Punish them!

Three in one day; that was the number of judges and court cases that became the focus of The Philippine STAR editorial on Feb. 3 that harped on how judges "gravely abused discretion" and ignored strong evidence.

- CITO BELTRAN

The first case mentioned in the editorial was about bail being allowed for six suspects in the "Missing Sabungeros" case in spite of a video showing them forcing the "victims" into a van. The sabungeros have never been seen since then, and the chances of rearresting the six suspects are slim to none.

The second/third case in The STAR editorial involves Judge Irin Zenaida Buan of the Angeles City RTC Branch 56, who allowed former police colonel Rafael Dumlao III to post bail for the October 2016 gangland-style execution of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-Joo in his car inside Camp Crame.

In 2023, Angeles RTC Branch 60 Judge Eda Dizon acquitted Dumlao. In July 2024, the Court of Appeals (CA) reversed Dizon's ruling and declared Dumlao as the mastermind of the kidnapping and killing of Jee Ick-Joo.

The Supreme Court commented that the CA found the RTC proceedings to be "a sham and an apparent mockery of the judicial process," making Dumlao's acquittal a foregone conclusion and in total disregard of the evidence.

Now, there is another controversial case that started at the Malabon Regional Trial Court and now involves the First Division of the Supreme Court decision declaring the Fisheries Code of the Philippines preferential access provisions as "unconstitutional."

The code or law provides protection for small-scale fisherfolk by prohibiting commercial fishing vessels from entering "municipal waters," which is a distance of 15 kilometers from the shoreline. The distance is stated in the Philippine Fisheries Code as well as the Local Government Code (RA No. 7160).