EDITORIAL - Still weak justice

Over four decades after Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. was assassinated on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport, the nation still has not established who ordered the hit. Low-ranked members of the Aviation Security Command have been convicted, spent years at the New Bilibid Prison and freed after being granted clemency by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her presidency, in a move that was seen to spite Corazon Aquino.

The highest ranking official to be formally implicated in the murders of Ninoy Aquino and the man tagged by the dictatorship as his assassin, Rolando Galman, was Fabian Ver, Ferdinand Marcos’ military chief. But Ver was cleared even by Corazon Agrava, who headed a special commission formed after the 1986 people power revolt, although the panel’s majority report indicted him.

The Aquinos made no secret of their suspicion that persons in the Marcos regime were behind the twin killings on Aug. 21, 1983. The truth, however, remained elusive even during the presidencies of Ninoy’s widow Corazon and their only son Benigno “Noynoy” III.

Today, 41 years after the assassination, the weakness of the criminal justice system persists, promoting impunity in the commission of serious crimes, from murder to plunder, gross human rights violations, money laundering and large-scale drug trafficking.

Those in power who exert control over the pillars of the justice system can get away with murder, literally, steal people’s money and betray public trust with impunity. Simply making the wheels of justice move at snail’s pace can allow the worst offenders in this country to go scot-free, due to “inordinate delay” in their prosecution. Plunderers invoke advanced age and health infirmities to go free or post bail on humanitarian grounds, but aren’t too old or sick to hold public office.

Even in the rare times that influential offenders end up in prison, they get VIP treatment, with some even directing lucrative criminal activities from behind bars. From the police to the prosecution service to the judiciary and corrections, the criminal justice system remains compromised – as it has been since Ninoy Aquino and Rolando Galman were shot dead at the airport. The nation may never find out who ordered Ninoy murdered, but implementing sweeping reforms in the justice system should not prove to be an impossible dream.