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WEATHERVANE

By Edgardo Verceles

Is Justice in this Country Really Dead?

.According to former President Joseph Estrada, it is. The thing is, he did not say so when he was up there. He did rant about alleged corrupt men in robes but he never got around to doing anything about it because he was himself caught dipping his hand in the cookie jar, or so, people who have booted him out of office allege and are set to prove.

Based on what we have read, have come to know from people's experiences, and have come to experience personally, we do not totally subscribe to the former President's assessment or blanked judgment. However, while saying that we believe him to be wrong, we cannot discount the fact that he may be right in some instances. For instance, two recent arents bear us out on this.

First is the grant of bail by a Pasay City judge to the five Chinese chemists who were arrested in a shabu factory. The offense is non-ailable and yet the judge found out a way to grant bail, relying on a Supreme Court ruling that "merely standing or sitting in an alleged scene of the crime is not unlawful. What is also peculiar, the City Prosecutor did not oppose the bail petition. The prosecutor has reportedly been sacked by Secretary of Justice Hernando Perez but of course, the damage has been done.

Another is the much publicized case of the P350 million incineration contract between the government and the Jancon Environmental Corporation. the contract has been found legal by the Supreme Court. Some questions begging to be answered, however, are how could the contract be legal when (a) even the High Court said that it still needs the signature of the President? (b) the contract violates the Clear Air Act which prohibits incineration, and (c) Jancon reportedly did not pay the required performance bond before it signed the contract?

This writer could name a host of other cases that put the judiciary in bad light but even so, they are not enough bases to pass judgement that the judiciary is flawed and unreliable and that justice is dead in the country. In the case of former President Joseph Estrada, his declaration is obviously a desperate attemp to destroy the credibility of the judiciary in order to stave off defeat in his court battle. For us common people, to admit Erap's assessment or judgment is to lose respect for the judicial system and ultimately to let chaos reign. For then, people would no longer resort to judicial means to thresh out differences, they would just settle scores among themselves.

As the saying goes, there will always be bad eggs anywhere in the government. This is true in the judiciary as in other departments. It should be a comfort to know, however, that Justice Hilario Davide is implementing reforms and one of these is the punishment of erring judges.Already., we have known of some judges that have been accordingly punished for rendering judgments in ignorance of the law or of unjust judgments. And Secretary Hernando Perez of the Justice Department have shown himself not lacking in courage and not averse to sacking erring prosecutors.

Truly, we cannot subscibe to Erap's prognosis that justice is dead in the judiciary. There are stll people who are doing what is necessary to keep it clean and with that, people should keep their faith in the system. The alternative, as we have said, is most assured and sadly, chaos.