What’s happening to Makati judges?
Something stinks to high heaven at Makati City Hall, where the city’s hall of justice is also housed.
No, it’s not the stink from the alleged overpricing of the construction of Makati City Hall Building II and Makati Science High School building.
It’s the granting of bail to two Canadians caught with drugs worth P100 million in separate raids conducted by the police on three upscale condominiums in Metro Manila.
Drug trafficking is a nonbailable offense.
Ali Memar Mortazavi Shirazi and James Clayton Riach were allowed to post bail by Judge Josephine Advento-Vito Cruz.
The judge had ruled earlier (March 20) that based on her “careful evaluation,” there was no basis to allow the two accused to post bail.
Your Honor, what made you change your decision?
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What’s happening to Makati judges?
Another judge let off with a light sentence three men who attacked a US Marine major with knives when the accused should have been convicted of murder and, therefore, sentenced to life imprisonment.
The three men ganged up on the hapless American who ran away after a fistfight with the suspects, but they gave chase and stabbed him dead.
The three men were well-versed in handling a knife, having been tutored by a knife-fighting teacher.
Now, if that’s not murder I don’t know what is.
That judge should be investigated.
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Still another Makati judge is reported to favor moneyed litigants in commercial cases even if they don’t stand a chance in a fair trial.
That judge is reportedly a member of a syndicate composed of Makati judges who decide big commercial cases based on money and not on merit.
One wonders why the Supreme Court seems blind and deaf to the shenanigans of some judges.
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Annie Yamon Kotake, a Filipino married to a Japanese, was humiliated and charged wrongly by airport immigration personnel.
Kotake, who owns and operates the K-Ann Language International Center in Dasmariñas, Cavite province, was apprehended at the airport immigration counter while about to leave for Tokyo and shouted at in front of other passengers by Evita Makader, an immigration supervisor.
Not contented with embarrassing her compatriot, Makader filed charges of human trafficking against Kotake which was reported by some newspapers and TV news.
Kotake said her only fault was that she tried to give her side when Makader accused her of recruiting nine Filipinos to work in Japan.
Kotake claimed the members of her group were students of her school who were going to Tokyo for further studies in Nihongo.
Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison has ordered an investigation of the incident.
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Recently, the lobby of Sofitel Hotel in Manila was full of photos depicting Japanese atrocities during World War II.
The exhibit, which opened on June 26, was meant to remind Filipinos and other Asians never to forget the inhumane acts of some Japanese soldiers at war time.
