Below is the unabridged press statement from The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, dated Aug 30.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), like many Filipinos, is extremely dismayed, appalled and disgusted at the apparent double standard demonstrated by the Aquino administration in its treatment of Mrs. Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged ringleader of one of the greatest plunder of the nation, the pork barrel scam.
Contrast this to how the government, in the ordinary course of its business as it claims, treats ordinary citizens, even activists, accused of ordinary and even petty crimes, let alone false charges.
These ordinary people – the voiceless, shirtless, homeless and “shoeless” – routinely suffer the brunt of usual police procedure (i.e. brutality and indignities), cramped in subhuman jails where they take turns to sleep on the floor or on makeshift materials, served food worthy of swine, breathe air so infernal it makes one cringe, denied of basic needs, denied of access to justice, denied of rights, denied of humanity.
Case in point among the countless many is Mr. Rolly Panesa, a simple security guard whom the military insisted to be a high ranking leader of the NPA. Panesa was arrested, severely tortured, detained, shamed in public, despite overwhelming evidence indubitably crying they got the wrong guy. And those in cahoots to tinker with his ordinary life were laughing all the way to the bank because of the P5.6Mbounty.
Being a simple Filipino, he had no access to top government officials, much less step on posh palaces. He only had his innocence and the merits of his case supporting him, and the outrage of decent hard working Filipinos and human rights defenders behind him. He obtained a favourable court decision a few days ago which issued his writ of habeas corpus, confirming that indeed it was a “mistaken identity” – only after 11 months. And how is he going to get back his old life?
As officers of the law, we maintain that the rights of persons, even of persons accused of high crimes, be upheld at all times. But this spectacle that the Aquino administration is showing, in going the extra mile in order to ensure that everything is alright and nice and safe and comfy with Napoles, even prematurely and erroneously considering her as a potential state witness, is obscene and shows great insensitivity to the feelings of ordinary Filipinos. Hold on, for a moment there we got confused who was the accused and who was not.
Shame.
We profoundly thank the Aquino administration and all those falling all over themselves at the beck and call of the likes of Napoles for unabashedly smashing again the false notion that there is such a thing called equality before the law in our society.
Photo: Inquirer.net
