Wednesday, April 04, 2007 Editorials: Trial by publicity and other complaints
WE have heard a lot of complaints from Mandaue Mayor Thadeo Ouano about the charges of overpricing of lamps that were bought for the Asean summit: trial by publicity, his side not being heard before he was ordered suspended, and uneven thrust of the investigation.
They appear to be valid gripes. On closer look, however, they are not of the scale that frustrates justice to the mayor.
Has there been trial by publicity? There has been publicity, lots of it. Yet what has seen print or broadcast is news of what happened, from complaint to fact-finding inquiry to investigation.
Publicity has not been one-sided. What the mayor and the other respondents cared to tell media has been given as much display as the complaint.
Besides, they know that public service requires this kind of transparency from its officials.
Due process
True, the mayor and the other public officials were not heard before the public officials involved in the purchase were ordered suspended.
But that is ombudsman procedure: fact-finding inquiry, formal investigation, dropping the complaint or filing the charge before the Sandiganbayan, then the trial.
Suspension of officials, preventive and not penal, is done during the formal investigation. It is also in this stage that the respondents are heard. Thus, no one can whine that due process has been breached.
Is the thrust of justice uneven? Are officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways getting less attention from investigators and media alike?
Election season is partly the reason. People are more interested in how their officials are performing. The officials are seeking reelection or using child or spouse as surrogates to continue their grip on power.
The other reason is availability of information. Material is reported as it is obtained and what has first poured out concerns the lamps and their prices and how local governments acquired them.
As inquiry expands into investigation though, the light will be cast on where the probe will go, including, the public hopes, the masterminds of the multimillion-peso scandal.
Injustice
Expectations however can only be modest. We have seen how probes on similar anomalies can drag on for so long.
A complaint, for example, against alleged overpricing of lots bought by Mandaue City a decade ago is still pending with Sandiganbayan.
The injustice from delay afflicts the persons accused and the state that is aggrieved by the major crime.
But the basics of the process seem to be working. The public's task is to help see to it that they continue to work.
