When it comes to the Philippines there is nothing typical. However, there is a usual way of doing things that most people would find appalling. Case in point is the justice system. It is true that in especially high profile cases, whatever the verdict, you will have people on both sides of the ideological spectrum proclaiming either the death of the Philippine justice system or that the system works. Such cases would include the acquittal of GMA, the conviction of Maria Ressa for cyber-libel, and the ouster of Supreme Court Chief Justice Sereno via quo warranto instead of impeachment.
This is, of course, not a problem confined to the Philippines. The reactions to the recent trial of Derek Chauvin as well as that of George Zimmerman in the USA also indicates the subjective nature of justice for many people.
I think the best way to judge the healthiness of the Philippine justice system is not to look at individual cases whose verdicts one may or may not agree with. What is needed is to look at the entire system and see how it works. From the overcrowded prisons to to the assassination of lawyers to the interminable long trial times I'd say the system is busted. But it is out of the purview of this blog to do such a study.
Instead I want to look at just one recent incident that indicates how broken the Philippines' justice system is.
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| https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/784504/drunk-neighbor-hits-child-who-hurt-his-grandson/story/ |
A drunk grandfather hit a minor who hurt his grandson in a barangay in Taguig City.
According to a report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday, the suspect can be seen in CCTV footage hitting and threatening the minor.
The suspect only stopped hitting the victim after neighbors approached them.
The victim’s aunt said the suspect purposely hit her nephew after the latter hurt his grandson.
(My nephew hurt his grandson so the next day when he was drunk and saw my nephew, he hurt him too.)
The boy’s family went to the barangay to file a complaint against the suspect but was told not to pursue it.
(They want us to dismiss the complaint and just talk to him and fix the situation.)
Meanwhile, barangay captain Edgar Baptista denied the allegation.
(I told them to fix the problem but not dismiss the complaint.)
He added that they already invited the suspect to the barangay.
Meanwhile, the suspect apologized, saying he was drunk and wasn’t able to control his anger.
The victim’s family accepted the apology and told the suspect to not repeat what he did.
Further, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said it will conduct counselling among those involved.
Every single thing about this story is unbelievable.
First of all Drunk Grandpa beat up a child in retaliation for beating up his grandson. That is terrible.
Second of all the family, instead of calling the police, goes to the barangay to file a complaint. This is the hinge on which the wrongness of the situation turns. They should have called the police and had drunk grandpa arrested for assault.
Third, the barangay captain, allegedly, advised them to not pursue the case but to just talk to the guy and work it out. True or not, as soon as he heard the case he should notified the PNP and had the man arrested.
Fourthly, Drunk Grandpa apologized saying he couldn't help it because he was drunk and the family accepted the apology. Apologies are great and so is accepting them but that does not solve anything. Drunk Grandpa should face consequences for his actions. That means going to jail.
What this story shows is that right at the beginning, justice fails. The cops should have been called on Drunk Grandpa immediately. They were not. Why not? The barangay captain did not notify the police. Why not? And it seems the DSWD will not be contacting the police either. Why not?
I could speculate endlessly so I won't. What I will say is that this is not an isolated case. I personally know a woman who was assaulted in her home and the PNP told her to not bring charges but settle with the man. They laid out a lot of reasons why to not file a case such as the long time it takes to go though court. She settled with the man for P10,000. I am certain there are many more cases like this where victims settle with their offenders rather than the have the state prosecute them.
What can we conclude? When people are discouraged by the authorities from filing cases against those who commit crimes against them we can conclude the justice system is broken. When people refuse to file cases because they know it costs too much or it takes too long or for whatever reason then we can conclude the justice system is broken. Why these people decided to not file a case is unknown. But from the fact that the barangay captain and the DSWD both decided to not contact the police we can conclude that the justice system in the Philippines is broken.
