Lawyers and crooks

Talk to anyone on the street today and chances are he or she will express skepticism that we will be able to jail the big crooks behind the flood control scandal. The small crooks, probably yes. But the big crooks?

- BOO CHANCO

Blame our legal system, the same one that has a reputation of being the best judicial system that money can buy. The money being offered to defend the crooks are just too mouthwateringly good to resist.

I wonder...a lawyer who believes in God manages to get his crook of a client off the hook...and this lawyer ends up meeting his Maker the following day...can he tell God he lived a life pursuing justice in this world?

I am not a lawyer so I do not know the ethical considerations involved. Of course, everyone is entitled to legal representation to protect his rights. But beyond that, once a lawyer realizes how guilty the client is, what is his responsibility to the larger society? Or to God?

Solomon Hermosura, the Government Corporate Counsel, delivered a speech last Thursday before government lawyers under him. He detailed how lawyers, justices and anti-corruption officials are helping the crooks get away with it:

“The first is token prosecution or criminalization without prosecution. During his seven-year tenure from August 2018 to July 2025, Ombudsman Samuel Martires filed no more than 1,357 cases with the Sandiganbayan. An average of 194 cases a year, which is less than half of the over 530 graft investigation officers employed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which has an average annual budget of over P5.2 Billion from 2018 to 2025.

“Consequently, as Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has observed: ‘Sandiganbayan walang kaso ngayon. They have no cases now. Two weeks ago, nag-ka-raffle sila only two cases were raffled off. Their caseload is very light right now... The impunity of corruption started when the Ombudsman fell silent.”