Hot potato

One of the best pictures I have seen in Philippine newspapers was that of Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje Tang reacting to the result of a raffle in which the plunder case of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile fell on her lap.

The picture, however, requires some familiarity with the case. To those not familiar with the issue, the expression on the face of Tang meant nothing. But to most Filipinos, the camera caught exactly what anybody in her situation would feel.

Though she could not say it, the expression on Tang's face said it all. She said "Oh shit!" And who wouldn't? The cases involving Enrile, as well as two of his fellow senators, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, are the types of cases that not only can break careers but also break the spirit.

The plunder cases against the three senators, along with Janet Napoles and several others, sprung from the P10 billion pork barrel scam that has not only so incensed and scandalized the entire nation but divided it as well.

You may ask, though, why an issue that has so incensed and scandalized the nation as a whole would, on the other hand, divide it. I will try to answer that in as simple a manner as I can and show, at the same time, why Tang and the other Sandiganbayan justices were not very enthusiastic about handling the cases.

First let it be said that the entire nation, without exception, is angry. All Filipinos have fallen victim to a highway robbery of epic proportions. Their money, billions of pesos of it, got stolen. And now they are united in seeking justice.

Second, the entire nation is happy, without exception, that some of those suspected of involvement in the scam have been identified and charged in court. Finally there is a face to the scam and against which they can vent their ire.

But here is where the nation gets split right down the middle, and why the Sandiganbayan justices now tasked to hear the cases would rather they did not, if only they could -- because the cases have assumed political color owing to the fact that only the enemies of the president have been brought to court.

Nobody in his right mind believes that the scam ends with the three senators and Napoles and the few extras in the sordid cast. In fact, several others have already been named, only that either they pose no threat to the president or, worse, they are actually some of the closest friends of the president.

Now, the staunch defenders of the president are quick to say that there is no evidence against these other people other than their having been named in certain lists whose sources are either unverified or polluted.

But that argument only boomerangs in light of the fact that, in the case of Renato Corona, another hated enemy of the president, even far worse pieces of evidence were admitted and recognized, such as envelopes deposited in gates in the dead of night.

And, in the most stunning example of how a president can openly make a travesty of justice, he actually bought the votes of senators for P50 million each from his own illegally sourced pork barrel to remove Corona as chief justice of the Philippines.

Thus, while the nation is solidly united in demanding justice, it is split between those who would do it the president's way, which is to prosecute in accordance with political color, and those who cry for justice to prevail regardless of who gets nailed, the president's own men included.

This is what now terrorizes the hearts of the Sandiganbayan justices who must now try the cases. Not that they are not up to the job, for they most certainly are. Their problem is getting caught between the Devil and the deep blue sea - for they will always be criticized by one side or the other, whatever they do.

And this is why, in a larger sense, the vaunted battlecry of the president of "daang matuwid" in the fight against corruption has been proven to be nothing more than a hollow boast, a hypocrisy impelled forward by selfish interests, and for which many fell for in innocence and are now finding out in grave disappointment.