Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Case: We Need Faster, Not Slower Court Proceedings

With the way Former President Arroyo’s lawyer is handling media interviews, it is hard to figure out who is sick: him or his client. Not content on vowing to have himself castrated should the Arroyos leave the country and never to come back,  he is now protesting the legality of the arrest warrant on grounds of the “indecent haste” with which it was served.

With the long history of impunity for the rich in Philippine justice system, few can relate to what Atty. Topacio meant with “indecent haste”. In a country where almost no big thief has yet been really punished, what is indecent is the slow pace of justice.

Yesterday, November 23 , was the second anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre. At least a hundred suspects, after 2 years, are still at large and one of the alleged principal conspirators, Zaldy Ampatuan, has not even been arraigned after two long years. There’ s also the plunder case of Carlos Garcia, wherein Arroyo’s appointed Ombudsman looked like she was at the mercy of a big time criminal by initiating negotiations. These are just two examples of such big cases that happened under Arroyo’s administration that have no signs of being solved early enough for the offenders to suffer for their crimes. Most probably, when they are convicted they will be too old and sick and will be released for   humanitarian reasons.

 The media statements  by Arroyo’s camp may just be a desperate attempt at reason or a poor lawyer’s way of getting around the technicalities but the people are tired of oligarchs stealing and later on dying unpunished. Or it might be that, as many of the masses suspect, GMA is really fit to go to court, while his lawyer, Attorney Topacio, needs to see a doctor for being so out of touch with reality. And not even a castration will heal that.