Re-Instill Fear in the Hearts of Filipinos

Asiong:
Source: www.geocities.com/larryalcala/

Editorial: Re-Instill Fear in the Hearts of Filipinos

Gone are the days when the rule of law governed the lives of Filipinos. Today, more than ever before is the need to re-instill the fear of law in the hearts of Filipinos. Without the rule of law, our nation cannot go anywhere. In this article I would like to discuss the problems in our justice system and potential solutions.

Court cases take too long to conclude:
My family’s business was a victim of a Multinational Corporation 10 years ago, when it reneged on its contractual obligation to us that resulted in damages of millions of pesos in potential revenue. So we took them to court, and after 10 years of litigation and 1 million pesos worth of attorney fees, the court ruled for our case. Good thing we won the case eh? Otherwise we would have had to face a counter suite by the multinational corporation.

The poor is locked out of the justice due to the high price of good representation:
Filipinos that can afford a really good lawyer has a fair chance in the Philippine court system. But how about the poor who are typically most abused and cannot ever dream of affording a good lawyer? This tragic reality has left the rich and powerful’s abuses unchecked, which has contributed to the culture of crime that pervades in government, business and religion. The Justice system is supposed to be the equalizer between the rich and poor, but the perverted justice system in the Philippines is a big joke.

There is much to reform in our court system. We need to instill fear to those entities/individuals (government officials, big corporations, criminals, kidnappers, etc.) who knowingly do harm to others. Look around you; injustice is smattered all over the manila landscape. We cannot sit idly by while you are being raped and violated everyday by our politicians, criminals, big business, etc.?! Don’t you want to re-instill the fear of the law in the hearts of abusive Filipinos?

The solution: Involve everybody in dispensing justice:
Perhaps a trial jury and grand jury within our court system would help restore justice to our people.

Trial Jury: Rather than having a judge decide whether the accused in a trial is guilty, why not have a jury of his/her peers decide. This way, it will be harder to manipulate the outcome of the court case. Also, having a trial jury will help involve Filipinos in dispensing justice and in the process defuse the power to decide from the few (read court judges). However, the selection process of the trial jury will be essential in ensuring the integrity of the outcome.

Grand Jury: Set up a Grand Jury that will secretly investigate government officials. Again a jury composed of common citizens should be given the task of deciding whether these officials have violated mandate of his/her mandate.