How Regional Trial Court Judge Geraldine Faith Econg behaved in connection with a case involving suspected communist leader Ramon Patriarca is disappointing, to say the least. Others find it disturbing but that is something for which the judge deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Video footages showed Econg wiping away tears as she described how she was prevented from entering a police camp to serve a writ of amparo she issued in favor of Patriarca, a writ she later recalled on learning the arrest of the suspected rebel leader was legal.
True, Econg is just a human being and is capable of being moved to tears just like everybody else. But then, so are tens of thousands of other judges and magistrates around the world who are in firmer grasp of their emotions and are more careful against displaying them.
A judge, at least externally, is supposed to be impervious to his or her surroundings. He or she is expected to be detached emotionally in order to maintain that balance, or at least the perception of it, that is required of objectivity and impartiality.
We are not saying Econg has lost her objectivity and impartiality as a result of one moment of emotional weakness, but we know of people who find what happened disturbing, and frankly that is an opinion to which they are fairly entitled.
Econg was also reported to have expressed willingness to escort Patriarca to the Danao City court that issued the arrest warrant invoked by the police in arresting the suspected rebel leader. Why the special interest? Because she believes Patriarca was tortured?
“I am ready to go with the accused to Danao City handcuffed just to make sure that he will not be tortured again,” the judge was quoted as saying. But how did she know? Was there an investigation or assessment or did she just believe what she was told and shown by Patriarca?
Of course, we cannot discount the possibility of torture because the police and the military are in fact quite notorious for sometimes torturing captives, especially if they happen to belong to the communist movement.
On the other hand, bruises can be self-inflicted, a tactic often used by captives to assail their custodians. And as we all have experienced, we sometimes get bruised from causes we cannot recall.