The other Garci walks free as well

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

THE PLEA bargain of retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, former comptroller of the Armed Forces, reminds us once again of a perennial Philippine problem, namely, our weak institutions of public accountability. Time and again, we have relied on foreign investigators to do our work for us, and the moment they pass the ball to us, we drop it.

Look at the historical record. Today, 24 years after Edsa 1, the Marcoses have not been held liable for any human rights violation by any Philippine court. So where instead did the victims file their class action suit? Before a Honolulu federal court which, in 1995, awarded $2 billion in damages to the victims of torture, summary executions and disappearances under the Marcos regime.

And when the victims, now called Claimants 1081 (after Proclamation 1081 under which Marcos seized emergency powers in September 1972), tried to collect these damages against the Marcos assets in the Philippines, guess who stood in their way? The Philippine government, because the Supreme Court meanwhile had forfeited Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth in favor of the government in 2003. So the victims had to sue before Philippine courts. Again, what impediment stood in their way? The extravagant filing fees required by the court. So the victims went to the United Nations, sought justice from its Human Rights Committee, which ruled in their (the victims’) favor. Accordingly, the Philippine courts recomputed the filing fees and reduced them to a negligible amount.

In all these, notice that only two institutions delivered: the US federal court in Honolulu and the UN human rights body. All the institutions that repeatedly frustrated the Filipino human rights victims were Philippine governmental institutions funded and in some cases elected by the Filipino people to protect their rights.

The Philippine Justice System is laughable isn't it?

Full article here.