Not ready to prove his case

Batas Mauricio

REPORTER Jomar Canlas is often jokingly referred to as the fifteenth justice of the Supreme Court by his own colleagues in media, on account of the fact that, on so many occasions, he had been writing about decisions of the tribunal well in advance of the formal public disclosure of those decisions.

Because most of his articles on the decisions of the Court that were yet to be published were accurate or nearly 100% accurate, nobody dared to ask him anymore from whom did he get his reports, or on what did he base them on. It has come to pass that almost everyone accepted the accuracy of his articles, even if some of these pertained to private intramurals among the justices of the Court.

What was important, for his newspaper and its readers, and for the Court itself as well, was that what he wrote accurately reflected the ultimate outcome of the decisions in question. Because of this, I wasn’t surprised that he was called to testify at the House of Representatives on the impeachment of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal Sereno, to clarify one of his articles dealing with her.

The article had something to do with an alleged confrontation between Sereno and Justice Teresita de Castro, on the issue of alleged tampering of a resolution issued by the tribunal. Lawyer Larry Gadon used this article as one of this many grounds for his impeachment complaint against Sereno, citing Jomar as his source.

When Jomar (who is a friend and a compadre of mine) appeared at the Committee on Justice on Monday, he was naturally asked about the article. From the questions propounded to him, Jomar was compelled to make the admission that what he wrote was not based on his own personal knowledge, but on what his news sources merely told him.

Consequently, it was clear that the article and its contents were hearsay. This is so because under the law, a witness is mandated to testify only on things he came to know of his own personal knowledge. He cannot testify on the basis of what other people know, for that would be hearsay, and is inadmissible in any litigation proceeding.

That notwithstanding, there was somehow some benefit that Jomar’s article on the supposed confrontation between Sereno and de Castro has given. Even if the article cannot be used to prove the truth of the confrontation itself, it can nevertheless be used as a basis of a subpoena by the Committee on Justice to subpoena de Castro.

Further, the House can also utilize Jomar’s article to subpoena the papers, documents, pleadings or other dispositions made by the Supreme Court relative to the supposed subject matter of the supposed confrontation between the two magistrates, if there were any such records.

And that was what congressmen who favored ousting Sereno by impeachment precisely did. On the other hand, since Jomar denied that he was the source of the information used by Gadon about this issue, he, Gadon, again was subjected to further tongue-lashing (similar to what he received the last time) from some lawmakers, who complained about his continuing lack of preparation in proving his case.

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Filipinos have no one else to blame for the difficult lives they are having nowadays except themselves, largely on account of their own gross character defects. They lack values, they lack good manners, they lack fear and love of God.

They are predisposed to corrupting their officers, too, just so they can go on violating even the most simple of rules, like the current traffic regulation that says there should be no stopping to load or unload passengers at points not so designated by the authorities. I saw this malady with my own two eyes, before 7 am, on Nov. 20, 2017.

At that time, a traffic enforcer confronted a bus driver because of a violation. Guess what the bus conductor did so his bus could be immediately set free?

He tried, in full view of many people, to insert money into the hands of the enforcer, who promptly threw the bills in the pavement in anger. Indeed, many government officials are corrupt, but only because Filipinos, as this bus conductor showed, are themselves rabidly corrupt too.

Yes, many officials and leaders of government are certified corrupt and thieves, but this could be traced back to the natural corruption of many Filipinos, too, whether rich or poor. In our country today, graft and corruption have become a fact of life, in government agencies or in the private sector, even if President Duterte is already in power.

For example, if anyone desires to transact with the government, even only on an insignificant matter as the opening of a small business enterprise, there is still a need to grease the palms of all those who will have a hand in processing the required documents, not merely to expedite the release of the appropriate licenses but more to assure that the application is not altogether rejected

Too, there is a continuing, if mounting, plethora of complaints steadily coming from poor and marginalized Filipinos from everywhere that they are being denied even the most basic tenets of justice and fair play. Even now, a nauseating double standard of justice continues to victimize many –one standard for the rich, the mighty, and the powerful, and another for the penniless and insignificant citizens.

Many are pointing to the example of big shots who are involved in crimes but who are afforded special treatment in more ways than one, especially with respect to clean and habitable detention quarters. The examples of Sen. Leila de Lima and of the Russians who are incarcerated on drug charges, and of former Sen. Bong Revilla (and his colleagues who have now been set free, former Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada), are the ones being cited here.

People are also scandalized over the fate of many who were involved in illegal drugs: if the suspect was poor, he ended up being killed right away. On the other hand, if the suspects are rich businessmen or are top officials of the Bureau of Customs, they are not jailed even up to now, even if they are implicated  in the smuggling of P6.4 billion worth of shabu. The lament is this: when will true change descend to the Philippines?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com