Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Updated 01:58am (Mla time) Nov 12, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 12, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE ISSUE of the supposed corruption in the military threatens to go the way of the dodo, with the meteoric cost of living -- double, triple whammies coming our way with the intensity of broken promises -- currently riveting public attention. The issue, as earlier particularized by the case of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia's unexplained assets both here and abroad, was frittered away by the very same case by dint of its incredible details (thousands of dollars taken out of the Philippines and into the United States, a condo at the Trump Tower, nine vehicles in the old country, among many other things) and appears to have slipped through the cracks. You'd think the former Armed Forces comptroller who has never experienced being on a battlefield was able to swing things all by his lonesome, and no one else in the military's bureaucratic maze is liable.
The progress of Garcia's case itself does not look encouraging. The yet to be resolved issue on who should have "control" over him is worrisome, and, like any other legal conundrum, bids fair to take up more time than it should. ("How can you arrest a man who is already in jail?" Sandiganbayan sheriff Edgardo Urieta said on Wednesday, when a second arrest warrant was served on the general. By "jail," of course, Urieta meant Garcia's confinement to quarters. Of course, it's not clear to the general public whether being jailed and being confined to quarters are the same. For example, does a general in jail have a houseboy to look after his needs, the way Garcia in his quarters reportedly does? The workings of the military, particularly as these apply to the brass, are not exactly common knowledge to the average working stiff.)
The way things stand, the Office of the Ombudsman is preparing to ask the Sandiganbayan to rule on the matter of jurisdiction over Garcia. (But both the military and the anti-graft court now maintain that "there is no tug-of-war" over him, and that they are in "close cooperation" regarding the case.) And between that and the next definitive legal development, public attention is being wrenched away from the case and necessarily focusing more and more on the startling rise in power rates, the looming increase in other utility bills, the prospect of unhappy holidays (despite Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye's feel-good blitz), the government's amazingly indelicate grant of a P353-million loan to the condominium project of El Shaddai's Mike Velarde...
Indictment
IT GOES without saying that public expectation requires a satisfactory resolution of the case involving Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia's unexplained wealth (that is, if the issue of the supposed corruption in the military is too huge a problem to take on in this country of enduring, because systemic, problems). But a satisfactory resolution appears to be a formidable task, given that despite the statements of the contending (but cooperating) parties, the Sandiganbayan's "formal jurisdiction" over the general has yet to be enforced.
The statement issued by Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay on Wednesday called attention to the "glaring failures" in the system of military justice.
While assailing the military for its supposed refusal to surrender Garcia to civilian authorities, Pichay called for amendments to the rules governing the prosecution and trial of military personnel. He cited the case of Army Captains Peter Edwin Navarro, Philip Esmeralda and Rembert Baylosis-by his account, all decorated and all languishing in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison in Fort Bonifacio since Jan. 28. That's two days after the three officers, all of the so-called "Kawal" group, denounced the alleged corruption in the Armed Forces during a press conference with civil society members.
The court-martial for these officers has been "inexplicably delayed," according to Pichay. "A clear indictment" of the military justice system is what he calls the discrepancy between the two cases.
Indeed, the discrepancy between the conditions of the general confined to quarters (for unexplained wealth) and the captains in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison (for crying corruption) is glaring in this country of glaring discrepancies. But is anyone still paying attention?
Updated 01:58am (Mla time) Nov 12, 2004
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 12, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE ISSUE of the supposed corruption in the military threatens to go the way of the dodo, with the meteoric cost of living -- double, triple whammies coming our way with the intensity of broken promises -- currently riveting public attention. The issue, as earlier particularized by the case of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia's unexplained assets both here and abroad, was frittered away by the very same case by dint of its incredible details (thousands of dollars taken out of the Philippines and into the United States, a condo at the Trump Tower, nine vehicles in the old country, among many other things) and appears to have slipped through the cracks. You'd think the former Armed Forces comptroller who has never experienced being on a battlefield was able to swing things all by his lonesome, and no one else in the military's bureaucratic maze is liable.
The progress of Garcia's case itself does not look encouraging. The yet to be resolved issue on who should have "control" over him is worrisome, and, like any other legal conundrum, bids fair to take up more time than it should. ("How can you arrest a man who is already in jail?" Sandiganbayan sheriff Edgardo Urieta said on Wednesday, when a second arrest warrant was served on the general. By "jail," of course, Urieta meant Garcia's confinement to quarters. Of course, it's not clear to the general public whether being jailed and being confined to quarters are the same. For example, does a general in jail have a houseboy to look after his needs, the way Garcia in his quarters reportedly does? The workings of the military, particularly as these apply to the brass, are not exactly common knowledge to the average working stiff.)
The way things stand, the Office of the Ombudsman is preparing to ask the Sandiganbayan to rule on the matter of jurisdiction over Garcia. (But both the military and the anti-graft court now maintain that "there is no tug-of-war" over him, and that they are in "close cooperation" regarding the case.) And between that and the next definitive legal development, public attention is being wrenched away from the case and necessarily focusing more and more on the startling rise in power rates, the looming increase in other utility bills, the prospect of unhappy holidays (despite Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye's feel-good blitz), the government's amazingly indelicate grant of a P353-million loan to the condominium project of El Shaddai's Mike Velarde...
Indictment
IT GOES without saying that public expectation requires a satisfactory resolution of the case involving Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia's unexplained wealth (that is, if the issue of the supposed corruption in the military is too huge a problem to take on in this country of enduring, because systemic, problems). But a satisfactory resolution appears to be a formidable task, given that despite the statements of the contending (but cooperating) parties, the Sandiganbayan's "formal jurisdiction" over the general has yet to be enforced.
The statement issued by Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay on Wednesday called attention to the "glaring failures" in the system of military justice.
While assailing the military for its supposed refusal to surrender Garcia to civilian authorities, Pichay called for amendments to the rules governing the prosecution and trial of military personnel. He cited the case of Army Captains Peter Edwin Navarro, Philip Esmeralda and Rembert Baylosis-by his account, all decorated and all languishing in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison in Fort Bonifacio since Jan. 28. That's two days after the three officers, all of the so-called "Kawal" group, denounced the alleged corruption in the Armed Forces during a press conference with civil society members.
The court-martial for these officers has been "inexplicably delayed," according to Pichay. "A clear indictment" of the military justice system is what he calls the discrepancy between the two cases.
Indeed, the discrepancy between the conditions of the general confined to quarters (for unexplained wealth) and the captains in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison (for crying corruption) is glaring in this country of glaring discrepancies. But is anyone still paying attention?
posted by Dante at 1:02 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home