The judicial ‘TRO’ continues to frustrate both justice and progress

In a unanimous en banc decision of the Supreme Court issued five days ago, reversing what was described as a "blatantly erroneous" resolution of the Sandiganbayan "rooted in dubious and erroneous legal premise" the Court asserted what is self-evident that: "the integrity of the judicial system is founded in the soundness and rationality of the judgment emanating from it," adding that "decisions which are blatantly erroneous or founded on oblique reasoning inevitably foment doubt within the dispirited public as to the impartiality and judiciousness of the magistrate concerned."

The case involves a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) issued by the Sandiganbayan disqualifying a stockholder from voting its shares the day before the scheduled annual stockholders meeting, leaving questions, according to the High Court, "as to the timing of the promulgation."

It is of common knowledge in the legal and business communities that one of the most outrageous ploys for what in legal parlance is known as "unjust enrichment" is – the TRO. It is the most marketable and negotiable item in judicial proceedings especially when what is considered are assets worth millions of pesos. In fact it is more marketable and negotiable than a decision on the merits because the gestation period before a case is decided on its merits is rather long.

Owing to the fact that the case mentioned above involves shares of stocks sequestered in early 1986 (or 20 years ago! With the case still pending in the Sandiganbayan) the Supreme Court in its decision noted that "as far back as 1998, it already admonished the PCGG and the Sandiganbayan to speedily proceed with the hearings and resolutions of the main cases for recovery and reconveyance of alleged ill-gotten wealth" asserting that "the protracted delay serves no end except foster mockery of the judicial system."

I sadly recall that the late Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena was admonished and fined by the High Court for the number of unresolved pending cases assigned to him.

Lawyers with cases in the anti-graft court say there are quite a number of cases still hanging fire in the anti-graft tribunal which were filed as long as 15 to 20 years ago, with their resolutions nowhere in sight. Should not the Supreme Court penalize the existing slowpoke members of the anti-graft court with the same disciplinary ardor it demonstrated in the case of the late Justice Francis Garchitorena?

The axiom is so old it has, perhaps come to be neglected but it remains true: Justice delayed is justice denied!

* * *

In Bangkok, royalty from 26 countries have gathered to celebrate 60 years of rule by Thailand’s beloved and wonderful monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

How lucky the Thais are to have such a good ruler. I can’t say the same of their politicians who are like ours.

As for policemen, I flew back to Bangkok several years ago to visit my friend Vasit Dejkunjom. (His name, of course, is pronounced something like "Waksit Dechunchorn" – but since Thai names always defy pronunciation and never sound the way they are spelled out in Roman letters, don’t bother to try).

Years ago, Vasit had been my roommate in Wigglesworth Hall at Harvard where we were taking the Kissinger International course.

Vasit was the sort of gentleman one always looks for in a university "buddy" but is seldom lucky enough to get – he was soft-spoken, courteous, generous and helpful, although he never hesitated to speak out his mind when circumstances called for candor. It was at Harvard that I introduced Vasit to the comic strip "Pogo" which had been created by the late Walt Kelly. I kept coming back from the bookshop with Pogo books, and one day Vasit began leafing through a copy. The next thing I knew, he was "collecting" Pogo books, too.

I recall this to illustrate how time flies – even in Asia. Vasit’s eldest son, properly named Sutas, is nicknamed "Pogo", and has just started flying overseas routes as a pilot for Thai International Airways. His second child, a daughter, Vasishiti is affectionately called "Peanut." If another son had been born, who knows? He might have come to be known as "Good Grief Charlie Brown."

Vasit, to make a long story short, over the years became Chief of Police, the highest ranking police general in Thailand.

What’s more, he had served for years as one of the Royal Aides-de-Camp to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Chitralada Palace. In a realm where "King" still really means King, Vasit’s true influence remains the fact that at 8 p.m. every evening, along with about ten other aides (mostly generals representing the defense ministry, army, navy, and air force), he used to go jogging with the King.

In some other countries, the royal game may be golf, or pingpong, or tennis, or riding – but in the ancient kingdom of Siam, it was jogging. In this manner, His Majesty kept himself trim and youthful that way, but now he’s growing old.

Vasit, who went to New York University and Harvard, is probably the only Thai former general who speaks English with an American accent (The preferred accent in Thailand for fluent English speakers – when it doesn’t come out like mewing – is of course an "English" accent which few Thais achieve). But don’t let Vasit’s accent fool you.

I had checked into the Sheraton Bangkok on that trip many years ago (not because, I hasten to insist, it’s only a few steps away from Patpong-Suriwong and the wonderland of girlie bars and massage clinics) and was being treated by the worldly-wise desk clerks like just another Filipino tourist seeking Thai silk and sauna.

The next afternoon, I noticed a subtle change in their attitude towards me. I had suddenly become "important". They were deferential almost to the point of obsequiousness.

"While you were away," the key clerk announced, General Vasit Dejkunjom called." Then he added: "General Vasit, the famous writer."

Vasit, it turned out, was far better known in Thailand as a novelist and newspaper columnist than as a policeman. He used to write a humorous column for a popular weekly, but was more appreciated as the author of eight best-selling novels. He won the UNESCO prize for the finest new novel in the Thai language for a book called "The Last Patrol."

Since none of his books were ever translated, I guess I will never be able to read a novel by my friend Vasit. Despite the many years I have "covered" Asian lands – it can be said the Far East is "my parish" . . . I have never been able to decipher those Sanskrit squiggles which are the written script of Thailand, Kampuchea (Cambodia) or Laos. "Thai writing is really quite simple." Vasit kept on humorously admonishing me, "really quite simple for the Thais."

