Justice today is still much delayed and denied!

The old legal dictum declares, "Justice delayed is justice denied."  This month of February, we will be commemorating the 28th year of the EDSA "People Power" Revolution, a revolution of the Filipino people against the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship because finally, after 14 long years of one-man rule, the Filipino people woke up to realize that under this dictatorship, we could never hope to get justice.

Unfortunately, those of you who are 28 years old or those who are over 30 years old (this generation is the largest in our population today) do not have any memories of those tumultuous days of Feb. 22-27, 1986 when finally the Marcos Dictatorship capitulated… after that fateful phone call by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos to US Senator Richard Lugar, who literally told me not to hold on to straws.

Mind you, it was on Aug.21, 1983 when then Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr. was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (MIA) but while his funeral was accompanied by more than a hundred thousand people, it did not trigger the downfall of the Marcoses. Even the decision of the Agrava Commission did not bring an indignant Filipino nation into the streets of EDSA. What triggered the downfall of the Marcos Dictatorship was when the COMELEC cheated for their master in the counting at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), where the computer programmers walked out in disgust… and the Filipino people walked out with them all the way to EDSA.

One important slogan that we used against the Marcos Dictatorship was "Justice for Ninoy, Justice for All" or JAJA. But take a good look at the justice system today… where delays are the norms rather than the exception. When Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte demanded the resignation of Department of Justice (DOJ) Leila de Lima because it had taken the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) its sweet time to investigate the rice smuggling, he got an angry retort from the DOJ Secretary to mind his own business.

Take a good look at the Vhong Navarro case… it is now nearly two weeks since that ugly incident happened  yet the big TV networks are giving this case so much importance because they want to promote a trial by publicity rather than a trial in a real court of justice. Frankly speaking, this is a very simple case of extortion… not rape. But it is the media circus that has somehow extended this case instead of having it tried in court.

Last Thursday, we got an email about that P2.6 Billion "fake loans" that the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) slapped against Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza (she was then the President of the ill-fated Rural Bank of Subangdaku, Inc. ) for conspiring with a former bank loans manager Julius Eullaran to create 6,051 fictitious loans from the year 2004-2008, which comprised 97 percent of their loan portfolio. This report gives us an idea why the once very stable RBSI had a bank run and collapsed.

Mind you, the collapse of the Rural Bank of Subangdaku happened way back in 2009 and it has now taken all 5 years for the PDIC to file criminal charges against Radaza and Eullaran. It just makes you wonder that if you had money deposited in RBSI, more than what the PDIC guarantees, therefore you just lost a lot of money. To think this case has not even reached the courts as it was recently filed by PDIC. Again this is a clear case of justice delayed, justice denied.

Of course we are getting only the side of PDIC who is filing this criminal charge against Mayor Radaza. But so far, the mayor has not yet issued her side of the story so we could have analyzed it. On the other hand, it would be downright foolish for the PDIC to file this criminal case if it did not have a water tight case. Those receipts of ghost loans are crucial evidence to this case that really took 5 years for the PDIC to file their case. At this point, I would rather not have this case turn into another media circus and see this go into our court of laws so we will find out the truth behind why the Rural Bank of Subangdaku collapsed.

Finally, on the issue at hand where justice delayed is justice denied. Last Oct.15, during the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu and Bohol, I was supposed to be in the Palace of Justice for a hearing, but when I got there, the edifice was closed because of cracks on its structure. Three months later, I gathered that court hearings are done inside makeshift tents because the building has yet to be repaired. We should make an appeal to the Supreme Court to immediately fund the repair of the Palace of Justice for the simple reason that justice delayed is always… justice denied.

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