Record speed

As in the rape case against US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, the murder case against Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton was resolved in record time.

Transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude was killed on Oct. 11 last year. Pemberton was arrested quickly and charged in court on Dec. 15. He was arraigned on Feb. 23 this year. Pre-trial began Feb. 27 and the trial on March 16.

From the indictment before the Olongapo Regional Trial Court, it took Judge Roline Ginez-Jabalde less than a year to hand down the verdict.

For sure the Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States was a factor in the record speed. The VFA requires the resolution within one year of criminal cases filed in the Philippines against visiting American service personnel. By the reckoning of both governments, the one-year period starts once a case is filed in court.

Puede naman pala – so it’s possible – was a common comment on the pace of justice in the cases of the two US Marines.

Filipinos can only wish that such speed would be the norm rather than the exception in the Philippine justice system.

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What took a long time was the wait yesterday for the verdict to be announced.

It took a grueling three hours for the clerk of court to read about 1,700 pages of the decision, complete with all the lurid details of the crime and citations of existing jurisprudence.

I’m not sure if the same system is employed in other countries. I guess there are people who want to know the detailed circumstances leading to a court decision. But many others tune out after the first hour (and even half hour) and just wait for the reading of the actual verdict and sentence. Three hours, after all, is about 50 percent longer than the average Hollywood movie.

The reading of the verdict was the only reminder about the normal pace of Philippine justice.

Slow justice is worse than red tape. I don’t know how other countries can resolve judicial cases quickly, but they show that it can be done. In our region we can only dream of the swift justice that we consistently see in South Korea and Hong Kong, where neither enormous wealth nor political influence can buy special treatment in court. Even reducing by half the normal wait for justice in our country will be a dramatic improvement.

A diplomat told me that in his developing country, many legal and procedural issues are first settled by both parties before the formal trial so the proceedings from arraignment to promulgation of the verdict and sentencing are finished in less than a year on average. Their judges, the diplomat told me, have no patience with tactics that delay proceedings and only add to lawyers’ bills.

In our case, it seems judges themselves prolong litigation.

Some years ago a regional trial court judge in Parañaque summoned nearly our entire news desk just for one thing: to attest that an article appeared in our newspaper. A clipping of the article would not suffice; she wanted all of us in her court.

Sanity prevailed and she agreed to allow just one of us to show up. That was me, and I spent about two hours in that courtroom, waiting to be called and then answering a few questions.

The judge told me not to look at her when I responded to her statements and questions, so I turned to the people in court. She then told me not to turn my back on her. Confused about where else to look, I faced the wall between her and the people.

Then she told me I should end all my replies to her statements with, “Yes, your honor.” I replied “yes” and there was laughter in court. I wasn’t provoking her, but the silliness of the series of orders left me flustered.

There were no further orders from Her Honor after that exchange and I was finally allowed to leave the court. But it should give you an idea of why the wheels of Philippine justice turn exceedingly slow. We spend an inordinate time on procedural courtroom crap.

That judge was later promoted to the Court of Appeals and, as far as I know, has mercifully retired so I’m no longer identifying her.

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Court decisions, orders and correspondence also add to the delays. I suspect the mountain of legalese is deliberately used so everyone is forced to hire a lawyer to interpret the gobbledygook.

But it’s unfair to people with limited education. Some months ago while waiting outside a Commission on Elections satellite office to see if I needed to have my biometrics taken again, an elderly woman sat beside me and asked me to read and interpret something on a piece of paper. It turned out to be a court order, directing her to submit certain documents for a misdemeanor case she was facing.

Pemberton at least has no problem dealing with the legalese. His government assisted him in his legal predicament, and continues to assist him as he prepares his appeal. The US government, like many others, holds in high regard its citizens who are willing to put their lives on the line for their country. Even when found guilty, the US makes sure an erring serviceman is accorded universally recognized rights of convicts.

Yesterday’s verdict on Pemberton was not unexpected; the only question was where he would be detained.

Last night the Olongapo court amended its order and allowed Pemberton’s continued detention at Camp Aguinaldo pending the submission of a copy of the agreement between the two countries on custody of defendants before a final verdict.

That change in the court order was also made in record time. Now if only all Filipinos would enjoy such swift court action.