Zamboanga as the Philippines

I have nothing but pity in my heart for the Chief Witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt.

~Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Election fever heats up in the Zamboanga with former Governor Antonio Cerilles representing UNA in a do-or-die campaign against the Liberal Party.

Four campaign supporters of LP leader Samuel Co, are dead and this incumbent mayor of Pagadian City appears to be the target of a suspiciously hasty court case involving the infamous Aman Futures scam.

Antonio Cerilles and his wife are both respondents in several plunder cases, and the former governor has been accused by his former employees for both murder and frustrated murder.

It is no secret in the area that these elections are their last hurrah and the stakes are extremely high. This is in view of the fact that former Governor Cerilles has been convicted of plunder in the Sandiganbayan, although the case is still under reconsideration, on motion filed by the Cerilles camp.

Yet it appears that the Liberal Party’s national officers have consistently ignored the plight of Mayor Co, damning him with faint praise and doing little to temper the Department of Justice’s rush to jail him.

It has also looked the other way when Co complained that the National Bureau of Investigation agents appeared to be too gung-ho in filing what is increasingly becoming a dud of a case.

Even worse, Malacanang, through deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte made a grievous slip when they dared Samuel Co to “prove his innocence” – conveniently forgetting the constitutional provision that says that innocence is presumed, it is guilt that must be proven. And sadly in the Aman Futures case, it appears that the state has abandoned its burden of proof, relying instead on sound bytes to show the existence of probable cause and failing miserably at it.

How can they ignore the deaths of Co’s campaign supporters? How can they ignore the continued cries of Cerilles victims, some of whom are in the witness protection program? How can they continue to support, directly or indirectly, a trapo accused of plunder and corruption and graft? How can they claim to be “daang matuwid” and continue to ignore law and rule and constitution?

What say you, all you stalwarts of LP who claim a near monopoly of altruism in this nasty world of Philippine politics?

By: Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles
(Source : PSSST! Centro)

To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