Anti-corruption can't succeed without justice

By being too consumed and focused on his supposed anti-corruption campaign, President Noynoy Aquino is missing the big picture. This is not unlike getting too preoccupied with a few trees can make someone miss the whole forest.

Noynoy obviously does not realize that his anti-corruption campaign, if it is truly one and not just another political vendetta against a perceived political enemy, will never take off the ground unless he strengthens the justice system first.

Corruption cannot be eliminated or even diminished by mere political initiatives. It needs to be run through a justice system that is not only strong enough but whose strength must be derived from the quality and credibility of its output.

Unfortunately, the signs do not seem to be very encouraging regarding the justice system under the administration of Noynoy, especially if we use some of the most high profile cases in the country as some form of measure.

Look at Antonio Trillanes, a coup plotter whose men had no qualms rigging bombs around a hotel and commercial complex and whose later actions led to serious damage to even more private property. He is not only now free, he is even being addressed as honorable senator.

Look at Hubert Webb, once the primary suspect in the Vizconde Massacre. He is now also free, leaving Lauro Vizconde perpetually grieving over the loss of his wife and two daughters, with nary a soul on the horizon to hold into account.

Look at Panfilo Lacson, a former policeman and sitting senator, who made a travesty of the operation of law by going into hiding to avoid arrest in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder case. He is now home free, and being addressed again as honorable.

In all of these three sensational cases, there is a “sense of justice” enjoyed by the former suspects. But will there ever be a “sense of justice” to be enjoyed by the victims and their families?

It taxes our credulity to the limit to assume that it is merely coincidental for all of these reversals of fortune to all occur within a few months of the Noynoy administration. Nevertheless, in the absence of hard core evidence, let uncanny coincidence be accepted as fact.

But all things being equal, other facts are just as hard to ignore, such as the slow but steady erosion of public satisfaction and trust in Noynoy. His numbers are still way up, but they have been going down ever since and, more importantly, so soon.

And what could be the reason for the declining numbers? It could not be because of the fight against corruption because everybody knows it is not a fight that can be won in a day. In fact, to most people, it is enough for Noynoy to simply start the ball running.

So the failed expectations could not have been due to a sense of failure in the fight against corruption. It is too early to feel dejected in that. The falling numbers can only make sense in light of growing perception that under Noynoy the administration of justice is failing.

And it is increasingly becoming more evident to more people that you cannot fight corruption by taking legal shortcuts and thwarting due process. Except for Noynoy, the rest of the Filipinos know that justice is far more important to their lives than corruption.

This may be a bitter pill for Noynoy to swallow, but given a choice, some people can turn a blind eye to corruption but they cannot live being deprived of justice. Corruption may be a sin, but justice is a virtue. Between negative and positive, it is a no-brainer where people would go.

Noynoy must plant justice first on fertile ground if he expects it to bear beneficial fruit later against corruption. But if he fails to give justice a fair shake, his fight against corruption will be spotty. Not only that, it will bring about his downfall, sooner than later.