Lawyers and crooks

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Talk to anyone on the street today and chances are he or she will express skepticism that we will be able to jail the big crooks behind the flood control scandal. The small crooks, probably yes. But the big crooks?

Blame our legal system, the same one that has a reputation of being the best judicial system that money can buy. The money being offered to defend the crooks are just too mouthwateringly good to resist.

I wonder…a lawyer who believes in God manages to get his crook of a client off the hook…and this lawyer ends up meeting his Maker the following day…can he tell God he lived a life pursuing justice in this world?

I am not a lawyer so I do not know the ethical considerations involved. Of course, everyone is entitled to legal representation to protect his rights. But beyond that, once a lawyer realizes how guilty the client is, what is his responsibility to the larger society? Or to God?

Solomon Hermosura, the Government Corporate Counsel, delivered a speech last Thursday before government lawyers under him. He detailed how lawyers, justices and anti-corruption officials are helping the crooks get away with it:

“The first is token prosecution or criminalization without prosecution. During his seven-year tenure from August 2018 to July 2025, Ombudsman Samuel Martires filed no more than 1,357 cases with the Sandiganbayan. An average of 194 cases a year, which is less than half of the over 530 graft investigation officers employed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which has an average annual budget of over P5.2 Billion from 2018 to 2025.

“Consequently, as Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has observed: ‘Sandiganbayan walang kaso ngayon. They have no cases now. Two weeks ago, nag-ka-raffle sila only two cases were raffled off. Their caseload is very light right now… The impunity of corruption started when the Ombudsman fell silent.’

“The second corruption strategy is prosecution for ‘inoculation’ from liability. Ombudsman Remulla has given us as examples the cases filed arising from the Pharmally scandal. They were filed not to convict but to acquit with the protection of the right against double jeopardy.

“The third strategy of corruption is negation of criminal liability by interpretation. As Ombudsman Remulla explained: ‘Plunder has so much jurisprudence that will negate any attempt to convict people of plunder. And, so far, I think isa pa lang nako-convict ng plunder ….’”

We have good laws to quickly ensure accountability of crooks, according to Hermosura. But the good intentions are negated in practice.

For example, we have a law, Republic Act 1379, “An Act Declaring Forfeiture in Favor of the State any Property Found to Have Been Unlawfully Acquired by any Public Officer or Employee.”

In September 2010, Julia Bacay-Abad, then the Head of the Legal Services Group of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, wrote:

“While the law on forfeiture of unexplained wealth has been in existence since 1955, much is to be desired in terms of the number of cases filed and successfully prosecuted pursuant to R.A. 1379. To date, there have been two cases won, 13 dismissed or lost and nine still pending before the Sandiganbayan.”

Hermosura said, this has not changed.

“The Ombudsman filed only 15 cases in 2019. Obviously, a law that is hardly enforced cannot deter anyone. The law has not even deterred politicians and their families from flaunting their luxurious lifestyles.”

Then, there is inordinate delay.

“A case in the Ombudsman could be kept dormant in consideration for ‘parking fees.’ Cases in the Sandiganbayan can remain unresolved for ‘decades.’

“There are cases filed in 1987, or 48 years ago, that are still pending. This shocked Congressman Chel Diokno. As reported by Ombudsman Remulla, this ‘inordinate delay has cost us too much,’ at least P600 billion.”

The third strategy to go around accountability is hustle.

“In April 2001, the Ombudsman charged former President Joseph Estrada with plunder. Six years later, in September 2007, the Sandiganbayan convicted Estrada of plunder.

“A month later, in October 2007, while Estrada’s motion for reconsideration was pending and before he could spend a day in jail, president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted pardon to Estrada. We have laws and institutions for accountability, but we do not hold the corrupt accountable.”

Another strategy crooks use is secrecy, said Hermosura.

“Even with anti-corruption laws and accountability mechanisms, corruption still thrives when secrecy is the norm. You cannot prosecute crime or recover ill-gotten wealth that no one knows…”

The crooks and their lawyers, with the help of the judiciary, have rendered all our laws useless, even the Constitutional requirement for transparency. They reframed the transparency requirement into a supposed need for privacy.

“The 1987 Constitution mandates that SALNs ‘shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law.’ That law, Republic Act 6713, mandates that SALNs ‘shall be made available for inspection at reasonable hours.’

“No request, no proof of purpose or undertaking is necessary…

“But in a Resolution issued June 13, 2012, the Supreme Court unanimously reframed the Constitutional directive that SALNs… that ‘the authority to disclose shall be made by the Court En Banc.’

“Eight years later, on Sept. 1, 2020, Ombudsman Martires went further, requiring the ‘requester’ to obtain a ‘letter of authority from the declarant,’ the filer of the SALN, ‘allowing the release of the requested SALN.’”

I want to believe Ombudsman Remulla is serious in getting the crooks jailed and ill-gotten wealth confiscated. He sounds angry enough. But the legal system may stand in the way.

Lawyers have a social obligation to help throw the crooks in jail. Or, they become part of our problem and should be blamed if we become a failed state.

Frustrated citizens often recall a line in Shakespeare’s Henry VI to “kill all the lawyers” if it is the only way for the people to establish a better judicial system that actually dispenses justice.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco