EDITORIAL - Silenced

With all the police checkpoints set up for the election period, specifically targeting loose firearms, gunmen managed to ambush a whistle-blower early last Sunday in Pasay City. Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor is best remembered for telling the Senate in 2005 that President Arroyo’s son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, collected jueteng payoffs from him through bagmen. Mikey Arroyo denied the allegations, and the story faded from the headlines.

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said Mayor had been working with him and another witness, Sandra Cam, to blow the whistle on alleged anomalies in the award of contracts at the Department of Public Works and Highways, especially for projects that are funded through the congressional pork barrel. Cruz said a major contractor with political connections could be behind the fatal ambush.

Whistle-blowers in this country have been publicly humiliated, have lost their jobs and faced other forms of harassment, and Mayor is not the first to be permanently silenced. His murder can only further discourage people from blowing the whistle on anomalies in governance.

What could give whistle-blowers some courage is if Mayor’s murder is solved, with the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the triggermen and mastermind. Police said two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Mayor’s car at 4:30 a.m. along MIA Road, killing him. His nephew and a son-in-law who was driving survived. Authorities must make sure the two will also not be silenced permanently.

The ideal situation is for investigators to reduce their reliance on witnesses in pinning down crooks. Corruption can be established through bank transactions, tax declarations and other documents. In crimes such as murder, advances in forensics have made investigators in other countries turn to witnesses only for corroboration of what has been established through solid evidence.

The Philippines has not yet achieved that stage. Investigators in this country – whether those pursuing irregularities in government transactions or cops investigating a murder – continue to rely heavily on whistle-blowers and witnesses’ testimonies. If a case hinges on the testimony of one man, that man must be given sufficient protection by the state. Failing in that, the state must find the murderer and bring him to justice.