Lawbreakers

You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. And you don’t know who should make you weep more: nuisance candidate Elly Pamatong strewing metal spikes all over Metro Manila and other parts of the country, or Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita warning darkly that the caper was the handiwork of troublemakers out to destabilize the government.

Seeing pictures of the bent four-inch nails, my drive home the other night was unusually slow as I watched out for any spike on the road that could render my tires useless. Those who got spikes in their tires and tried to patch up the damage will find out quickly that those patches won’t last; the damage is too big and those tires are good only for burning on New Year’s Eve.

Until yesterday some security officials were still insisting on the destabilization angle, doubting Pamatong’s capability to launch that spike attack. Do they know something we don’t?

With all the lunatics running around, waving the banner of democracy, I don’t know how much more destabilized we can get.

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This is, after all, a country where coup attempts have become a spectator sport (and, if some government officials could have their way, a tourist attraction).

Anything goes, helped along by lackadaisical law enforcement. The other night the son of outgoing Sen. Robert Jaworski (and brother of Pasig Congressman-elect Dodot), Ryan Joseph, figured in yet another shooting incident in San Juan. Police are reportedly looking into on-line gambling as the cause of the shootout between the 30-year-old and a teenage boy. The boy is said to be the son of an executive of Mega Pacific, the private consortium in that aborted poll automation deal with the Commission on Elections.

Police said at least 60 shells from M-16 rifles as well as caliber .45 and 9mm automatics were recovered from the parking lot of a restaurant in East Greenhills. At least six vehicles were hit by gunfire. Good thing no one was killed.

A check with the Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Division showed that Ryan Joseph, who was once arrested in a drug sting, had 11 guns registered in his name, including several rifles and a shotgun. He has no permit to carry any of the guns outside his residence and the number of the guns far exceeds what the law allows for civilians. Also, the gun licenses were issued even after he had raked Annapolis street in North Greenhills with gunfire on Aug. 25, 2002. His excuse back then? He was hunting rats. Were any charges filed? Now we know the obvious answer.

The only reason the son could get away with that "rat hunt" was the clout of his father the senator, who like his amulet-bearing father-in-law tends to align himself with whoever is in power. Jaworski has lost his re-election bid, praise the Lord, but another son is now a congressman. Will Ryan Joseph get another slap on the wrist this time?

Senator Jaworski said recently that he lost his re-election bid because his fans had either died or migrated. After seeing him in action (or inaction) at the Senate, you’ll understand why his fans will migrate or suffer a fatal heart attack.

When lawmakers’ relatives themselves are breaking the law, you can’t expect citizens to respect it. Now we have owners of at least 167 vehicles from Metro Manila to Northern Luzon, where even the dangerous Kennon Road to Baguio City was strewn with spikes, hunting down a confessed lawbreaker named Elly Pamatong.

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Those 167 might have some luck in getting Pamatong, since at least two of the victims are cops. The two, both members of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said they were conducting surveillance operations late Sunday night when the spikes hit their tires. They were stalled, the two cops groused, in the downpour when vulcanizing shops had closed for the night.

Depending on the value of the tires that those spikes destroyed, Pamatong can get from six months up to six years in prison for every case of malicious mischief filed against him. At the discretion of the judge, Pamatong may simply be fined, or he may get both jail time and fine. If he is made to serve each sentence separately, those 167 complainants could put him away for life. That’s one less menace to society, so victims should file those complaints.

I know what some people will say: that kind of punishment does not fit the crime, and anyway, it’s Christian to forgive and forget. Sometimes we can be kind-hearted to a fault. Compassion usually sets in as soon we realize the suffering an accused will face upon conviction. When a congressman was locked away for life for raping a minor, indignant macho Pinoys pointed out that you don’t ask a prostitute for a birth certificate.

More often, we’re just plain lazy to pursue a court case, which is understandable, considering the leisurely pace of justice in this country. By the time Pamatong is convicted of malicious mischief, most of his victims would already have not just brand-new tires but also new cars.

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Then there are those who will point out that we shouldn’t be wasting time on minor offenders such as Pamatong when the biggest crooks and lunatics are occupying high office.

Point taken. The many irate folks who rang up our office yesterday, wanting to know Pamatong’s address and contact numbers, will probably also want to strangle the characters who are bringing our country to the brink of ruin.

But we know how tough it can be for criminal cases to prosper against the rich and powerful in this country. We can’t even prosecute a senator’s son for gun violations.

So we tackle what we can, contenting ourselves with the small fry. But faced with poverty or undisguised mental illness, our hearts melt and we tell ourselves that to err is human, to forgive divine.

Pamatong knows this, which is why he is courageous (or foolish) enough to invite public wrath by owning up to the spike attack. He probably thinks it’s a good bargain: he gets his 15 minutes of fame, and we get some excitement in our miserable lives. Will he ever serve time for his mischief? I doubt it.

Unwilling and unable to enforce our laws, we should expect more dangerous mischief from crackpots, and criminal acts from those in power.