As a human being, I do not blame the trial judge to whom the Ampatuan criminal cases were raffled if he was immobilized by the fearful and nerve-breaking thought of trying the ferocious and powerful Ampatuans whose Malacanang-supported and military-abetted political dynasty in the beautiful and huge but violent and poor Philippine island of Mindanao led to the mass murder of 60 political competitors and journalists last month.
The judge issued an order voluntarily inhibiting himself from the criminal cases after they had been raffled to his court on the basis of his personal fear of death by assassination.
However, as a lawyer and advocate of law and justice, and with all due respect to the trial judge, I do blame him for his cowardly action and his failure to rise above his self interests and to serve the higher ends of the national interest -- acts which I dare say may even be correctly interpreted as a violation of Rule 137 (disqualification of judges) and Rule 140 (discipline of judges) of the Rules of Court of the Philippines and the Code of Judicial Conduct.
The critics in the media are correct in saying that if he cannot stand the heat, he must get out of the kitchen, so to speak.
I gathered below the news items on the abovementioned incident, for research purposes.
As expected, public reaction to the aforecited action of the trial judge was very negative and derisively furious.
A trial judge who publicly behaves on the basis of misplaced cowardice extremely jeopardizes the sanctity of the rule of law and the nobility of the administration of justice and surely endangers the very foundation of the democratic system which he has undertaken to bravely and zealously defend and which generously feeds the very physical survival of his own family.
New judge picked for Maguindanao slay case
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 14:47:00 12/17/2009
MANILA, Philippines – And the case against an influential suspect in a multiple murder case goes to . . .
Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes was picked Thursday after the case was raffled off for the second time at the Quezon City regional trial court, according to radio dzMM.
Reyes of Branch 221 will replace Judge Luisito Cortez of Branch 84 who refused to take on the case involving Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., citing fears for his safety and that of his family.
Andal Jr., son of Maguindanao Governor Andal Sr., was charged with the deaths last November 23 of at least 57 people in Maguindanao province in what has been considered an election-related incident.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20091217-242537/New-judge-picked-for-Maguindanao-slay-case
DoJ, senators hit QC judge; SC orders new raffle
By Norman Bordadora, TJ Burgonio, Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:14:00 12/17/2009
MANILA, Philippines—The secretary of Justice and at least three senators slammed the judge who refused to try the Ampatuans, the patriarch and his four sons, suspected brains behind the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao out of fear for his and his family’s safety.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno ordered a new raffle of the case, following a dialogue with trial judges a day after Judge Luisito Cortez of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court inhibited himself from the case, said Gleo Guerra, the tribunal’s deputy spokesperson.
“The brewing crisis, if you want to call it that, has been defused,” Guerra told the Inquirer.
Guerra indicated that the high tribunal, which has administrative control over judges, had yet to decide on whether action would be taken against Cortez for refusing to handle the celebrated case.
“It is up to the court to take action or no action on the case,” Guerra said.
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera took exception to Cortez’s decision. “If I were him, I would look for another job because I easily get frightened. That is unacceptable,” Devanadera said in an interview with radio station dzXL.
Chilling effect
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Cortez’s inhibition could have a “chilling effect” on judges.
“You must just have to bring yourself first in the line of fire, that’s the job of a judge,” Santiago said.
Otherwise, she said, the Ampatuans and other suspects would resort to “terrorizing prospective trial judges so they would inhibit themselves.”
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Cortez showed “cowardice.”
“It’s the duty of the judge to handle the case if it goes to him. If he can’t handle it, if he can’t take the heat, then he has to get the hell out of there,” Enrile said.
“There were judges who were willing to handle the case. But the Chief said, ‘No, we have to go through the process,’” Guerra said, referring to the raffle.
The prime suspect in the election-related massacre on Nov. 23 is Andal Ampatuan Jr., who has been charged with multiple murder. He is detained at the National Bureau of Investigation jail in Manila.
