ORDER IN THE COURT: JUSTICE OR MONEY?



Just when you think justice is served, it goes to the wrong customer.

Just days ago, Vizconde Massacre’s most infamous star Hubert Webb and six of his accomplices were released via acquittal, as ordered by the Supreme Court for the supposed failure of the prosecution to prove the convicted men “guilty beyond reasonable doubt”. Ten years after they were sentenced to life imprisonment. Ten freaking years possibly wasted for nothing.



When was the last time this balance was, well, balanced?



Now, Oakwood Mutiny’s main character Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his supporting cast of 300 Magdalo soldiers were granted amnesty by President NoyNoy Aquino on the grounds that the government is looking to show a good example to other rebellious groups such as the MILF and CPP-NPA that the government is willing to talk and cooperate with them.

What is wrong with the authorities?

If Webb and company are supposedly innocent of the crime they were accused of doing, then why did they have to stay behind bars? Why did they have to suffer instead of the true killers that stabbed three defenseless women a combined 49 times?

And just when things are becoming clear, the Supreme Court goes on to “clarify” that just because Webb and company are not guilty beyond reasonable doubt doesn’t mean they are innocent of the crime.

WHAT THE F***?

Let me get this straight. If they are not guilty beyond reasonable doubt and not innocent at the same time, does that mean the Paranaque Regional Trial Court handed them a harsher sentence than they deserve? Does releasing them now mean that the Supreme Court did the right thing, given the answer to the previous question is yes? Does this mean that the judges today are more competitive than the earlier generations? If the court is not fully convinced that they are really responsible for the deaths of three innocent women, it leaves a possibility that Webb and co. are not guilty at all. Does that mean they are really innocent? If they are not guilt-free, does that mean they indeed committed the crime? Could there even have been a trade of a briefcase stuffed with paper bills and land deeds for a pair of balls and a flock of souls, leading to their release? How much more sorrow can Mr. Lauro Vizconde and his family contain, now that they just knew that justice was not served at all?

As if all the confusion’s not enough, here comes the case of Trillanes and the Magdalo squad.

These men fought for what they (and the masses supposedly) believe is right, I realize that. They were simply exercising their freedom of speech, I get that. They were not going to stand 15 hours on field duty, through the fire of their enemies and the water from the clouds, and just watch as our respectable, beloved, and honorable leaders do whatever it takes to save their country, I understand that. Their leader is a senator, I know that. The government is trying to appeal to all people that they indeed listen to us, I comprehend that.

But these rebellious soldiers are still, well, rebels. They still took a private hotel hostage. They set up mines and sniper rifles all over the place; through these actions they implied that they were willing to die to do what they want. Hell, even though they might not have wanted any civilians to be involved, if we learned any lesson from the Manila hostage crisis, chances are loss of innocent lives will be inevitable. Since the rebels are soldiers themselves and our military has been proven time and time again to be non-competitive, who knows how many would have died? And no matter how pathetic the Arroyo government might have been in 2003, the bottomline is the Magdalo group openly opposed the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

So do these situations imply that the ends justify the means? Or the means justify the ends? Were Hubert and co. acquitted because of money or reality? Did PNoy give the Magdalo group an amnesty because they deserved it? Or is it because the enemies of his enemy are his friends?

This is an alarming back-to-back move by the government and the judiciary system. Two of the biggest and most controversial cases in Philippine history apparently went from grandeur to failure because the authorities felt compassion. I’m not saying compassion is a bad thing; it is good. It is human nature. Unfortunately, unwritten law says that whatever these men do these days is just about a closer call to total chaos and civil disobedience. But can you blame the people for rallying on the streets when they keep making these decisions? Who knows how long our leaders have been “trying” to lead our country in the right direction? Because the way things have been going since who knows when, maybe just about anyone can form a band of crusaders, annihilate two hundred people with chainsaws, shotguns, and grenades on live television, receive massive media attention, get sentenced to die behind bars, get released ten years later because of lack of strong evidence, and become sympathetic figures of change. Now that would be such a wonderful world, now wouldn’t it?

You have got to be kidding me.

So how long will this trend continue? I don’t know, and I don’t think anybody else does. But if we want all of this distrust and disarray and disbelief to stop, everything begins with every single one of us. After all, who trusted these leaders in the first place to choose the right people for the other jobs and the right path to take? Who allowed themselves to be abused and sneaked upon for eternity and not really do anything about it? Who agonized in pain, more pain, and even more pain through all of this? We all did, didn’t we?

Somewhere, I hear voices crying. I see heroes dying. I taste blood that is drying. I feel tension rising.

Why? Questions remain unanswered. Answers remain unquestioned.