S.O.P., and not O.A.

How do we want a government official to react in the face of an impending investigation for human rights abuse?

My yardstick for behavior is, the official should welcome the investigation and open all doors to the process. He doesn’t have to lie down and let them kick him all over the place, all he has to do is cooperate. Preferably with charm, but not necessary. A little bit of respect should do. (Of course, the onus would then fall on the investigators to observe the proper decorum and procedure.)

Certainly, we don’t want to see the official bristling at the accusation. Might be a normal reaction from an innocent person, but then, government officials are held to higher standards, and they should expect closer scrutiny for their actions. It comes with the territory. 

Much less do we want to see an official challenging the investigators, and hurling his own accusations regarding the investigators’ integrity, their motives, and maybe even their intelligence.   (Although, sad to say, given the current monsters that inhabit certain agencies of government, it does become necessary, sometimes, to hurl all of these.) 

But that’s what our favorite anti-gay government personality, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, just did when confronted by a potential investigation by another constitutional commission, the Commission on Human Rights. Commissioner Ferrer, ever the darling, was quoted as saying “It’s okay, try me. I’m from Pangasinan. We don’t run away from a good fight.”

And what’s his idea of not running away from this right? Why, he wants to file his own case against the Human Rights Commissioner herself, that’s what. His basis? The supposed harassment he’s experiencing from her, harassment stemming from the human rights chief’s desire to look into the way Ferrer treated a couple of witnesses who appeared before his office. 

This is the same Ferrer, by the way, who wrote the decision that denied party-list accreditation for Ladlad, the gay political party. His decision, to refresh ourselves, concluded very firmly that the party advocates “sexual immorality” and “immoral doctrines.” It was also very clear to him that the party offended certain religious beliefs and was a threat to the youth of this country, and it was better, in his infinite wisdom, not to register the party for the good of the community.

(Of course, this is the very same decision that Supreme Court Chief Justice Puno tagged as “biased” and “prejudiced,” the very words that should set alarm bells ringing in the halls of the Commission of Human Rights. And as for the election body itself, Chief Justice Puno even called them a “religious court” and “morality police” – not very appetizing descriptions of a government agency to head.) 

Ferrer is now accused of getting into a shouting match with his witnesses, of pointing his finger at them, and of kicking a chair during a hearing he held. All that the human rights body wants to do is check these accusations out. And now, he feels harassed, accuses Leila de Lima, Human Rights Commissioner, of being a publicity hound out to get him for the media mileage, and threatens to file a case against her based on the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

All I want to say is, give me a break. Please. 

It is unbecoming for the Comelec Commissioner to react this way. The human rights body seems to be merely acting within its authority when it says it wants to investigate the accusations. It’s just doing its job of ferreting out the truth – investigating. No conclusions have come out, so why the fuss?

After all, Commissioner Ferrer could still be found innocent. If not, and the verdict is ‘guilty,’ then that’s the time Ferrer can come out with guns blazing. He can even try mouthing the very same words he was previously blessed with, accuse her of being “biased” and “prejudiced,” and go up to the Supreme Court. Maybe, the justices will even agree that those very same words should now be anointed on de Lima’s forehead.

But meanwhile? He’s not exactly doing himself a service.