At least 28 others have been named in a police complaint for multiple murder filed in the Department of Justice, which is to conduct a preliminary investigation. They include Ampatuan’s father, Andal Sr., a three-term governor of Maguindanao and close ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The dead included the wife and two sisters of Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan town and longtime rival of the Ampatuan family. Thirty journalists were among those killed—the largest group of journalists to be slain in one incident anywhere in the world.
The Ampatuans, along with some 600 supporters, are also facing rebellion for allegedly resisting government efforts to bring the culprits to justice.
Who is Cortez?
The 49-year-old Cortez is a law graduate of San Beda College. He claims to have survived an ambush in Plaridel, Bulacan, while serving as a trial judge there. He is also trying Abra Gov. Vicente Valera for the killing of Rep. Luis Bersamin Jr. and his bodyguard in 2006.
“What is glory without a family,” Cortez told reporters when asked about what he felt handling the celebrated case involving the worst political violence in the country’s history. He said he feared for his safety, his staff and his family.
Malacañang promised to provide police and NBI protection to any judge handling a case involving the Ampatuans.
“Wherever the venue might be, whether in Quezon City, Metro Manila, whether it be in Davao, wherever, you can be sure that we will not allow them to be cowed into being afraid not to accept their job.”
‘No case is worth our lives’
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Cortez’s move should not be taken against him.
“When you feel your life is in danger, I mean, no case or no story for us
journalists is worth our lives. I doubt it if you can call this cowardice. Our right to life goes along with our right to ensure our safety,” he said.
Remonde told reporters that Cortez’s action confirmed the apprehension of judges in Mindanao.
“Remember that one of the reasons why we declared martial law was because judges refused to issue search and arrest warrants, and you didn’t believe they feared for their lives,” he said, justifying Ms Arroyo’s proclamation.
The martial law declaration was issued on Dec. 4 and was lifted eight days later. The Senate voted in a resolution to declare the proclamation unconstitutional.
Disgusting
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Cortez “disgusted” him.
“I think he should be sanctioned by the court because to my mind that is a dereliction of duty,” Pimentel said.
Sen. Richard Gordon said Cortez ought to resign. “A judge should not be afraid to do his job.”
Bro. Eddie Villanueva, presidential candidate of Bangon Pilipinas, said: “Cortez’s inhibition showcases an inept and irrelevant justice system that feeds on the government’s apparent own disregard for the rule of law.” With a report from Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091217-242438/DoJ-senators-hit-QC-judge-SC-orders-new-raffle
Opinion
EDITORIAL - The fear factor
(The Philippine Star) Updated December 17, 2009 12:00 AM
For Quezon City Judge Luisito Cortez, one controversial case is enough. The judge of the QC Regional Trial Court’s Branch 84 is handling the murder case filed against former Abra governor Vicente Valera for the murder of Abra Rep. Luis Bersamin and his bodyguard in a church compound in 2006. Cortez, who survived an ambush when he was a judge in Bulacan, inhibited himself this week from handling the cases against the Ampatuan clan in connection with the Maguindanao massacre.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno had to meet with Quezon City trial judges yesterday to guarantee their safety. A Supreme Court deputy spokesman said several of the judges volunteered to handle the massacre case, which will have to be raffled anew after Cortez was allowed to inhibit himself. Cortez was unfazed by his colleagues’ show of courage, reportedly telling an interviewer, “What is glory without a family?”
That sentiment is shared by many other judges as well as prosecutors and lawyers all over the country. Together with left-wing activists and journalists, legal professionals have been among the top victims of unexplained killings and forced disappearances since democracy was restored in 1986. As in the attacks on activists and journalists, many of the murders targeting legal professionals have been blamed on political warlords who control the criminal justice system in their turfs, leaving many of the murders unsolved. Militants and journalists are not the only ones complaining that the failure to solve the attacks has created a culture of impunity.
Some judges take the easier and often lucrative route, allowing their decisions to be influenced by powerful politicians or other vested interests. Some judges do so for their personal safety; others seek financial gain. It is not unusual for some judges to succumb to the temptation of corruption, considering the poor pay of members of the judiciary compared to rates in the private sector.
