Slipping away again?

I was listening to the radio while going to work and heard this commentator talking about the plea bargain of Gen. Garcia and how it was done behind our backs. Normally I would not have paid attention to the issue since I had known long ago that cases involving high ranking officials almost always get away with any issues linking them through the use of time and money. But somehow I can't fathom how shitty our judicial system is since these tactics have always been in play and they don't do something about it.

If we look at the past, how many corrupt politicians out there are now behind bars? After years of "in depth" investigations, how many were incarcerated? I could only count a handful compared to the magnitude of cases that were acquitted.

Our judicial system is flawed. Flawed because they are subjected to the same political strategies and never learn from it. If cases are not prolonged for the public to lose interest, they are then bought with chunks of cash. I believe this was exactly how Garcia was able to have the plea bargain.

According to the sandiganbayan in January, graft evidences against Garcia was strong enough to put him behind bars, but when March came they suddenly switched sides and said it was insufficient. And by May, while we were all concentrated on the Presidential Elections, Garcia was offered the plea bargain. If these were true, then what else can we think? There might have been some underhanded negotiations going behind our backs.

Time and money has always been the loophole of our Philippine justice system. If acquittal cannot be accomplished through time, then they're going for money. In some cases both strategies are used to acquit an accused.

The judicial body always argue that the slowness of the proceedings was a result of the lack of personnel, or the lack of funds, or the observance of due process and what not. I don't agree that all of these cannot be resolved by the government. Due process cannot be an excuse since other countries observe these processes (some even more) and still ended up with a verdic in a month's time.

The shortages of people and funds can be easily addressed by the government's budget. If they're serious about finishing these cases quickly and truthfully, then I believe they know what to do.