ATTY. FRANK MALILONG:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. That is what our Constitution says. It is therefore preposterous to demand from a person, who is accused of killing his wife, to prove that she is alive even before the prosecution has proven that she is dead. The problem with high-profile cases, such as the Boniel case, is that the parties work to sway public opinion to help them eventually sway the court to their favor. That is why police speak with as much conviction that Gisela Boniel is dead even if her body has not been found, while her husband’s camp claims that she is alive, gamboling under the Arabian sun.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. That is what our constitution says, if I remember correctly.

It is therefore preposterous to demand from a person, who is accused of killing his wife, to prove that she is alive even before the prosecution has proven that she is dead. That would be like asking the kutsero in Duljo to place his tartanilla before the horse.

But haven’t they yet in the case of Bien Unido, Bohol Mayor Gisela Boniel? Don’t they have persons in custody who have not only witnessed the crime but have in fact confessed to their participation in the same?

They may have or at least that is what they think. But the public are not the court and press statements are not evidence. The problem with high profile cases is that the parties work to sway public opinion to help them eventually sway the court to their favor. That is why the police speak with as much conviction as they could summon that Gisela is dead even if her body has not been found. And, for that matter, that explains the rather outlandish claim that she is alive, gamboling under the Arabian sun.

Look, the Boniel case has not even reached the court yet; it is still in the preliminary investigation stage with the prosecutor’s office. It is therefore best that we remember that until then, we treat all claims pertaining to the case with as much cynicism as we do hot air.

An early morning power outage hit portions of Lahug last Sunday, forcing residents in Escario and Gorordo streets to activate their generating sets. One of those was located near the corner of the two roads, just behind a shop called Marty Mart.

At or about that time, participants in the Hunat Sugbu, a fun run organized by the family that owns the Parklane Hotel to honor their patriarch, Manuel Ting, and which is now on its seventh year, were passing by the area. There must have been nearly a thousand of us, including children.

There was a lot of coughing as we were turning towards Gorordo as fumes from the Marty Mart generator enveloped the area. I took a photo of the tree beside Marty Mart and it looked like it was on fire.

Let me ask the Department of Environment Natural Resources, is pollution control not within your jurisdiction? If it is, what have you done to protect us from smoke-belching generators like the one behind Marty?

And while we’re at it, have you ever noticed the alarming rise in environment-offending vehicles plying the streets, including bank armored vehicles that have engines running and smoke billowing from exhaust pipes while waiting for tellers to pick up deposits from their clients?

Do something, please!