EDITORIAL – Forgive and forget

There’s nothing wrong with forgiving and forgetting, as long as justice is done. Several times in recent days Filipinos have again been reminded of their short memories, of forgiving too easily. Manila’s archbishop lamented that people have forgotten the abuses of the Marcos regime. The top US diplomat in the country observed that Filipinos were forgiving to a fault. Other quarters have noted that Filipinos are quick to forgive and forget even before guilt is established and justice rendered.

One possible reason for this is the inefficiency of the criminal justice system. Litigation over sequestered assets and ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies is approaching a third decade with no resolution in sight. A duly elected president deposed through a military-backed uprising has been languishing in detention for four and a half years, with the cases against him still unresolved.

When the wheels of justice move at that pace, people simply form their own conclusions, based on charges and countercharges exchanged through the mass media, then move on. Sometimes people forgive the guilty, then forget. Sometimes there is no forgiveness, but people simply put the past behind them and get on with their lives. The lucky culprits get away with murder; the unlucky ones are indicted and are occasionally sent to jail.

It is a messy way of resolving a controversy. It undermines the rule of law and encourages a repeat of the crime that has gone unpunished. If two people power revolts failed to reduce corruption in this country, it is because hardly anyone has been punished. If we now face a scandal over electoral fraud, it is because people simply look the other way or give each other a wink when they see guns, goons, gold and vote-rigging being employed during elections. The interminably slow adjudication of electoral protests rewards polls cheats, who often manage to serve out almost the entire term of the contested position before they are unseated with finality.

Now, with the wheels of justice moving at snail’s pace, there is again a strong temptation to form premature conclusions regarding the latest political scandals, to bypass judicial processes and move on. Without closure, without truth and justice, with no lessons learned, the nation is sure to face a similar crisis again.