Lessons from the judiciary

Recent court actions on plunder cases are imparting valuable lessons to the citizenry.

The first is that plunder pays off richly in this country. The bigger the amount you steal from the people, the greater the certainty that you can get the best justice money can buy, in case you get caught.

Impoverished pickpockets and snatchers end up dead in the streets with bullets in their heads. Wealthy plunderers of billions in people’s money are sent to Congress or city hall.

Those approaching dual citizenship (Filipino and senior) have something to look forward to: exemption from public accountability, on the basis of advanced age or the debilitations associated with age. Politicians pushing 70 or 80 should go ahead and steal and amass illegal wealth with abandon; they can be sure of getting away with it.

Even if they are arrested, those who have accumulated enough loot can be sure of buying a court order allowing them to enjoy a stay in the favorite refuge of scoundrels, the hospital.

Judicial independence is a myth. All that the appointing power has to do is dangle a juicy promotion or post-retirement position in government, and independence flies out the window.

The clearest lesson: yes, Juan and Juana, in this country, crime pays.

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Occasionally, the crime is so egregious the offender simply can’t buy his or her way to acquittal or expect protection from those in power. Or else the offender is expendable when compared with certain co-defendants.

Pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles has been sentenced to life in prison for plunder of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) – and this is just for a case involving one senator.

If a two-year probe conducted by the Commission on Audit proves accurate, Napoles will face sentencing for over 100 more PDAF cases. She could rot in prison without hope of parole.

Now what about the politicians implicated in her scam?

People are confused. Is Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. guilty of plunder?

According to a court ruling that can no longer be reversed, Revilla isn’t guilty enough to go to prison. But he’s guilty enough to make him return to the state P124 million that he and his accused co-conspirators diverted from his PDAF or pork barrel when he was a senator.

The court has yet to clarify this part of the decision. Revilla’s lawyer Ramon Esguerra told us on One News / Cignal TV’s “The Chiefs” last Friday that acquittal on the criminal charge should also mean acquittal on the civil aspect. But our other lawyer guests, former presidential spokesman Harry Roque and Mel Sta. Maria, said this is not always the case. It’s simply that the evidence needed to convict in a civil case is lighter than the requirement for proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt in a criminal case, wherein conviction could warrant imprisonment.

Revilla’s camp has indicated that they intend to challenge any finding of guilt on the civil aspect. A conviction can be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. An acquittal is final; there are constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy.

Sta. Maria said a retrial is possible, but only if the Sandiganbayan justices are deemed to have committed grave abuse of discretion. Who makes that determination? The Supreme Court.

This Supreme Court? Never mind; Bong Revilla is home free.

He knows it, and now he wants voters to send him back to the Senate.

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The acquittal and release from jail (on bail for several graft cases) will certainly allow Revilla to raise his profile in the crucial months before the 2019 race.

Whether this will lift him from the lower rungs of the race, as indicated in the surveys, is a matter of debate.

Harry Roque, who’s also gunning for a Senate seat, acknowledged the crowd-drawing star power of Revilla. The actor’s acquittal makes the Senate race, tight enough as it is, more crowded, Roque told us.

The concern of those who had hoped for a conviction is that the acquittal indicates where PDAF plunder cases against other senators are headed.

As Attorney Mel noted, former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile didn’t even sign any document, as Revilla was accused (and cleared by his own expert witness) of doing. No witness testimony or document has accused Enrile of directly accepting a payoff.

The one who did this, according to the rap sheet, was Enrile’s chief of staff and reported inamorata, Gigi Reyes. She could end up holding the bag, like Richard Cambe, Revilla’s Senate aide who now faces life in the national penitentiary.

The New Bilibid Prison is not a nice place to end up for a white-collar offender.

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At least Cambe’s case might impart a lesson about obeying unlawful orders.

While Enrile enjoys his provisional freedom, Gigi Reyes should prepare herself for the lifetime companionship of Janet Lim Napoles at the Correctional Institution for Women. 

Bilibid also beckons for the Philippine National Police officials led by their former chief Jesus Verzosa, whose names allegedly appear in the paper trail on a PNP helicopter procurement scandal that graft prosecutors say leads to former first gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Of course under this Arroyo-friendly administration, the former FG and the cops who claim they simply followed orders could all be cleared.

Still, political fortunes can change overnight in this country. No one can be in power forever. Just ask Pantaleon Alvarez.

This is good to remember even for those waging the war on illegal drugs, who are prepared to take short cuts just to please their superiors or meet certain quotas. Boys, consider what short-term objectives in career advancement could cost you (and your family) for the rest of your life.

Our criminal justice system is a disaster and national embarrassment; Harry Roque says it “sucks.” This system favors the bossing who can afford to give the judge a merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

An aide who was fed to the wolves may consider enlisting the help of the Sparrow Unit (communist, not government) to rid the country of his ex-boss along with the so-called hoodlums in robes. Better yet, the aide can join the Sparrow Unit and do the “neutralizing” himself. 

This is a lesson worth learning for aides: they could be left holding the bag when their bosses are trapped. If you’re working for a crook, remember the admonition that there’s no honor among thieves, and walang iwanan is a myth.

The elections in May should impart another lesson… on how much we like thieves.