Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Editorials: Welcome, Asean visitors
CEBU as site chosen by Government has done more than most other previous direct hosts of the Asean summit. Cebu had to prepare twice for the big event.
Not the fault of delegates and other visitors. The postponement because of stormy weather was initiated by the Philippines.
Energy and zest in the preparations though must tell the world how Cebu appreciates the honor.
Sun.Star wishes guests a summit that will enrich them in fruitful official acts and memorable personal experiences.
Using rehab to get around the drug law
Under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, a court can send to a private rehab facility a drug abuser. Petitions are assigned to judges only after a raffle.
Apparently, the procedure had not been followed for some time in local regional courts.
More than a hundred cases were approved by one judge who acted on them though they were not raffled. Some cases were approved even without the required physician's report, a Sun.Star story by Karlon N. Rama yesterday said.
A Clerk of Court staffer says the practice was started by another executive judge and carried on for about two years until Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr. noticed the lapse of procedure.
Need for raffling
Dumdum's concern must be shared by the public. Under the law, a drug abuser who is sent to a rehab center is exempted from liability for crime of drug possession or use.
There's the likelihood of using the rehab petition as way out of prosecution. It can be a source of graft not necessarily for judges but for law enforcers and court personnel who do the paper work.
No evidence
To be fair though, there is no evidence of that yet. But gaps or holes through which a person in trouble with the drug law can wiggle out are usually not freebies.
Raffling cases, of course, doesn't assure a squeaky-clean process. Court raffling can be tampered with: Ask lawyers and court workers. Still, the rule helps reduce wrongdoing. With the cases not going to one specific judge, chances of graft or misjudgment are cut down.
We understand the need to act with dispatch since drug rehab cases can be extremely urgent. The system, however, must not be used for dodging deserved punishment.
Judge Dumdum, we trust, will keep that in mind. He knows that rules are enforced to serve the law's intent, which is public good, not just to appease gods of court bureaucracy.
