If Defensor and the rest of his posse want Satur Ocampo et al to disappear, then they better come up with something stronger against them. If they are convinced about the sins of these people, they better prove it in the court of law. Otherwise, they have no business turning our democratic justice system on its head.
There?s a reason why presumption of innocence is the foundation of our justice system. There?s also a reason why the burden of proving the guilt of the accused lies in the accuser.
That reason is this: democracy.
Without those basic rights, democracy would be a sham. Without those fundamental principles guiding our justice system, we would be in an autocratic state.
Those who cannot prove anything against their nemesis are inclined to twist these principles around, to suit their own purpose, to spread black propaganda and outright lies.
I am reminded of this when I read in today?s Inquirer that Arroyo?s chief of staff, Mike Defensor, had challenged the so-called Batasan 5 to denounce the communist New People?s Army. If they did, Defensor said, he would help them with the cases they are facing. ?If they will denounce the NPA and the armed struggle, everything will be easier,? the paper quoted him as saying. (Sorry, I can?t find the story in its online edition, so no link.)
Note the arrogance in Defensor?s quote.
Why would anybody denounce anything to curry the favor of Mike Defensor? Who the hell does he think he is, the Inquisitor? His statement reminds me of those Inquisitors who forced heretics and suspected witches to denounce Satan or whoever on pain of being burned at the stake.
If Defensor and the rest of his posse want Satur Ocampo et al to disappear, then they better come up with something stronger against them. If they are convinced about the sins of these people, they better prove it in the court of law. Otherwise, they have no business turning our democratic justice system on its head, not that it?s perfect, what with Raul Gonzalez lording it over at the DOJ.
As for Gonzalez, I would dismiss his cocky challenge the other day ? for the Batasan 5, who had just been released from ?House? arrest, to just go to the mountains ? as the product of a corrupt mind and overweening pride.
(It makes me sick sometimes to think that our friends in the press are forced to report every dribble that comes out of this man?s foul mouth.)
***
Now that the so-called Batasan 5 have been freed, I wonder what the Arroyo administration achieved by arresting them in the first place? Did the Left weaken because of this?
The only conclusion I can draw is that the arrest was part of the plan by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to intimidate the Left. He?s been doing that ever since. One motive, as suggested several times by leaders from the Left, is that Gonzales remained sore that his party-list group, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP), did not win a seat in Congress, compared to the six seats the national democrats won in the last election.
A more fundamental motive is ideological. The victory by the national-democratic Left, particularly Bayan Muna, in the party-list elections (they were so popular that traditional politicians sought their endorsement in the last elections) can be interpreted as a repudiation of what Gonzales, his PDSP, and such rabid anti-Left personalities as Fr. Romeo Intengan stand for. Then there?s, of course, hubris.
Committee DEFEND, a group that defends Communist leader Joma Sison from all sorts of allegations, many of them coming from Gonzales and Intengan, said last week:
?Gonzales? mentor, the rabid anti-communist Jesuit Romeo Intengan, has come out from obscurity to be part of the chorus of sycophants for the Arroyo regime. His refrain is accusing the militant party list groups that have won seats in the House of Representatives, of being fronts of the CPP and the NPA. His McCarthyist anti-communist witchhunt justifies the numerous killings of political activists.? It seems this is also a case of sour grapes because Intengan?s own political party, PDSP, has never won any seat in any election.?
The social-democrats are known for abhorring armed struggle. That?s well and good. But in their desire to defeat the Left, or at least those they think are anathema to their ideology, they now resort to the very things they supposedly loathe. They use brute force, intimidation, and black propaganda. By their silence about the murders of national-democratic activists and, indeed, by their continued demonization of the national democrats, Gonzales, Intengan and their cohorts are proving to be just as capable of violence as anybody. Hell, they?re even worse because they?re hypocritical about the whole thing.
(Carlos H. Conde is the editor of Davao Today. He also writes for The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. For more of his commentaries, visit his blogs at www.promdi.net and www.pinoypress.net. He can be reached at chconde@gmail.com)