It’s hard to tell which is worse for the state of justice in this country: justice for sale, or cowardice in its administration. Though some quarters have called for Cortez’s resignation if he can’t take the heat that often goes with the job, others are more sympathetic. The government, after all, has failed to protect many legal professionals from all forms of harassment and threats to their safety. This situation is not unique to Maguindanao or the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Cortez earns sympathy especially because the powerful people behind the Ampatuans are based not in the ARMM but right here in Metro Manila, where influencing a judicial decision is made not by deploying a private army but with a mere phone call. Arrested, indicted for serious crimes and stripped of their weapons, the arm of the Ampatuans, like many other warlord clans in this country, has a reach longer than that of Philippine law. Unless this situation is corrected, justice will be elusive and the rule of law will never prevail.
See:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=533290&publicationSubCategoryId=64&newsalert
Editorial
One gutsy lady
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:28:00 12/19/2009
JUDGE JOCELYN SOLIS-REYES has shown that she has a lot of what a male colleague sorely lacks: courage to do one’s duty in the face of danger, real or imagined.
Granted by the luck of the draw the opportunity to try the case against Andal Ampatuan Jr. and possibly more than a hundred others for the massacre last Nov. 3 of 57 persons in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Reyes immediately accepted the challenge without a whimper or fanfare.
Sought by reporters after her name came up in the second raffle among judges of the Quezon City regional trial court, Reyes declined to meet with them and went on with the Christmas party she and her staff were celebrating. She also refused an offer by the Philippine National Police to provide a bodyguard, saying she didn’t feel an immediate need for one.
Reyes certainly didn’t mean it that way, but everything she has done was a slap on the face of another judge, Luisito Cortez, also of the Quezon City RTC. In an earlier raffle, Cortez got the assignment to try what is bound to be the most sensational criminal case of the decade.
He promptly filed a motion to inhibit himself, and then candidly and tactlessly told the media he feared for the safety of his family, his staff and himself. “I have to consider the security of my family, my staff and their families,” Cortez reasoned timorously. “This is not a simple case.”
Very few cases are, as Cortez probably knows, otherwise there would be no need for lengthy litigation. And this one promises to be especially challenging, given the wealth, influence, power and firepower of Ampatuan and his clan.
Undoubtedly everything about the case inspires fear and loathing. The crime itself has shocked the whole nation and most of the world for its inhumanity, brutality and monstrosity. The Ampatuan clan has been shown to have enough manpower and firepower to hold back an army of separatist rebels.
Time and again, if witnesses are to be believed, they have killed for the slightest of excuses. But they are accused of a most heinous crime, which cries for swift retribution. And again as Cortez knows, judges are the state’s instrument for the dispensation of justice. For a judge to refuse to take the case for no other reason than fears and threats he imagines is therefore to frustrate the ends of justice, which is the exact opposite of what a judge is expected to do.
“What is glory without a family?” Cortez said. He should have asked instead, “What is life without honor? What is position without dignity?” Honor and dignity he has forfeited by his craven refusal to accept the case against the suspected perpetrators of the Maguindanao massacre. It is difficult to imagine him rising from this ignominy.
Henceforth, when Cortez decides a case, people will wonder whether he decided it on the basis of its merits or he had been influenced by real threats or by his own fears. Maybe he should consider taking another job, as Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera has suggested. The judiciary is not for the faint of heart.
If all judges thought like Cortez, the justice system would have broken down, and Ampatuan would soon be laughing all the way to freedom. The reason he may not is that there are still women of steel like Reyes who persevere in their duties without counting the inconveniences or dangers. Reyes saved the day for the judiciary by doing what she described as something “ordinary.”
But we don’t know if she should continue to go about her business as usual. There is nothing ordinary about Ampatuan and his clan or the members of their private army. They have killed for much less, if witnesses are to be believed. In the recent massacre, they killed without reason or compunction journalists who were merely covering an event as well as some people who merely happened to be passing by.
The government should spare no effort to make sure that the judge is safe and secure while the case is being tried and even beyond. The nation cannot afford to lose this gutsy lady who has shown a male colleague how to answer the call of duty.
See:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20091219-242857/One-gutsy-lady