In pre-Hispanic times our ancestors used to write in sanskrit squiggles, too, until the Spaniards came to overthrow the "heathen idols", Christianize our calligraphy, and impose Latin conformity on us, just as another missionary, the Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes, invented "Quoc Ngu" for the Vietnamese and abolished Chinese ideograms.

Vasit eventually rose to Deputy Interim Minister. Later, he became a Senator appointed by the King. Alas, I haven’t heard from him for sometime. But he was always known as that rarity – an honest cop!

* * *

The Thais have a favorite expression. When faced with a crisis or a dilemma, the Thai shrugs and says with maddening equanimity: "Mai pen rai" – or "Never Mind." In neighboring Cambodia, they say "bo penyang" which means the same thing. (A parallel to our "Bahala na" which hints, at least that the matter is in the hands of God.)

One of the oldest roads in Bangkok is called "New Road." And why not? At the end of the last century, there was only one road in the entire city. Everybody traveled in boats along the many klongs (canals and waterways) or on the broad Chao Phya river. Bangkok laid claim to being the "Venice of the East." Now almost all the klongs have been paved over with traffic-clogged, noisy roads – and Bangkok, like Venice, is sinking.

Another curiosity to the "outside" world is Thai boxing. Thai pugilists use western-type gloves, but there the similarity ends. They also utilize their bare feet, whaling away at each other practically no holds-barred to the shrill accompaniment of fifes and drums. It’s effective. In one exhibition bout, three experienced Thai boxers each flattened a Kung Fu expert, a Karate expert, and a Taekwondo expert, in a few minutes flat. (Don’t write nasty or indignant letters to me, you Black-belters Fifth Dan, go find yourself a Thai boxer.)

In Bangkok, as in most of Asia, things are seldom what they seem. The most picturesque temple in a country of 35,000 temples is that "Wat Arun," the Temple of Dawn – practically Bangkok’s landmark on the Menam Chao Phya river. To begin with, the Wat Arun is loveliest at sunset and not at dawn. When I first saw this marvelous temple, its 230-foot spire soaring magnificently to the heavens, it sparkled like it had been encrusted with a million diamonds and precious stones.

The "Wat" had been started by King Rama II (1809-1824) and completed by King Rama III (1824-1851). I hastened to cross the river from the Oriental Hotel where I was staying – but close inspection brought disappointment. What I had imagined to be jewels from fairy-land were only shards of China and pieces of ceramic plate reflecting the light. It was as though the royal kitchens had been emptied of plates and broken dishes to decorate the monument. Truly, Asia is the continent of illusion!

And yet, halfway across this same city is a statue that is far from illusion. In Wat Trimitr, resplendent in its contemplation of the ages, sits a Buddha of pure gold, 3-meters tall, weighing five-and-a-half tons, it dates back to the style of the flowing and elegant Sukhotai period and must have originally stood in the former capital of Ayudhaya. The Golden Buddha (no local allusions here) had been lost for perhaps 200 years – it had been "disguised" in a covering of stucco in the 18th century to conceal it from the invading Burmese, and then forgotten.

Years ago, a construction company engaged in extending the port of Bangkok discovered the musty "stone" Buddha. The statue was accidentally dropped on the ground. The stucco cracked, revealing the gold underneath.

Like the hidden Buddha, much treasure remains hidden in Asia, awaiting the persistence of the seeker.

It’s a pity, that Thailand is best known in the West, on account of a fanciful and inaccurate book written by an English widow who spent six years at the court of Siam "instructing" some of King Mongkut’s 82 children and a number of his 35 wives. Anna Leonowen’s memoirs of King Mongkut’s "barbaric" court does him grave injustice – he was the first ruler in Southeast Asia to write and speak English (he didn’t learn from Anna). He was a theologian (a monk before ascending the throne), a scholar of geography, history, mathematics and astronomy.

In 17 years of rule, between 1851 and 1868, Mongkut (or Rama IV) issued 500 laws and decrees, among the more interesting ones a proclamation that women should marry only of their own free will, a reduction of the forced conscription of labor, laws providing for the construction of roads and canals, the establishment of a committee for the study of Thai history.

Margaret Langdom based her book, "Anna and the King of Siam," on these exaggerated memoirs, and, of course, you know where "The King and I" movie (and its updated one with Jodie Foster and Chow Yun Fat) came from.

I enjoyed the music and the lyrics, but as for historical accuracy – mai pen rai. The Yul Brynner movie, naturally, was banned in Thailand, but not for the high-falutin reasons (e.g. "an insult to the monarchy," a distortion of truth") that so many critics have adduced. The King himself had no objection to his great-grandfather looking like Yul Brynner and was amused with the musical. (He himself plays a mean saxophone and clarinet in his own jazz band.) The Prime Minister at that time and the Parliament weren’t really offended by the movie. But the press raised such a howl that plans to exhibit the film in Thailand were hastily scrapped. Why? In one scene, King Mongkut gives the English governess a playful pinch.

Said one Thai newsman to me, recalling the controversy:

"The King of Thailand must always be dignified. We don’t care how many women he pinches in private. But he should never be seen doing it in public. Certainly not on film!"

Years ago, an American journalist cracked that Thailand seemed invariably to be "out of step with the world." On the contrary, I replied, it is the world that is out of step with Thailand.