Thursday, March 02, 2006

Truth and Justice

There can never be Truth without Justice, nor Justice without Truth. They go hand in hand, like bread and butter, like ham and eggs or suman and condensed milk. Truth and Justice. That's the heart of the matter isn't it?

The Opposition--- they can not even be called that. The Anti-Arroyo factions want Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo held accountable for cheating in the last election. It that the truth? the whole truth? It can not be as simple as that. Where is the legally acquired document or data to say so? If for the sake of argument we say she did, what were her motives? to simply stay in power and amass wealth or give her very best or a little of both or something else. On the other hand the Anti-Arroyo factions have their own hidden personal agendas.

The Anti-Arroyo Factions want Truth without Justice. That can not be. If Arroyo is to be held accountable, then use every means to prove it. With documents, with data that will stand the test of our Laws. If Garci-Tapes are not legal, even if it is True, it can not be used. Why? Because that is in our Law. Our hands are tied.

How would you feel if someone raised a question against you using false data? It is not a protection for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo! It is a protection for those times that the innocent are dragged through the mud. Our laws are not perfect. We are not gods but we must have rules and those rules shall not be changed in the middle of the game just because we want to. That is the lesson of EDSA 2. That is what Truth and Justice is about. If they so believe in Gloria's crimes, take her some other way, within the framework of our Laws.

Let there be a thousand criminals that go free, but let not one innocent person be sent to jail. Is that not Truth and Justice? Is that not what freedom and democracy is about?

There can never be Truth without Justice.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's faction has the same rally cry since the day she started running: the economy. they want economic strength. On the other hand Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has this way of saying one thing and meaning another. Some may call that lying. Some a cover to hide her own hidden agendas or insecurities. And Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has this mean-streak, when you get on her bad side you'll see crosshairs locked on.

Yesterday, the markets rallied, rejoyced at the news that 1017 will be lifted soon. We forget, it shouldn't have been signed in the first place. Oh don't get me wrong. Enemies of the state should be punished, should be brought to the courts, tried and if found guilty, punished proportionaly for that crime.

we all know the likes of Beltran et. al. lean to the left. yet people gave their partylist a seat in Congress. why? because that is the sovereign wish of our people. who can construe that?

we know those partylist representatives lean to the left. yet somehow, in the course of dispensing justice, we forget to discover the truth. is there evidence linking them to destroy our democracy? and if there was, why was not it uncovered through the daily course of our lives? you need not 1017 to dispense justice or uncover the truth. All police needed to do was their job--- investigate and find evidence and bring them to court so that they may face their accuser. Innocent until proven otherwise, that is our belief, is it not?


how many times have we seen in movies that the lead character would find it difficult to bring to justice a criminal because the evidence could not see the light of day? it goes the same for other criminals. gambling lords, or politicians or others with unaccounted for wealth. sometimes, a prosecutor has to be creative. you may not bring these people to jail for the crime they may have done grievously done but there are other ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes.

Let there be a thousand criminals that go free, but let not one innocent person be sent to jail. Is that not Truth and Justice? Is that not what Freedom and Democracy is about?

There can be no Justice without Truth.

1017 should never have been signed. It sent the wrong message here, abroad and to investors everywhere. Not even because of the threat--- though on first look people might think we're having a shooting war out here, but more so when they see all this as mere drama, a mere soap opera. You do remember the boy who cried wolf don't you?

1017 also only added to the fuel of someday a military junta we all pray will never happen. yet sadly neither you nor I is President of the Republic and more poignantly, it is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's perogative to discharge her powers and duties as she sees best. even when we hate it, even when we think it is a case of a boy who cried wolf. And that is how I guess, the Supreme Court will rule. Yet it does not remove the fact that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had the power to suppress lawlessness and violence without resorting to 1017. In the words of Former President Ramos, it was "an overkill".

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is doing the opposite of what the Anti-Arroyo factions want. She wants Justice without Truth. Who is the President of the Republic to ask of us to trust her judgement--- judgement determined by Intelligence sources? I am not saying our Intelligence services have no intelligence. may be they do. That is exactly why we have Courts of Laws, why people are investigated and charged and when found for or against, it is through Laws that we punish or set free. It is also why we have three branches of government. The Executive Department certainly does not need 1017 to do their job.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is lucky, no violence has occured or there would have been hell to pay. The markets have been stronger in show of support to her and also a way to speed up the lifting of 1017.

Again, we may question Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's sanity when she signed 1017. The Supreme Court, i'm guessing will rule on something like this: we can not question her authority to do so. that is part of her job, and second guessing her is tough and often times uncalled for. personally, in this case, it must be said very strongly: 1017 was not necessary, if they have done their job in the first place.

Both camps want righteousness--- the Anti-Arroyo camp Righteous Truth without Justice and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Righteous Justice without Truth. That is not Truth and Justice. Neither case is the right path no matter our collective intention: see economic prosperity. All we have is drama, all sound and fury and at the end of the day, signifying nothing.

And that is why our people are Apathetic and Jaded.

3 comments:

domingoarong said...

Gloria's PP 1017 reminds me of the fall guy named Secretary Norberto Gonzalez.

--An executive officer over whom the President "shall have control of" (or the Executive Power of "Control," as in EO 464)
--Ordered arrested by the Senate, the institution authorized merely to inquire "in aid of legislation" but acting as the constitutional "investigator," the Ombudsman, and, simultaneously, as the Court, exercising, in short, "concentrated power."
--Publicly maligned, insulted, humiliated
--Arrested "warrantless"
--Being under "Protective Custody" was not an option made available to him
--Detained indefinitely (for well over a month, or over 720 hours, in excess of the 36 hours legally allowed)
--Sneered at for seeking medical attention that incarceration without charges naturally magnify
--Accusation proved his guilt, and his denial or refusal doubled it
--Deprived of his liberty without benefit of due process of law
--Punished before he is guilty for fear that he should be guilty
--A Filipino citizen, entitled (presumably) to the protection of the Republic

Sadly, during all this time of horror, the avowed champions of freedom and democracy among many in the media and the opposition simply looked the other way—Gonzalez was their perceived "enemy"--condoning the humiliation, the deprivation the fall guy endured.

So, why make a fuss over the "warrantless," the "arbitrary," the "dictatorial" repercussions under Gloria's PP1017 now?

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --Thomas Paine

Cocoy said...

you know i have forgetten about sec. n. gonzalez.

he took a bullet for pgma.

Cocoy said...

i've been getting emails and some comments about this post.

just a point of clarification.

pgma's camp want justice but in seeking justice, they avoid looking for the truth-- hence they move against their enemies with righteous fury and often very personal.

the anti-arroyo forces on the other hand want truth but they don't answer how that truth will accompanied with justice. they forget we had truth in 86 but what about justice for all those victims of martial law? what about the justice for the marcoses? are they guilty or not? we need justice to move on.

what we need is truth and justice because they go hand in hand. and that is why our people are apathetic and jaded. they need truth and justice to go hand in hand.

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