The pot calling the kettle black

He who comes to court, must do so with clean hands. That is a legal maxim that every freshman law student is taught in order to mold their character and learn the fundamentals of legal ethics. It simply means that if one dares to accuse another before the bar of justice, he better makes sure that he is not guilty as well. Christ had another way of putting it. ''He, who is without sin among you, may cast the first stone.'' This former Makati Vice Mayor who is accusing the Vice President of corruption, allegedly turns out to be the one directly involved in the transaction between the Boys Scout of the Philippines and Alphaland. And, so, the accuser becomes the accused. Now, Major Junjun Binay is ordered arrested and by this time must already be in the Senate custody.

This reminds us of the three senators who are now in detention, (I need not name them for you know them well). They were the most vocal, the most partisan, the most unforgiving in their indictment of the former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. We all know that Corona was impeached and the three senators were very audacious in voting to impeach the poor Chief Justice. One of the senators was the presiding officer of the impeachment court and he was very stringent and uncompromising in his harsh and judgmental pronouncements about the impeached chief magistrate. We all know where he is today.

Today, that very powerful official cannot even go home to his mansion in the plush enclave in Makati. The two former actors can neither visit their families nor produce movies for the last Metro film Festival. They were suspended by the Senate. They lost income and potential incomes. They have lost their fans and they spend lonely hours contemplating on the meaning of karma. This was the destiny of GMA, too. During her term, she was very powerful and she made a lot of decisions that inflicted tremendous damage to others. Look what her fate is today. All her political allies abandoned her and she is left alone nursing her wounds of regrets and disillusionment.

President Ferdinand Marcos detained many of his political enemies, including Senators Lorenzo Tanada, Jose W Diokno, Ninoy Aquino, Nene Pimentel, and many others. He branded them as subversives and were considered serious threats to national security. Ninoy was placed in solitary confinement in Laur, Nueva Ecija. He was held incomunicado. There were many who were less fortunate to have been tortured in Fort Bonifacio and many others died. How did fate get back at Marcos in 1986. He and his family members were thrown out of Malacañan and deported to Hawaii by an angry mob who hated him.

The moral of all these stories in our history is plain and simple. Those who are guilty are not worthy of throwing the first stones against others. Those who are not with clean hands should not go to court and complain. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at their neighbors. Those officials who are very powerful today may turn out to be in prison under the next administration. As President Erap used to say " Weather weather lang yan... pana panahon, kung baga..." And so, this vice mayor of Makati who allegedly used to reap tremendous blessings from his former boss will also have his own time.

If the vice president and his son are guilty, and the government has evidence to convict them, let them prove that before the SANDIGANBAYAN. The Senate is not the proper venue to try and convict them, without due process. The senators have no moral right to malign a former anti- Marcos freedom fighter, without giving him his constitutional right to presumption of innocence. There is an Ombudsman and a Sandiganbayan. The Senate cannot be the accuser, judge and prosecutor at the same time. And if the former vice mayor of Makati is decided to fight, he better make sure that he is without sin. Or, forever, let him keep his peace.