Vugt: The living Spirit

Saturday, July 9, 2011

THE ancient antiques had the saying: Lex dura sed lex, which means: the law may be harsh but it is still the law.

They were aware of the fact that applying the law may be hard to accept for people but still the rule of law must be followed. The antiques were pagans – their society was a slave society. The underclass of society was mostly affected by the harshness of the law.

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Today we live in a Christian society and we don’t have slaves anymore but our society is still highly unequal. We still have a class society and this is normal. If the law is harsh, it is mainly so with respect to the underclass of our society, the poor and the oppressed.

There is a need for compassion. The rule of law cannot be impartial. Its blind implementation will always appear harsh, especially for the poor people among us.

Take the case of Mayor Duterte who, in her anger, started to box the court sheriff. She could not agree with him the way he went about the demolition. Her violent reaction is not justified and cannot be tolerated but we may not forget here that her action was also out of compassion for the poor squatters. We must say this to her credit. Let the law be harsh for the rich and the powerful. They can easily defend themselves. But the poor are defenseless.

Instead of serving the ends of justice, the law is often perceived as another tool of oppression. Here is the big contradiction. It makes our judicial system - the rule of law – inutile. Instead of rendering justice it delivers the opposite: injustice.

Another case in question is the Vizconde massacre. Now it is final. The rule of law has been applied with finality. The judicial system has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Hubert Webb was not in the country when the crime was committed and therefore could not have been involved in the massacre. Yet many people, I myself included, believe that he was involved despite the court ruling to the contrary.

Justice secretary Leila de Lima has found new witnesses which can testify to the fact that Webb was involved in the crime. But he cannot be sentenced again because that would be double jeopardy. De Lima wants to make the truth come out. I thank her for her persistence in trying to bring about justice in this case. Hubert Webb knows what is the truth. If the law is harsh for him, he can defend himself by telling a lie, saying that he was in the States when the crime happened, or he can offer a bribe to the judges. But Lauro Vizconde, the poor victim in this case, is still hoping that the whole truth will finally come out and that he may know with certainty who killed his wife and children. The law has been too harsh on him. I hope Leila de Lima will succeed in revealing the whole truth and nothing but the truth in this Vizconde massacre. Not only Mr. Vizconde deserves to know the truth but we also the people of the Philippines.

More importantly, the people have lost faith in our justice system. We need people like Leila de Lima who really mean business when it comes to justice in our society and restore confidence in our government system.

(For your comments, email nolvanvugt@gmail.com)