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Friday, October 22, 2004
Malilong: Favila’s actuation
By Frank Malilong
The Other Side
Winston Garcia must be chuckling. Congress, or at least some noisy congressmen, tried to unseat the Government Service Insurance System president but failed. Now, they’re ganging up on another Garcia.
The lawmakers say Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia should be charged with plunder. If that were so, then the congressional investigation should be terminated immediately. Not only is there a law punishing plunder, the congressmen have also already determined that Garcia has violated the same.
The purpose of a congressional investigation is to aid the lawmakers do legislative work. Sadly, this has been mostly theory; in practice, the hearings have taken the course of inquisitions. Those who are invited to appear during congressional investigations are supposed to be resource persons. More often than not, they’re treated like they are accused of a crime by the lawmakers who act as if they are prosecutors conducting a preliminary investigation.
Garcia may or may not be guilty of the irregularities he had been charged with but I admire the way he stood up to the congressmen. His incessantly invoking his right against self-incrimination may have hurt his image and the innocence that is presumed in his favor, but he is right about telling the congressmen that they have no business delving into matters the inquiry into which is vested in another forum.
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Either he’s arrogant or is really innocent.
Michel Favila Sr. must have known what awaited him if he voluntarily gave himself up. He had been tagged as the cowardly gunman who shot to death a defenseless lady in her own home. The victim wasn’t just any victim and her death has provoked widespread indignation.
Favila could have fled but he did not. Instead, he chose to come to Cebu to face his accusers. His reported explanation about having been brought by fate to the spiritual mission of helping his master’s problem is ambiguous. For one, he didn’t define help.
There are loose ends to be tied up. The police cannot claim that the crime has been solved because Favila is now in custody. They should continue to look for other angles, not just on the Ecleo connection. Unless, he confesses and owns up the Arbet murder, Favila is only a suspect who enjoys the presumption of innocence. That he chose to give up rather than flee is something that has to be appreciated in his favor, no matter how grudgingly.
Now, it’s going to be Favila’s word against that of the eyewitnesses. Although alibi is weak defense, it is a defense nevertheless and Favila says he can bring an entire town from Palawan to attest to his having been there at the time Arbet was murder. The reference to an entire town could be a figure of speech like Councilor Gerry Carillo’s 100 lawyers but will, say, 1,000 voices drown out the account of witnesses who say they saw Favila in Alcohol St. that fateful morning?
The police, the public and private prosecutors and the judge have their job cut for them.
(October 22, 2004 issue)
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