As far as justice can see (First of two parts)

It has almost been two decades since news broke about a young, pretty and well-to-do teenager being gunned down right inside her supposedly well-secured subdivision. The days that followed Maureen Hultman — struggling for her life while comatose and images of her audition for a tv commercial flashing alongside a bandaged and bruised girl in-hospital — caused a nationwide trauma. It was a time when it was almost impossible to see someone with a surname like Teehankee actually get convicted and sent to jail. Once television proved without a doubt that Claudio Teehankee Jr. was actually in his cell, the public rested assured that he would rot in his jailhouse hell forever.

We miss those days during the term of former President Fidel Ramos when Witness Protection was the order of the day and big names like Teehankee or Go or a Mayor Sanchez or even a Robin Padilla could not be above the law. And just like many other unbelievable feats it had to take a Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration to undo justice served and, in the course of, commit another — if not even greater— injustice.

Of course, the predicate had been sufficiently laid. The Chief Executive has the unquestionable power to choose who he or she may deem fit for pardon or Executive Clemency. It is being God for a moment, actually, that, with a stroke of a pen, someone’s life is spared from lifelong imprisonment. And for someone like Teehankee, it is back to air-conditioned heaven with all the options that go along with other civil liberties like walking the streets of Dasmarinas Village with a licensed gun in-hand. 

Not that Teehankee suffered hellishly while in Muntinlupa for 18 years. It has been documented that, unlike other inmates, he had a much more comfortable cell than most complete with facilities. And not that the authorities did anything about that. In this country we just have to get used to the idea that justice is indeed subjective. And, if you have the money, justice is different for you than for most. So much for reform. We still wonder what the penal system had in mind when they sentenced Teehankee to double-life imprisonment full-knowing there was a big chance the convict would seek judicial relief at all cost once eligible. Was it even established what caused Teehankee to pull out his gun and, pointblank, gun down an innocent young girl and boy? Was there any psychological rehabilitation in the process of reform while in prison? Wait a minute, is Teehankee even remorseful? Wait another minute. Does he even admit to the crime?

When the President gives her go signal to pardon and release a convict after looking at the basic number of years served with “good conduct” does she go look into every case as would God who peers into every man’s mind and heart before forgiveness? Well, I’d like to believe the President would at the very least want to know if there is remorse on the convict’s part, correct? 

When Ambassador Manuel Teehankee, from Switzerland, spoke with Maureen’s mother Vivian Hultman from Sweden on our show Korina Today on ANC, he kept saying that the family expresses sympathy and remorse over the wrongdoings of their son and brother. This gave me the cue to ask, “Is your brother remorseful? Has he, at any time publicly expressed remorse? As far as I can remember, he fought this out in court maintaining innocence of the crime”. Ambassador Teehankee’s response was vague. “I seem to recall that in these steps to appeal he has expressed remorse in writing”, he said. His voice was clearly trailing off as he answered the question. Vivian Hultman said, “My husband Anders went to see Claudio Jr. in prison just last year and, no, he still does not admit to the crime and has no way expressed remorse over the loss of our child’s life!”. I now wonder. What exactly is President Arroyo pardoning?

(To be continued)