Little Bit of Everything

Here comes two things I hate the most on a daily basis: Law and Politics. I was never a fan of both because of what I was forced to see as a Filipino citizen. In the Philippines, we have a culture of “corruption” within the political system and law is just as openly interpreted by anyone according to how it suits them. The law which, I understand, was meant to protect and maintain peace and order in the country can easily be used by people to protect their own will and well being. Those who can hire the “best” lawyers apparently wins.

Politicians are there to lead the people, to aid in the development and uplift the economical and national standards of our country. But in my 22 years, I’ve learned that being a politician means that you can get away with anything. If a congressman violated traffic rules, do you think they will be punished for that? No I don’t think so. When you’re a politician, you can “get” as much amount of money without ever being questioned readily. “This so and so amount is for the road construction”. Only to find out that the so-called road construction consists of pouring cheap asphalt on the road that can later on me washed off by a little flood. In my made up statistics, 85% of the people in the government are corrupt. Yes, contrary to popular belief that corruption only applies to those in higher positions, I also believe that anyone from the barangay captains, to local konsehal/konsehalas, mayor, governor, congressmen are capable of corruption. I’ve lost faith of anything they promise during elections. Lost hope in the way they get votes, that is by giving away money or goods to the less fortunate. Lost all ability to believe that such people really do care about the welfare of the people.

To get to the point, in watching the CJ Corona trial, I’ve felt deceived at the least. In the back of my mind, I feel that CJ was guilty from the start. Guilty of being an accomplice to GMA, ultimately helping her escape from all the cases filed against her. Guilty of having ill-gotten wealth from our government. Guilty of having assets waaaay beyond a self conserving, thrifty and thriving lawyer and chief justice could ever save up to even with his years of service. Guilty of being a dirty politician. I felt deceived by the drama of the trial.

The way things turned out when he testified, the 3-hour opening statement, tears, hypoglycemia and the claimed heart attack that he suffered. Everything that happened that resulted in him not being cross examined by the prosecutors and senator judges. Everything felt staged, it felt like he just wasted a LOT of time just to avoid being cross examined. Now this had me thinking, we didn’t he want to be crossed examined? The answer is simple, he ‘answered’ everything in his opening statement because these are the only information he can divulge while still having a shot at an acquittal. The moment he is crossed examined, more questions will be answered and more information will be revealed thus giving him a slimmer chance of innocence. They are good I must admit, the way they can still turn things around after damaging effects of the trial. They can still ask the public for sympathy and can say matter-of-factly that the prosecution has been wrong all along. Nakakainis. Being a Filipino and having to watch this painful trial. Painful in a way that you know a guilty man will soon be going free. I believe that he COULD be acquitted because as defense claimed there is not much evidence to prove his guilt. After all you can only decide on what is proven in court. Prosecution made all the wrong move, defense made more right moves in terms of impeachment trial. I feel cheated, because he who has the best lawyers will win.