High-speed justice

Through their homegrown Twitter, the Chinese learned yesterday that Bo Xilai, once one of their most powerful “princelings,” had been sentenced to life for accepting $3.3 million in bribes.

Bo received another 15 years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power for covering up his wife’s poisoning of a British businessman in Chongqing, in China’s southwest, where Bo was Communist Party chief. The wife has been convicted of murder.

He was stripped for life of his political rights – meaning no comeback a la Joseph Estrada – and all his assets will be confiscated by the state.

Bo will reportedly serve his sentence in a five-star facility reserved for high-profile prisoners, in a spacious cell with a comfortable bed, sofa, desk, and his own bathroom. Food is prepared by chefs. There is also criticism that Bo, even in disgrace, received VIP treatment since his offenses would have warranted capital punishment for lesser mortals in China. There’s speculation that he may obtain “medical parole” after a few years.

Still, Bo’s prosecution is the stuff of dreams for Filipinos who have not seen a single top public official spend a minute behind bars for corruption and related offenses.

Last week the Office of the Ombudsman announced that it could take several months (revised from the original assessment of a year) before probable cause is established to warrant the indictment before the Sandiganbayan of the lawmakers and others implicated in the pork barrel scam.

In Bo’s case, his trial for three serious offenses took all of five days. Consider that and weep. Some critics of his VIP treatment groused that it took his party mates a year and a half to bring his case to trial. A year and a half is good enough for us.

Legal analysts said Bo’s defiant attitude – meaning his spirited defense and refusal to admit guilt, which is the norm in our country – earned him the heavy penalty including permanent disbarment from public office. Unlike the late Deng Xiaoping, who fell from grace during Mao Zedong’s ruinous Cultural Revolution but rebounded dramatically and put his country on the road to economic prosperity, Bo, at 64, looks politically dead.

Say what you will about China, its political system and human rights record; at least its wheels of justice run at the pace of its high-speed trains.

In contrast, Philippine wheels of justice run at the pace of a carabao-drawn cart, and if the beast finds a muddy spot it can wallow in, it may never even reach its destination.

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It’s good to ponder the fate of Bo Xilai today, which is the actual anniversary of the 1972 declaration of martial law.

At the height of his power, Bo ran Chongqing like Ferdinand Marcos in the early years of authoritarian rule, when discipline for national progress – sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan – found support even within the Catholic Church.

Bo cracked down on criminality, and ordinary citizens who felt safer were prepared to disregard reports of the use of torture, forced disappearances, widespread electronic eavesdropping and other systematic human rights violations. He also cracked down on corruption as he spearheaded a revival of Maoist doctrine, leading to accusations that his campaign targeted his political rivals.

He built mass housing for the teeming population of one of China’s megacities, and invested heavily in roads and other public works, making Chongqing one of the most prosperous in the country. With his combination of infrastructure modernization and corporate tax perks, Bo aggressively wooed foreign investment.

Because of such accomplishments, he still enjoys a degree of mass support and there are those who believe he is simply a victim of political persecution.

As we mark today the 41st anniversary of the actual declaration of martial law, there are again murmurs from certain quarters – and not from the Marcos loyalist camp – for stronger if not strong-arm leadership.

The wishful thinking has intensified as the pork barrel conflagration engulfs the political establishment, from Congress to local government units.

There are doubts that the scandal will lead to sweeping, long-term reforms in Philippine politics and public fund utilization.

Some quarters believe only a drastic purge – the type that only a dictatorial Ferdinand Marcos (without the kleptocracy) or a Chinese Communist Party chief can implement – will persuade Philippine public officials that they can no longer return to business as usual, that their happy days at Juan de la Cruz’s expense are over, for good.

Failing in that, the democratic option is to make the justice system work. Forty-one years after the declaration of martial law, Marcos’ immediate heirs are back in power politically, their wealth mostly intact. His top cronies have also kept their enormous wealth and have bankrolled political campaigns since the restoration of democracy. Today, large-scale corruption is firmly entrenched.

The pork barrel scam, with voluminous documents submitted as evidence, should change the widespread impression that public officials can get away with anything in this country.

That message is best delivered through the speedy administration of justice. No one expects a five-day trial a la Bo Xilai’s, but several months will do. Prosecutors can focus on a few individuals against whom the evidence is strongest.

Wishful thinking? It doesn’t have to be.