What if Arnie Teves won't return at all?

What if Congressman Arnie Teves will do a Ping Lacson? Teves isn’t like General Douglas MacArthur who promised "I shall return" and did. Teves isn’t stupid enough to come home to a government, whose party in power is openly supporting his political opponents. He will most likely be like Senator Ping. And the murder of Governor Degamo et al might end up like the Dacer-Corbito double murder case.

Teves is clever enough to discern that Malacanang, DOJ, DILG, PNP, NBI, and all the machinery of government are arrayed against him, it would be plain stupidity to come home. He must feel he can’t get justice under the current regime. No, he isn’t coming home. He will just ask his lawyers to go along with the Senate, DOJ, and the courts. But he will most probably be shuttling from island to island in the Caribbean. He has a lot of money. He has private planes and helicopters. He has friends in many places. When you have money, you can do a James Bond and get multiple passports with different names and enjoy life in some islands in Africa or South America.

I don’t know about your opinion, but my own reading of the overall situation is that Teves will not return to our country while President Marcos is still in power. He is more likely to do a repeat of the Ping Lacson episode, relative to the unsolved Dacer-Corbito double murder case. Knowing that the victim of the crime is aligned with the party in power, Teves is just playing a charade with all of us. He isn’t coming home. That is the prognosis of my small circle of pundits. Our speculations are that the trial will proceed against all the other accused who are most likely to turn state witnesses and point to him as the brains of the multiple murders. But the courts cannot convict him in absentia. All the time, he will still enjoy the legal presumption of innocence and laughing at us.

The law provides that the trial against him cannot begin until and unless the court shall have acquired jurisdiction over his person. No criminal trial shall proceed until he is asked by the court to plead guilty or not guilty. Our reading is that Teves will never surrender and will remain a fugitive of justice until the prescriptive period for murder shall have expired, and until the people shall have forgotten all about Governor Degamo. His closest supporters will continue to support him with logistics and he will just be moving around nations without an extradition treaty with the Philippines. There are many countries in Africa who are willing to welcome a bald-headed man with a lot of moolah. He can marry many women, especially if he disguises himself as a Muslim trader from Indonesia.

If you remember, Bubby Dacer, a hard-hitting journalist, and his driver Emmanuel Corbito were abducted on November 24, 2000. The good name of Senator Ping Lacson was dragged into the mess because he was a former head of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF). While the case was raging as a major controversy, Lacson went into hiding and authorities couldn’t find him, or opted not to find him. He was free and continued to receive his salary as a senator. His staff went on the usual business and continued to get their salaries and benefits. When the Court of Appeals finally cleared the good senator, he suddenly descended from nowhere and immediately resumed his duties in the Senate to participate in the impeachment trial of a female Ombudsman.

That is justice for you in this wonderful land of Asyong Salonga, Nardong Putik, Cardo Dalisay, and Leon Guerrero. If you were a farmer who erroneously got mangoes from your neighbors, you would be immediately thrown into jail. But if you are a senator or a congressman, you can go and enjoy life away from the government. The only exception is Leila de Lima, but only because the former president hated her guts for having the audacity of raising the issue of extrajudicial killings. Going back to Teves, the way I see it the Degamo case will probably end with small guys being convicted, while the big boss will just buy time and come back with a big bang and a vengeance.

If Ping could do it, why not Arnie? What is good for a senator is good for a congressman as well. Equal justice for all with equal means. The poor, on the other hand, should face the music or bite the bullet.