The one hundred and second

View from Malcolm

By Atty. Harry Roque Jr.

Good news to the families of the 58 victims of the infamous Maguindanao massacre. Shortly after the 1000th day anniversary of the massacre, Datu Ulo Ampatuan, brother of recently arrested and injured Ipeh Ampatuan, son of Anwar Ampatuan, grandson of Andal Ampatuan Sr, became the 102nd suspect to finally be apprehended for the massacre by the Philippine National Police.

This means that there are now 94 suspects who still have to be arrested. Without doubt, this is a very small step in the uphill battle for justice to the victims of the massacre, but good news nonetheless. What is worrisome is the pronouncement of his lawyer that 1000 days after the massacre, Ulo Ampatuan never went into hiding as in fact, he was arrested not in the jungles of Maguindanao, but in BF Resort in Las Pinas. Does this mean that all these time, the PNP was not actively seeking him out to be arrested? If so, this may mean that it would take 10 lifetimes before all of the suspects are finally arrested.

Just last week, I wrote about what next to do after we ratified the Rome Statute. Part of what is now incumbent upon us is the duty to cooperate particularly in the arrest of individuals who are subjects of warrants of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. I have always maintained that the arrest of these persons may be our waterloo since obviously, our PNP has not proven to be effective in apprehending individuals with warrants of arrest. Aside from those still at large in the Maguindanao case, there are also the Reyes siblings of Palawan, both wanted for the murder of Doc Gerry Ortega; Joselito Binayug, wanted for the Darius Evangelista murder; former Rep. Ruben Ecleo, and Jovito Palparan. Unless the PNP shapes up, we may become the laughingstock of the international community since in almost all civilized societies, the apprehension of wanted individuals is considered to be amongst the most basis function of a police force.

This leads me now to the search for the new DILG Secretary. The DILG, by law, has supervision over both local government units and the PNP. Supervision is legally defined as the duty to ensure that hat local government units and the PNP are performing their functions. But because LGU heads have popular mandates, the thrust of the DILG really is over the PNP. It is clear that whoever will take-over the post must primarily have the ability to reign in a police force that has proven to be both inept and inefficient. This is why many of us regular citizens would like to see the likes of Senator Panfilo Lacson at the helm of the Department. Yes, the man may not be perfect- as who can claim to be perfect anyway? But there should be no doubt that Lacson, with his experience and proven abilities, can rebuild the PNP into what the law envisions it to be: the implementer and not the breaker of the law.

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While the appointment of our first woman chief justice is yesterday’s news, I add still my congratulations to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for her appointment. The CJ, known as “Maylou” in the UP College of Law, comes to the office with all the necessary credentials: a UP Law degree, 20 years of teaching experience at Asia’s premier law school, the UP College of Law, and even a three-year stint as one of my predecessors as Director of the UP Law Center’s Institute of International Legal Studies. It was under her watch at the IILS that the UP Law Center pioneered in the field of International Economic Law and Asean Economic Integration.

Moreover, the CJ, like me, was a lawyer volunteer for then presidential candidate Brother “Eddie” Villanueva. My staff at IILS recalls the CJ to be a perfectionist and a workaholic. Others also remember her to be fiercely independent, which should assuage the fears of those that she may be a puppet of the President. While I am not one of the Chief Justice’s closest friends, I can still assure one and all that she will be her own person. President Aquino will learn this very soon.

What’s good with the appointment of CJ Sereno is that it shows that academia has not lost its luster. Until her appointment, the last full-time academics to be appointed to the Supreme Court were Irene Cortes and Jose Campos. It took almost 20 years before a full-time academic was appointed again to the court. That was Sereno two years ago. And if I am not mistaken , the last full time academic who served as chief justice was more than 40 years ago, Chief Justice Enrique Fernando.

While CJ Sereno was somehow controversial in her stint at the UP College of Law, her foes and friends are one in congratulating her if only because she gives all of us academics the hope that we too may occupy the highest post in the Judiciary one day.