AT the end of the day, the sad reality is that JUSTICE IS A NUMBERS GAME.
It is true whether we refer to the independent constitutional bodies like Comelec, COA, and CSC, or the dynasties-infested and pork barrel-fed Congress, or the collegial judicial bodies (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and Court of Tax Appeals), or the collegial quasi-judicial, administrative, regulatory and decision-making bodies of the government like the NLRC, SEC, Napolcom, Insurance Commission, ERC, and many others.
When greed, raw power, dirty partisan politics and corrupt hidden agenda rule society and the corridors of power, the tenets of justice, fair play, equity, equality, wisdom and the common good miserably fail.
A biased, corrupt or partisan justice, arbitrator, commissioner or regulator, once bought, remains bought.
He subjectively interprets the evidence and the law, according to his prejudices and preconceptions, sanitized by the magic aura of legalese, rituals, formalities and technicalities.
He can easily find the necessary jurisprudence and precedents -- which are oftentimes replete with doctrinal, logical and philosophical contradictions -- to justify his unfair and prejudiced conclusions.
That is how human society works. Sad but true.
I speak from tortuous and painful experience as a senior citizen and as a trial lawyer and former law professor and pre-Bar reviewer since my admission to the Philippine Bar in 1985.
You ask me, what is the remedy of the oppressed society?
My answer is the will, vigilance and determination of the SOVEREIGN PEOPLE, FROM WHOM ALL GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY EMANATES, as enunciated in the Constitution.
The POWER OF THE PEOPLE is the most fundamental principle that sustains a genuine democratic republic.
What form shall the struggle take?
Each historical phase of a nation calls for unique and specific actions and creates its own particular heroes.
An old senior citizen, like me, always hopes, waits, and dreams -- even as, sometimes, in the middle of my evening prayers, I can do nothing but cry alone for my motherland.
MANUEL LASERNA JR.
