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Friday, October 08, 2004
Editorials: Why people suspect
“Life is doubt, And faith without doubt is nothing but death.”
- Miguel de Unamuno, “Salmo II”
It’s suspicion that makes many
people resist plans to transfer the trial of the Mandaue shabu sites cases or the shabu and chemicals seized in the raids to Manila.
The same suspicion that makes them wary about the security in guarding the 11 accused persons in the Mandaue jail, or the shabu and raw materials until they can be destroyed.
It’s no idle, baseless suspicion. It’s grounded on experience, incidents that tell us the feared error, failure, or wrongdoing can happen.
Prisoners escaped even from such strongholds as Camp Crame. Shabu vanished while in the custody of a prosecutor or was skimmed while in the hands of the police.
If those embarrassments occurred in a tightly guarded government bastion, why couldn’t it happen in a private warehouse (which the ombudsman director saw as “open space”) or in a small city jail (which was not built for maximum security detainees)?
The suspicion is about places and people, but largely of people: the law enforcers and jail keepers who are not exactly the most efficient or the least corrupted and corruptible.
Making it more plausible is the capacity of drug makers and traffickers to tamper with justice. They have the money and they don’t have the scruples: requirements in disrupting the erratic justice system.
The suspicion is justified. It’s basic and sensible.
People don’t want to be suddenly struck with the news that the prisoners escaped or the materials disappeared. Perhaps the suspicion can help prevent the disaster from happening.
What Judge Yap can do
RTC Judge Marilyn Yap needs to do more than issue the order to destroy the contraband in the shabu laboratory. She must see to it that it is enforced correctly.
Three things:
l All the materials and equipment covered by the order must be destroyed.
No leakage, no pilferage, no substitution. The sham in destroying video carrera machines (with the vital parts saved or stolen) is a sobering reminder.
l Disposal of the toxic shabu and chemicals must not endanger people and the environment. Method used must follow proven scientific standards, not something barely tried or just conceived.
l Preserved physical evidence must more than adequately prove the crime in court. Woe to the state case if the deficiency is discovered only at the trial.
(October 8, 2004 issue)
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