Hit and run: More fun in the Philippines

From the looks of it, we can now add “Hit and run: More fun in the Philippines” to our slogans.

This is the message that comes out of the Makati Hall of Justice after a city fiscal by the name of Estefano dela Cruz reportedly filed a resolution for the dismissal of charges against an Indian businessman who hit a motorcycle rider, killed him, fled without giving aid to his victim and then sent out his “operators” to pay the victims’ family.

From what I gathered, the premise of the resolution to dismiss the charges is that since civil compensation has been made and since the families have issued affidavits of desistance, then there is no legal personality with a claim. Sounds simple enough right? No, its not.

When the story came out in the Philippine STAR, a foreign business executive sent an email that surprised me because of the language, intensity, as well as righteous indignation on a miscarriage of justice. Considering how the media in general has paid scant attention to the case, it is embarrassing that foreigners are more indignant about the case than Filipinos have been.

The email goes:

“ Pardon my French, but this is bullshit! You have to be f_ _ cking kidding me! You mean to tell me that “civil compensation” supersedes discovery of a blatant criminal violation? OK, the families were compensated for what that’s worth, but nobody has declared plain as day corruption within the Justice system? I mean the a _ _ hole didn’t even stop at the scene!”

Aside from his “French”, what got my interest was the line “civil compensation supersedes discovery of a blatant criminal violation.” So I called up a sitting Judge to help clarify the matter.

According to the honorable Judge, the resolution recommending dismissal of the charges is out of order on several points. Regardless of what has transpired, the fiscal should have conducted a preliminary investigation as a matter of process (reports indicate that there was none). Based on the charges, Fiscal Estefano dela Cruz was required by law to forward the case to a Judge instead of issuing a resolution to dismiss the charges.

According to the Judge, even if Rajiv Ramesh Dargani and his lawyer had paid civil compensation to the victim’s family, the entire matter should have been brought in front of a Judge to determine the legality, correctness and fairness of the settlement as well as other legal considerations such as violation of other laws.

Even if civil compensation had been paid, it does not free Rajiv Ramesh Dargani of possible criminal liability for failing to give assistance to a victim and for fleeing the scene of the accident. The Judge pointed out that one of these fall under a Republic Act and is therefore a case that should be submitted to a judge and not decided at the fiscal’s level.

I figure that Fiscal Dela Cruz can cite enough jurisprudence to prove his point, but I wonder, how he will defend his resolution for dismissal considering the Chief of Police of Makati himself has publicly stated that even if the victim’s family has been compensated, the Makati police still remains as the principal complainant in the matter of Rajiv Ramesh Dargani’s failure to give assistance to a victim, fleeing the scene of the accident or crime and evading arrest. Because these two violations pertain to a violation of the law and not damage to another person, the police becomes the legal personality and if they failed to file the case they in turn could be charged at the Napolcom or Ombudsman.

I don’t know if Fiscal dela Cruz has withdrawn his resolution or not, the Judge and I are of the opinion that this is one of the cases that should be thoroughly investigated by Secretary Leila de Lima’s office with regards to procedure and faithfulness to the law. It is an opportunity to once again clarify legal matters and decisions related to civil compensation, blood money, or “areglo” in order to prevent people from merely buying their way out of trouble and for victim’s families to be correctly guided to what the law provides in terms of their rights and entitlements.

It is also a good opportunity for the DOJ to emphasize adherence to process, the law, and transparency among fiscals especially in the city of Makati, where many lawyers have shared nightmare stories about fiscals.

Finally, I sincerely appeal to our lawmakers to write down a law concerning “civil compensation.”  Too many “abogados de areglo” or fixer lawyers have paid off victims and families without the benefit of legal counsel and determination of a Judge. We need a law that makes it mandatory for such matters to be done either in the presence of, with the assistance of, or reviewed by a Judge. Better yet, it might be a good idea to have special courts dedicated to nothing else but civil compensation.

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A few days, ago someone posted on my Facebook page the picture of a TV personality with the statement that goes:

 â€œNobody ever went broke under estimating the intelligence of the Filipino public. The dumber the TV shows, the higher the ratings.”

After that many people began to agree and like the statement without even realizing that “Filipino public” included them. Since then I have been talking to many TV personalities who seem resigned that the only way to click in TV now is to be so “Masa” and go “dumb and dumber.”

I strongly disagree and will argue against this point of view even on TV if they ever let me. Stop blaming the Filipino public or insulting their intelligence. In response I posted this reply:

“Correction! The lazier the TV executives and managers, the dumber the shows. It’s dumb and dumber, When those in a position to design and decide are dumb, you get shows that are dumb and result to an audience that are dumber. Don’t blame Filipinos, blame decision makers.”

In addition to what I posted, allow me to throw this into the pot. TV and media in general have always been about “what sells” to advertisers. The common denominator has been audience and to get the numbers come up with a show that gives away money and prizes, shows a lot of skin and sex, features offensive comedians and frustrated singers, and give as many people their  2 minutes of fame. The irony is that the audience don’t make those decisions, the network managers and executives do. The marketing people do, and the programing people do. Ultimately it’s the advertisers who bankroll the dumb shows, so why are they blaming their laziness, greed and lack of excellence on the Filipino viewing public?

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