THE RULE OF LAW
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay Cullen
The meaning of government at all, its greatest value and obligation, and specifically in a truly democratic government, is to protect the people from harm, violence and injustice.
The way that is done is through the Justice System. Its purpose and nature is to deliver justice to those deprived of their rights, the means of life and prosperity and happiness. Above all its purpose is to protect the people.
The law enforcers are tasked to carefully and professionally gather evidence of a crime and find the real suspects. The prosecutor's task is to establish probable cause that a crime was committed. The court has to decide if the prosecutor is correct to file his charges before it and if so then the accused can mount a defense.
The whole of society depends on this system, ´The Rule of Lawˇ, so that it is civilized, dependable, just and fair and all can live in harmony and not slide into anarchy, chaos or rebellion.
That is why the ruling of the Philippine Supreme Court on Friday 1 June 2007 is of utter importance to the life of this nation and its people.
Eighteen months ago an opposition politician of the left Crispin Beltran, leader of Bayan Muna, (Put the Nation First) a party that sought social change through the democratic process and not violence.
Bayan Muna was gaining respectability and popularity and its members were outspoken in congress exposing corruption and scams by government officials. It was seen by government stalwarts as a threat to the government especially as mid-term election approached on 14 May 2007. Many of the Bayan Muna organizers and activist members have been and still are being assassinated by gunmen unknown. The opposition won a landslide victory in the Senate.
Beltran was arrested without a warrant, he was charged, with five other congressmen of his party and other accused with ´Inciting to Seditionˇ by the Department of Justice (DOJ) but when that was not going to be sufficient to convict him, he and the others were re investigated by the DOJ and charged with rebellion. This was supposed to be a stronger charge to convict them.
To it's eternal credit the Supreme Court saw through this. In its landmark decision the court ruled that the prosecutors had overstepped their authority and had no right to prosecute.
There was no probable cause for them to charge Beltran with rebellion. The evidence before the panel of prosecutors who conducted the inquest of Beltran for Rebellion consisted of the affidavits and other documents.....the allegations in these affidavits are far from the proof needed to indict Beltran for taking part in an armed public uprising against the government.
The Supreme Court went further and chided the DOJ pointing agreeing with the accused that the whole process was a sham. ´Responded prosecutorsˇ the ruling said, not only trivialized the investigation but also lent credence to the petitioners claim that the entire proceeding was a sham.
The court also quoted in its decision the declaration of the Secretary of Justice ´We will just declare probable causeˇ, he said during the preliminary investigation and the Supreme Court in its decision put the word declare in bold letters. This clearly shows the prejudgement, a determination to file the Information even in the absence of probable cause.
So there it is, clear evidence of harassment, fabrication of evidence, false charges, indictment with no probable cause by the very system that is supposed to protect diligently and with fervor all our sacred human and legal rights and prevent despair anger and rebellion. What hope is there for justice?
I have frequently written about the great difficulty
of getting justice for the child victims of sexual abuse or when we at
the Preda child protection center are falsely framed up and charged by
the sex mafia or their backers with libel, slander, kidnapping, bringing
false charges and other baseless accusations designed to harass and
blacken our name. We fought them all to a standstill and won but what a
painful and expensive struggle. The decision of the Supreme Court in the
Beltran case gives us all hope that we can beat the system even if it is
stacked against us. But for the poor there is little chance.
