As one nation, we have claimed on countless occasions that we
could move forward as one body with one spirit, one Filipino people amidst the
physical and cultural barriers that separate us. We have envisioned a society
where the laws of the land apply to all, leaving no one exempt from necessary
reprimands and penalties in times of posing considerable threat and causing
damage to others.
Throughout the course
of our history, however, we have seen long years of tedious battles in court
that ended with implicated influential personalities walking away from heinous
crimes as free men only because of some loophole they claim to have found. And
yet we have seen how the victims and their families rallied the honest proofs
of how their fundamental rights have been trampled on like mere pieces of
trash. Is this how we want our own history textbooks to depict the Philippine
justice system?Indeed, justice delayed is justice denied.
Three years ago, 58
civilians were brutally murdered in Maguindanao. This massacre of innocent
Filipinos was set against a backdrop of political rivalry where those caught in
between the crossfire unwillingly gave up what could have been longer and
happier lives. Defenseless civilians were cruelly killed in a show of force
that left the whole nation outraged and dejected. But beyond the mourning and
the anger, the Filipino people did not fail to express their
disappointment in the government because of its lack of immediate response to
such a heinous crime. While there were already loud talks of whoever was behind
the catastrophe, it took a while before these claims were examined and acted
upon.
We, in UP Alyansa,
understand and fully believe in the value of honoring the due process because
it is fair and just – it is democratic and constitutional. However, we
also believe in the timely delivery of answers to the public and the
enactment of concrete courses of action in an appropriate timeframe.
Serving justice is not
just about releasing a ruling and handing out penalties whenever the court
finishes its examination, no matter if this takes decades. Serving justice
means efficient examination so the court can hand out its ruling and
corresponding penalties within an appropriate timeframe because those who have
done wrong, no matter how popular, powerful, and influential they may be, must
be punished in the shortest amount of time possible, given that due process was
upheld. We are certainly not for merely railroading punishment on all those
accused. We clamor for an efficient justice delivery system that acknowledges
the value of a realistic and truly responsive timeframe.
We acknowledge that
the judiciary also has other concerns outside the Maguindanao Massacre as this
is not the only case left unresolved. Nevertheless, we call for justice
for the 58 victims as this crime of extreme proportions manifest how
the rich and powerful have, and perhaps always can, maneuver their way out of
fair and suitable punishment.
We Filipinos still
live in terror because we know that none of the influential, so-called
masterminds who have been implicated were already proven guilty. We know that
until they are placed permanently behind bars and made to stay there for the
rest of their lives to make up for what they have done, they can still be
exempt from punishment and therefore set free, once again able to seize control
and forever reign in terror.
As one nation, let us
push for a lasting respect for the dignity of the human being and fundamental
freedoms, the foundation of a true democracy, through the immediate enactment
of the Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act and
other measures. As one nation, let us clamor for the timely delivery of
justice, and most of all, for the end of the culture of impunity that
haunts the Philippine justice system.
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