosecutor dead in the hands of unknown assassins, how can public prosecutors and lawyers do their work with equanimity and vigor?  Everything is standing still unless the wheels of justice started rolling for a dead Fiscal.

Loose guns and loose minds screw a lot. Justice requires that guns, if they are not all prohibited, should be under strict regulation. Parenthetically, gun control requires that loose firearms be eliminated completely; otherwise, gun control laws will become farcical, a sick joke to peace-loving citizens. All these require a decisive government, a ruling administration which is tough on crimes and their perpetrators.

Guns and Justice are anathema to one another. Guns represent lawlessness and violence while justice symbolizes the rule of law. They do not mix and they should not mix-up. But in an imperfect world, in a society where laws fall short to the requirements of justice, the resort to arms to get justice is too tempting. Should prosecutors and lawyers resort to guns to insure that “justice will be done, though heavens should fall?” Answers should be provided so that their minds can be appeased. After all, this is not a rhetorical question. The context under which they perform their work justifies the practicality of the question.

Whatever caused Prosecutor’s death is inconsequential at this point. The prosecution of perpetrators and everyone who has a hand in his killing is the most important thing to his family and friends. This will assure justice to his family and restore the dignity of the criminal justice system.

Prosecutor Alexander Sandoval now belongs to our memory. He has become a symbol of our quest for a just and peaceful society. May he continue to remind us that more is required of those who are entrusted with the mission of bringing justice to the people. So long..Prosecutor Alex, rest in peace.  

Re-writing History

The internet is like any other products of human ingenuity—it may be used in whatever way its user prefers.

Even history may be re-written with the internet. This is one of the implications of the e-age. The propaganda age has gone into another level. It has levelled up at tremendous and an uncontrollable pace.

The case of Ferdinand Marcos, Philippines’ infamous President, illustrates this point. The administration that took over from his reign had hard time re-writing the textbooks which were prescribed in Philippine public schools for almost twenty years. These martial law textbooks depicted Marcos as highly intelligent and virtuous and that martial law had brought order and progress to the Philippine society.

The revision of these textbooks did not happen overnight. For one, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS, the predecessor of the Department of Education) was saddled with problems confronting the reorganization of the bureaucracy under the new administration. As such, textbook revisions were left to contractors and providers.

With the failure of the subsequent administration in uplifting the lives of ordinary citizens, it has been difficult to depict the evils of martial rule. The lives of the people did not improve. Graft and corruption have not lessened.  Because of this, the logic and reasons behind the EDSA revolt end up with yearly musing about what really happened during those fateful days. The unmasked evils that gave rise to the upheaval were concealed by subsequent failures of governance.  

             Justice Isagani Cruz once said:

“The death of Marcos has not plunged the nation into paroxysms of grief as the so-called "loyalists" had hoped. By and large, it has been met with only passing interest if not outright indifference from the people. Clearly, the discredited dictator is in death no El Cid. Marcos dead is only an unpleasant memory, not a bolt of lightning to whip the blood. This only shows that if he was at all a threat to the national security when he was already moribund that feeble threat has died with him. As the government stresses, he has been reduced to a non-person (which makes me wonder why it is still afraid of him). His cadaver is not even regarded as a symbol of this or that or whatever except by his fanatical followers. It is only a dead body waiting to be interred in this country. This is a tempest in a teapot. We have more important things to do than debating over a corpse that deserves no kinder fate than dissolution and oblivion. I say let it be brought home and buried deep and let us be done with it forever. (see Marcos v. Manglapus, G.R. No. 88211, Resolution on Motion for Reconsideration, October 27, 1989)

             Justice Isagani Cruz’ point of view is valid unto this day of course. However, with the resurgence of the Marcoses in Philippine politics (the clan has a senator now, a Congresswoman and a governor, and allies occupying high positions in government), it has now become easier to depict the deposed dictator as a hero and social messiah. The internet has provided the medium for building the cult anew. The dead is rising again—the social networking sites are giving birth to a new regime of the undead.

Talking and Fighting for Peace

Talking and Fighting for Peace

The communist armed rebellion in the Philippines is the longest armed conflict in Asia. The government has tried its best to end the conflict through peaceful means. It has been working hard to engage the communist extreme left in the peace table but to no avail. Its armed violence continues while its propaganda machines are depicting the inevitable victory of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist movement.

