MASTERMINDS

“The reason why life is so cheap here in the Philippines is because we have made murder-for-hires so conveniently possible for masterminds to escape culpability… Lawyers of alleged masterminds use the vagueness of the provisions to protect the ‘rights of an accused’ to shield their clients from arrest, detention, arraignment, and trial,” FFFJ said

MASTERMINDS

By: Ernesto F. Herrera

As the murder case of Ramgen Bautista illustrates only too well, the real test of the criminal justice system’s success is its ability to identify and punish the masterminds and their accomplices.
In this country, it seems relatively easy to catch and convict the hired shooters or gunmen in killings, some of whom are caught red-handed. But if the government really wants to set an example against the culture of impunity that pervades the country, the masterminds must not go unpunished.

Usually, when the contract killers are caught, they are announced with much fanfare and are presented before the media. But the police and judicial authorities must be able to lift the veil on the extent of the links behind the killers.

Who ordered the killing and why were the victims killed? These questions must also be answered.

Convicting the shooter or the killer is an important first step but it is not enough. It is vital that the judicial system should send a strong signal that the state has the ability to put to jail the masterminds behind the killings, who are usually the moneyed and powerful in society.

Take the case of Marlene Esperat, the courageous journalist who was murdered for uncovering the P728-million fertilizer scam in the Department of Agriculture. As the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) recently reported, the petitions for certiorari and prohibition filed by the alleged masterminds in Esperat’s murder have resulted in a two-year delay in their prosecution.

In the murder case of environmentalist and broadcaster Doc Gerry Ortega, the Department of Justice’s preliminary investigation excluded the alleged masterminds, former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his equally powerful accomplices.

The DOJ panel approved only the criminal case against the contract killers. It disregarded the testimonies of the contract killers pointing to Reyes, who allegedly ordered the hit on Ortega because of the latter’s broadcasts exposing the former governor’s plunder of Palawan’s shares of the Malampaya gas project’s profits.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima thankfully saw through the travesty and ordered a reinvestigation of the case. Incidentally, the third hearing on the reinvestigation is scheduled at the DOJ today.

At times it is puzzling why murder cases take too long even if there is compelling evidence against the suspects.

Esperat was murdered in March 2005, six years ago, and yet up to this day none of those she implicated in the fertilizer scam—including former Agriculture undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante whom the Senate had also implicated in its separate investigation—were put behind bars.

Ortega’s murder will be a year old this coming January. Despite the fact that his killers were caught shortly after the shooting as they fled, and they confessed, it took the first DOJ panel four months to determine that there was probable cause for charging them. And even then the DOJ left out the masterminds the killers identified.

Up to now the “why” of Ortega’s murder has not been investigated. The President could easily order a thorough audit of the Malampaya funds to see if the money meant for the betterment of Palawan really went to the province. He could order a lifestyle check on Reyes and all the former and present government officials who handled Palawan’s Malampaya shares. Yet this hasn’t been done. That’s a bigger “why” right there, because we are talking about billions lost to corruption.

I do hope the reinvestigation of Ortega’s murder would not lead to another travesty and would be expedited this time around.

The Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists Inc. (FFFJ) earlier this year issued a statement noting that of the cases on record since 2001, there has been no successful prosecution of any mastermind in the killing of a journalist.

“The delay in the prosecution of these alleged masterminds are manifestations of the problems of the Philippine judicial system; they deny the slain and their kin the justice they deserve,” FFFJ said.

“Lawyers of alleged masterminds use the vagueness of the provisions to protect the ‘rights of an accused’ to shield their clients from arrest, detention, arraignment, and trial,” it added.

The FFFJ called for a review of the rules of court and other criminal proceedings, the abuse of which has contributed to the culture of impunity in the Philippines.

“The FFFJ respects the rights of the accused but must emphasize the need for the justice system to respect the families of the victims by upholding legal practice that will bring these cases to their just conclusion, penalizing the guilty and exonerating the innocent as quickly as possible,” it said.

“It will not do for court proceedings to drag on for years, in effect allowing the killers of journalists and the people behind them to escape punishment, and affording the kin of those slain neither closure nor justice,” it added.

I echo their sentiments. What we need is the full prosecution of murder cases, the prosecution of both perpetrators and masterminds that would lead ultimately to the conviction and sentencing of the guilty. And I’m not just talking about the murders of journalists.

The reason why life is so cheap here in the Philippines is because we have made murder-for-hires so conveniently possible for masterminds to escape culpability.

Even when the hitmen, lookouts, go-betweens and accomplices have been caught, surrendered or confessed, the masterminds remain scot free. What does it say then about our justice system? That the best way to get away with murder is to pay someone to do it?