DAVAO CITY – Various groups expressed dismay over the recent Supreme Court ruling to grant bail for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
The Supreme Court voted 8-4 to approve Enrile’s petition for bail. Enrile is currently under hospital arrest in Camp Crame facing plunder and graft charges over the pork barrel scam. He is 91 years old.
Human rights group Karapatan expressed dismay to the decision and said “it is once again affirmed that the Philippines is one of the best havens for criminals, plunderers and human rights violators for their staycation.”
“From Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to Jovito The Butcher Palparan, to pork barrel senators led by Enrile, all were given special treatment by the Aquino administration, all were not fully made accountable for their crimes against the people,” Karapatan said in its email to the press.
Karapatan said they “deplore this clear travesty of justice.”
Meanwhile, Atty. Edre Olalia of the National Union of People’s Lawyers said the country’s justice system “will be hard put to explain to the aging and sick political prisoners, grieving rights victims, ordinary toiling taxpayers, the public at large, and even dirt poor petty criminals why the likes of rich, powerful and influential demigods like Enrile can walk.”
“They may exclaim: “Huh? What happened?” Or even “Huh? Again?” Or they might just say in surrender: “Bring them all out. Enrile, GMA, Palparan. Plunderers, rights violators, one and all. Justice is indeed blind anyway,” Olalia said. (davaotoday.com)