The attacks in the recent month are proof that like toothaches, the armed conflict will not just go away. It seems that the National Democratic Front (NDF) can always find reasons to stall the peace talk every time it wants to back out from the peace negotiation. Just recently, the NDF demanded for the release of certain political prisoners as a pre-condition for the continuation of the peace talk. Of course, the government cannot just do so. Almost all of the personalities that the NDF wants to be released are facing criminal charges in courts for the commission of crimes unrelated to rebellion. Thus, it is not easy for the government to have them released from jail, even for the sake of the peace process.

Seriously, it seems that the talks are not getting anywhere. Unfortunately, the government is not successful in the battlefield either. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is tasked to end the armed conflict by military action. It solely shoulders the responsibility of waging war against all armed rebel groups in the country. But despite its efforts, the rebellion continues to drag on.

The communist movement seems to gain strength continuously. Sadly, many politicians are colluding with the CPP-NDF-NPA for their political ends. Funding and material supports are coming to the communist extreme left not only from businesses but also from politicians who made use of its armed partisans during and after elections. Ironically, this relationship between them is both parasitic and symbiotic. They both derive benefits from this unholy partnership despite their opposite interests.   

Of course, the government could not just stop the talking with the CPP-NDF-NPA. However, it has to be more creative this time. The armed communist rebellion is a complex campaign involving both political and military approaches. Unfortunately, the government response to this campaign often results to political losses both in the local and international fronts.

            “Even wars have limits,” says the basic principle of the laws of war. But the armed conflict we know does not show any regards to certain humanitarian principles applicable to internal armed conflicts. What we see are soldiers (who do not have combat duty) and civilians being liquidated by armed partisans. These violations of basic humanitarian principles make the need for peace imperative and urgent.  

            Ending the armed conflict would not guarantee peace. On the other hand, not ending it or doing nothing about it is fraught with grave danger of atrocities and destruction. A Stalinist Godless utopia means the subjugation of Philippine society to totalitarian ideology and the death or imprisonment of many who would oppose the CPP.

Talking peace is not enough to end the armed violence. The armed violence should be ended, and in truth, talking peace is only one of the many means of doing it.   

Inevitable But Not Necessarily Irreversible.

Inevitable But Not Necessarily Irreversible.

60-30-10. An Atenean Math wizard had figured that the results produced by the PCOS machines in major voting districts revealed this pattern: 60% of the votes were generated for administration’s senatorial slate, 30% for the UNA’s, and 10% for independent candidates. In figures, the last election registered 9 senators for the Liberal Party and 3 senators for the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA). Of course, the COMELEC would never admit this. The so-called similarities are purely coincidental, they say.

So far, nobody is trying to guess what’s next for the Senate. The replacement of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile seems inevitable as Senator Franklin Drilon has shown that he is delighted with the new majority’s consensus to make him the next Senate President. Once this is done, the Liberal Party would have the whole Congress in its wing.

Sadly, no prospect for meaningful legislations is evident in the coming three years. The Liberal Party and its allies may try to push for the passage of the controversial divorce bill before 2016. However, this is a double-edged sword which it should never pull out. The Party cannot rely on its newly elected Congresspersons to engage in a divisive and controversial political and social debate. Unless it can assure that its candidate in the coming 2016 Presidential election can win against VP Jejomar Binay, mass exodus from the Party is likely to happen anytime from now until the next election.

Alliances among political parties will break and shall be made more often than necessary before the 2016 elections. This is not difficult to foresee. After all, ours is not a party politics. The traditional political parties in the country are organized based on personalities and convenience. Party principles are usually the things for small parties as politicians in big parties shift loyalties based on whether certain political personalities or affiliations can guarantee continuing control over their positions.

On the other hand, the economy will continue to float but without expanding. This is not difficult to see, and accept. We have failed to create growth-producing industries. As such, the employments we have in the Philippines are always temporary and highly dependent on foreign capital. And despite this reality, government propagandists will continue with sloganeering to convince the poor that their lives are getting better.

            Few years ago, scientists around the world had agreed on the proposition that climate change is inevitable. Climate change is bound to happen because we have tampered with the environment. Well, it is inevitable—not necessarily irreversible—they said. Be that as it may, the problem is no longer within the confines of human decision only. Humanity has to confront climate change with the best ideas and the most decisive actions that it could have. And to overcome the effects of erratic weather changes, scientists have advised us to undertake certain fundamental adaptation and mitigation measures.

The Philippine affairs are like climate change as many things in our country seem inevitable also. In fact, our future is not difficult to predict. Things are bound to happen because we have tampered with our past. And just like the stated prescriptions for climate change, we will need the best ideas and the most decisive actions to survive what seems to be inevitable.

Indeed, our state of affairs is inevitable, but not necessarily irreversible.