ORLANDO CARVAJAL:
Former mayor Gisela Boniel’s disappearance brings to the fore once again the heavily flawed justice-delivery system in this country. An eyewitness initially tagged it as murder. Gisela’s husband Provincial Board (PB) member Nino Rey Boniel confirmed it with a confession. By all accounts, neither eyewitness account nor confession was done under any form of duress.
Then to the consternation of all, Nino Boniel retracted his confession. His wife, he now claims, has really just gone into hiding because of heavy debts. How preposterous is this? How can this happen?
Many would blame this on lawyers whose conscience or lack of it allows them to do whatever legal sleight of hand they have to do to earn their steep professional fees. I would blame it on our flawed justice-delivery system that allows the obstruction of justice by lawyers whose minds are as sharp as their consciences are dull.
If, for instance, Gisela were the wife of a poor farmer, I am sure her suspect-husband would be serving a prison term meted after a quick conviction because he could not afford a lawyer. Or if Gisela were rich and the suspected murderer poor, the latter would be as sure to land in jail as the sun will rise tomorrow.
This brings me to what my point really is in this column. What is the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) doing to correct the essential flaws in our justice-delivery system which regularly deals high cards to the rich and low cards to the poor? Is this not a violation of people’s human rights by the very justice-delivery system itself?
It is a common occurrence in many places in the country… a petty thief is caught stealing a phone and is immediately in jail to await trial and stay after a quick trial or no trial at all. A rich person steals millions or kills hundreds (with his private army) and, voila, a battery of expensive lawyers either bails him out or gets him a special detention cell while the investigation, indictment and trial, if any, are postponed interminably.
If these are human rights violations, what is the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) doing to give ordinary folks their right to fair play in our courts? What human rights are served when CHR pontificates about high-profile human rights abuses yet forgets to plug holes in the system or to have warm bodies prevent the poor and obscure suspect from going to jail for lack of money to pay a smart lawyer?
Not knowing what CHR’s marching orders are, I could be pushing the envelope. But if it is every patriotic Filipino’s concern that poor folks are routinely deprived of human rights by our lawyer-dominated courts, by its very name CHR should make this a priority concern. Otherwise, CHR should perhaps go by another name.