He was the last possible card to play for a diplomatic solution to the Syrian crisis. Two days ago, Kofi Anan resigned as joint special envoy of the UN and the Arab League.
In his resignation statement, Anan blamed government leaders who could possibly play a role for the peaceful resolution of this tragedy. These leaders, the veteran diplomat said, indulged in finger-pointing and name-calling instead of contributing to a solution.
Anan’s resignation, while underscoring the desperation of the situation in Syria, was not surprising. After his formula for a ceasefire between the Assad regime and the rebels failed so miserably, and after Russia and China again vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, many considered the diplomatic door closed. Henceforth, the conflict in Syria can only be resolved by the force of arms.
Anan was like a ghost from a more optimistic past. He continued to burn the phone lines and shuffle between Damascus, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran. That could not conceal the truth that he has become irrelevant.
Moscow and Beijing would not budge despite intense international pressure. Assad and the rebels would not talk despite every reason to do so. In the meantime, blood was shed every day in the embattled Syrian cities.
The Arab League, the US and the European powers have crossed the bridge, declaring Assad should step down as the precondition to any resolution of the civil war. The only follow-through conceivable is to extend material help to the Free Syrian Army to win their battles against Assad’s forces.
The Arab League recently offered Assad safe passage should he decide to finally leave Syria. Assad has not been seen in public since an audacious bomb attack killed four of his most senior security officials.
Taking out Assad is not going to be easy. He continues to receive assistance from Iran. Syria under Assad is Iran’s last geopolitical ally, the last buffer state in a predominantly Sunni neighborhood.
Assad’s army is among the best trained in the Middle East. It faces a rebel force that, although badly armed and factionalized along the many lines of ethnic and religious diversity in this country, does not want for tenacity and courage.
In the 17 months of the Syrian uprising, humanitarian organizations estimate the death toll at 17,000. As the fighting escalates, with arms pouring in to the side of the rebels from sympathetic states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, there will be many more deaths before the last shot fired in anger is heard.
Due process
Many years from now, we will look back and see this period as a dark season for due process. Over and beyond the impeachment of a Chief Justice on mere political whim, we have seen the prolonged detention of a former president and a former elections chair on the flimsiest of charges, the Department of Justice defying the highest court and the Ombudsman filing plunder charges with indecent haste as well as little regard for the rights of the accused.
Among the other victims of the apparent slackening of due process standards the past two years is former governor Joel Reyes of Palawan. Reyes believes he is the victim of trial by publicity, a flawed prosecution and partial judges. He has so far evaded an arrest warrant his lawyers are asking the court to quash.
Reyes was implicated in the killing of local Palawan politician Gerry Ortega last year. He was implicated on the basis of the uncorroborated claims of Rodolfo “Bumar” Edrad, a participant in the killing and a wanted criminal. Twice the DOJ panel looking into the case cleared Joel Reyes and his brother Mario because there was no other independent evidence, direct or circumstantial, supporting Edrad’s claims.
Under intense political pressure, DOJ Secretary de Lima issued and order dismissing the first panel and organizing a new one to review the evidence. That is unprecedented. The new panel, without the benefit of any additional evidence, reversed the first panel and filed charges against the Reyes brothers.
Lawyers for Reyes understood de Lima’s order according to how it was worded: to “assess the weight of the additional evidence and its effect, if any, on the existing evidence.” It was not explicit that its mission was to overturn the first panel’s findings.
At any rate, the charges were filed in Puerto Princesa, where Reyes’ political enemies were dominant. The case went to Judge Angelo Arizala, now accused by Reyes for bias. The judge gave the prosecution extraordinary leeway while generally sitting on his pleadings. The Reyes camp is asking for the case to be re-raffled.
In the face of lopsided court proceedings, the Reyes camp went to the Court of Appeals to stop Judge Arizala from proceeding with the trial and to quash the arrest order for lack of sufficient merit. The 90-day period provided by the rules for justices to resolve pleadings like this one long passed. Reyes petition for certiorari and injunction was filed seven long months ago and assigned to the 15th division of the Court of Appeals presided over by Justice Angelita Gacutan.
Reyes’ exasperated lawyers are now asking Justice Gacutan to voluntary inhibit herself considering her failure to act on an otherwise urgent petition after seven months.
The exasperation is understandable. Every day’s delay at the Court of Appeals means an allegedly biased RTC judge continues with a lopsided trial. The Reyes brothers are appealing for an even playing field so that they may clear their names and get on with their lives.
Good luck with that. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was kept in detention on mere hearsay before the judge granted a well-deserved right to bail on weak evidence.