EDITORIAL – It’s more fun in the Philippines

Only in the Philippines. Nowhere else in this supposedly civilized world can you find the national penitentiary of a country full of inmates who are able to enjoy such perks as their own airconditioned rooms fitted out with hotel-like accommodations. Nowhere else but in the Philippines can you find prison quarters of notorious criminals that have their own jacuzzis, gaming and musical equipment.

When raided by no less than the justice secretary, the operation yielded high-powered guns, expensive jewelry, cellphone and other communications equipment and illegal drugs. All of these evidences reveal the obvious -- that criminal activities continue inside the national penitentiary and could not have continued without the knowledge, approval and participation of officials.

The justice secretary said the proper charges will be filed after investigation by the NBI against those involved. By those involved, she meant the prisoners themselves and those officials who clearly colluded with the culprits in making happen one of the most shameful things that can ever be associated with a country. That the country markets itself with the slogan "It's More Fun In The Philippines" takes irony to the highest of heights.

But any investigation and prosecution should not stop with those caught red-handed in the raid, whether prisoner or prison official. Sanctions should be made to go much higher. For it insults the intelligence to be told that what happened inside the national penitentiary happened only inside the national penitentiary. Word has a way of leaking out. The national penitentiary is the reason why there is such a term as "open secret."

And when one says open secret, it usually means common knowledge. And if it is common knowledge, it has to go all the way up, even to the Office of the President. Again, it is a big insult to the collective intelligence of Filipinos to be told that the president does not know what is going on inside the national penitentiary. For the president to play innocent is to admit he is remiss in his job.

The truth of the matter is, everyone in this country treated the national penitentiary problem like the proverbial elephant in the room -- too big to ignore but too tough to deal with. Nobody paid it any mind. That is, until somebody decided to do a story about it on television. The story was not a matter of enterprise, of course, contrary to what the television station that run the story claims. The story was there all the time.

And just like what happens everytime somebody cries wolf in this country, everybody grabs a torch and a pick axe and a posse is formed, as if they have never seen anything remotely interesting in their whole life. Well, the justice secretary's raid and the charges she expects to file are long overdue. And the culpability of the highest official in the land for ignoring something that was right under his nose is an inescapable truth.