Justicebiz

by Roger B Rueda

The cohesiveness and camaraderie of lawyers and fraternities are adversaries of justice and subtle advocates of injustice. Bribery then is likely and inexorable as justice is big business in this country. No poor people can go in for justice because the process to realise it is full of prejudice and inequality, as everyone can be bought off. Duplicity and corruption are everywhere despite the Daang Matuwid, a pompous, ostentatious, and hollow watchword of the present administration. It promises disappointment, exasperation, and weariness. It offends the intelligence of the poor Filipinos. It eggs on the unfairness, favouritism, predisposition, and preconception of our society. It reflects the pointlessness, futility, ineffectiveness, and incompetence of the government. It disregards the poor intellectuals and pushes them to rise up and kick up a rumpus, to stand up for their right.

Justice in the Philippines is politically driven: anyone who supports a politician is fail-safe to realise justice, which can be brought about by palm-greasing.  Thus, this country is a country of unethicality and dishonesty. Its mediocrity, superficiality, and triviality are reflected by the services the government puts forward and the untruthfulness it can do despite depravity and paltriness all in the name of money and politics. With this, it is alarmingly discriminating to millions of Filipinos who do not play a part in prompting the government to be reliable and scrupulous, to rationalise its system, and to tick off the erring government officials like arbiters and judges. If the government does not follow through what is even-handed and appropriate, honest and humanitarian, and rational and judicious, it does not deserve to be deferred to or respected. All it deserves is to be disparaged for it misuses the rationality of this country. It promotes disparity and confusion amongst its people. It signals to the poor people to be apathetic about this country and its identity and national dignity and honour. And it inspires people to be high level criminals – corrupt officials whose charge is difficult to prove unless one is the enemy of the present government.

Depriving people of justice they deserve is more disconcerting than burglary, mugging, stealing, shoplifting, and pilfering. People who are bribed to supress justice are scoundrels and crooks more than pork barrel scammers. They are like an apple which looks so luscious yet its pulp has been ravaged by worms. They should be poked around by the ombudsman. In the Philippines, however, corruption and bribery are OK – a signal to the youth that everyone should strive to be high level criminals, as these kinds of crimes are subtly threatening and dishonouring. That being a criminal is OK so long as you are an arbiter or judge or a head of a local government agency.

I hope the social media will serve as a looking glass for the government to mull over itself and gauge its efficiency and inadequacy and laxity and incompetence.  

To the arbiter I hate most, don't be so bloody like the smell of the fish and your rotten soul! Do your job honestly!