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Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Editorial: Judges’ pay
Before the birth of Christ in the Persian Empire, an account says, Cambyses II, son of Cyrus the Great, ordered that a judge found guilty of corruption be flogged alive.
After the sentence was carried out, the skin was used to cover the seat from which court judgments were handed down. That seat was then filled by the judge’s son who was appointed to his dead father’s position.
The story doesn’t tell us if the poetic fitness of the king made the new judge and other judges in Cambyses’ kingdom uncorrupted.
Corruption of judges continues to this day. Use Cambyses’ methods? The drunken despot’s twisted creativity would be abhorred in a democracy under which judges of our time dispense justice. A punishment similar to Cambyses’ is cruel and unusual under the Constitution and offends sensibilities.
Today’s corrupt judge can be kicked out only after a long and tedious process. If found guilty, neither his skin nor his loot will be in any danger of harm or loss.
Is there a more effective way to stop corruption in the judiciary?
A few senators apparently think that blocking the bill that seeks to increase the salaries and benefits of judges can achieve better results. They have sat on the bill, believing that limiting judges to poverty level would make them behave better.
Clearly not a smart move. Keeping them underpaid and overworked is more likely to push judges off the edge and consign the fallen to wallow longer in corruption’s black hole. It also punishes honest judges but spares “hoods in robes.”
This is not to say that increasing the judges’ pay by 25 percent (spread over a four-year period) will eliminate corruption, but it will help reduce it. This is not to argue that a decent salary will stop dishonesty, but it is basic to making one stay honest.
Whether the judges were right in walking out of courtrooms to push their demand is another matter. However their protest is viewed, it shouldn’t confuse the issue the judges raise, much more diminish the cause they wage.
Electing senators
Cebu Vice Gov. John-john Osmeña complains that his father, Sen. John Osmeña, has to produce and appear in a telenovela and finance a basketball team to keep his name remembered by voters.
It seems to be the way to keep oneself afloat in national politics. The ticket to the Senate is celebrity status, not one’s knowledge, probity or integrity.
Thus, the Senate has been occupied lately by two newsreaders, two comedians, one movie star, one basketball player. The rest of the senators also depended on national exposure, bad or good, or on some well-known relative or spouse to get elected. (Would they have won: Tessie Aquino-Oreta without the Aquino legend, Loi Estrada without the Erap loyalists, or Kiko Pangilinian without Sharon Cuneta’s endorsement?)
People used to look up to the Senate for wisdom and patriotism. No longer. Senators have not provided the enlightenment and inspiration the public expects from its national leaders.
If the Senate is phased out or self-destructs, it can blame only itself for having become grossly irrelevant.
(October 8, 2003 issue)
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