Miserere Nobis – Have mercy on us

I hear the cries of the three senators who have been slapped with graft and plunder charges for alleged misuse of public funds and involvement in the pork barrel scam. I pity their families, their children and their wives who suffer the ridicule and humiliation of the public. But if justice must be served, then so be it. Such is the life of a politician!

I remember a story told to me by my paternal grandma, Pelagia. She told me that on my grandpa Benito’s farewell blessings, moments before he died, he called my father Maximo in and strongly exhorted him never to enter politics for he will discover in the end, in colleagues whose loyalty he might never have questioned, only betrayal.

It seems like Senator Enrile, Senator Estrada and Senator Revilla feel very much the same way. The question is, were they really betrayed? Or did they betray the country?

In this trying hour of great mercy for the country and for our people, I share a poem written by my father, the late Maximo V. Soliven, entitled, Miserere Nobis:

Against desparing, Thou Lord of Sorrows defend me; Help me to bear for Thee a fate more dross; Master of Pities, Thy strength and courage lend me to bear my hardships as Thou hast borne Thy Cross! 

The night is dark, the road is steep and weary, the path untried. I slip upon the moss, yet light of heaven, though the march be long and dreary, sustain me in my hour of bitterest lost!

With God and man, eternal love be blinded. Twixt man and man, eternal friendship set. Against self-pity, each suffering mortal blinded. In helping others, one’s own bleak hours to forget.

The way is long, but Lord, were it still longer, strive on I will, and bear the galling loss. With every staggering step, Lord make my heart still stronger. In sympathy for those who bear a heavier cross!

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In the Philippines, there is a distinction between “jail” and “prison.” “Jail” is  a place of confinement for inmates under investigation or undergoing trial, or serving short-term sentence. The term “prison” refers to the national prisons or penitentiaries managed and supervised by the Bureau of Corrections, under the Department of Justice.

Jails include provincial, district, city and municipal jails managed and supervised by the provincial government and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). Both are under the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

There are four classes of prisoners: insular or national prisoner, one who is sentenced to a prison term of three years and one day to death or reclusion perpetua (life imprisonment); provincial prisoner, one who is sentenced to a prison term of six months and one day to three years; city prisoner, one who is sentenced to a prison term of one day to three years; and municipal prisoner, one who is sentenced to a prison term of one day to six months.

Municipal and city prisoners are committed to municipal, city or district jails managed by the BJMP. A district jail is a cluster of small jails, each having a monthly average population of ten or less inmates and is located in the vicinity of the court. When the imposable penalty for the crime committed is more than six months and the same was committed within the municipality, the offender must serve his or her sentence in the provincial jail which is under the Office of the Governor. Where the penalty imposed exceeds three years, the offender shall serve his or her sentence in the penal institutions of the BuCor.

Those involved in high profile cases are committed at the NBI, Camp Crame or Camp Sto. Domingo. Political prisoners are held in Bicutan while the moneyed and powerful can have the luxury of being detained in a hospital. Sanamagan! Only in the Philippines!

There are three types of detainees: those undergoing investigation; those awaiting or undergoing trial; and those awaiting final judgment, treatment or punishment.

Prison conditions in the Philippines have been generally poor, and prison life harsh. The Philippine Jail System has been guilty of violating the human rights of prisoners by neglecting what ought to be done and just turning a blind eye on the plight of the prisoners.

There is also a certain level of unfairness in the treatment of prisoners. It is a fact that wealthy prisoners are accorded special treatment – comfortable rooms with air-condition, televisions, laptops, cellphones, good-sized beds, lazy-boy recliners and good food. On the other hand, ordinary detainees including political prisoners suffer in the miserable conditions of their prison cells.

Overcrowding, food, sanitation, health, safety (particularly women prisoners), social services are major concerns in the country’s jail system not to mention the extent of ‘freedom’ given to prisoners especially to the VIPs. Incidentally, that decision to dismiss two doctors, Dr. Gloria Achazo-Garcia, acting head NBP Hospital and Dr. Ma Cecilia Villanueva, medical specialist) at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City for allowing the private hospitalization of some high-profile inmates without the consent of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is laudable. Also relieved from their posts were, NBP head Fajardo Lansangan; chief, NBP Escort Unit and Prison Superintendent Gabriel Magan, and 12 jail guards. This, I hope will send the right message to all those who continue to circumvent the law. But the bottom line is that, there has been no consistency in the implementation of rules.

Human rights group Karapatan and Samahan ng Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at Aresto (Selda) cited in a joint position submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, that the exposés on the special treatment and privileges given to VIPs and moneyed prisoners are just the tip of the iceberg of the prevalent unjust jail conditions in the Philippines.

When Martial Law was imposed my father was sent to jail. Our family cried for justice but no one listened. My father like Ninoy Aquino was locked up in a bare prison cell with a hard bed, one pillow and an electric fan. Today, government officials who are sent to jail live in comfort and yet they demand for more. So, what’s the point in sending one to jail if he or she will not suffer at all?

As for the Senator who is now in jail and for those joining him, this is the best time for discernment.

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” – Nelson Mandela