‘Connection system’ rampant in judiciary
By TJ Burgonio, Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:41:00 01/08/2009
Filed Under: PDEA-DOJ bribery issue, Judiciary (system of justice), Legal issues, Graft & Corruption
MANILA, Philippines—Blame corruption and “the connection system” for the conduct of the lawyer of the so-called Alabang Boys, according to legal luminaries.
Law professor Carlos Medina of Ateneo de Manila University Wednesday said Felisberto Verano’s move to draft a release order on an official stationery of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and transmit it to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez for his signature was highly irregular.
“He (Verano) might have been comfortable enough with the system and the people to come up with a draft and send it to the justice secretary—something that an ordinary lawyer will be careful not to do,” said Medina, who teaches constitutional law.
Former Sen. Franklin Drilon, who had also served as justice secretary, agreed: “It only shows that the connection system is still very prevalent not only in the DOJ, but in the entire bureaucracy.”
‘Highly improper’
It was also “highly improper” for Gonzalez to meet with a drug suspect’s parents and lawyer while a drug case is pending before his office, lawyer Ernesto Francisco added.
Francisco said Gonzalez had “no business” meeting with Verano and the parents of Richard Brodett, one of the Alabang Boys, since a dismissed drug case involving the young Brodett and two others was awaiting automatic review.
“It’s highly improper for him to allow a litigant and his lawyer to appear before him while a case is pending before him,” Francisco said in a phone interview, adding the justice secretary could face administrative liability for this.
Gonzalez’s act was no different from a judge who “talked to one party and his counsel in the absence of another party and his counsel,” said the 46-year-old lawyer who has filed cases against officials and companies on behalf of aggrieved citizens.
It would have been prudent if Gonzalez also asked the counsel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to appear before him with the lawyer of Brodett, Francisco pointed out.
Verano has admitted that he and Brodett’s parents met with Gonzalez on the afternoon of Dec. 23 last year to press for the release of Brodett, Joseph Tecson and Jorge Joseph.
Prosecutors dismissed the charges against the three, who were arrested in buy-bust operations by PDEA agents on Sept. 20, but the dismissal was subject to automatic review by the DOJ.
But Drilon, who served as justice secretary during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, said Gonzalez could not be faulted for meeting with the litigants and their lawyer.
“He’s both a quasi-judicial public official and a Cabinet member. It’s very difficult to attach wrongdoing on his behavior,” Drilon said. “He’s a public official; he can entertain visitors. And he didn’t give in to the request.”
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita agreed. “If I were secretary of justice that is just input when I conduct review of case. I don’t think we should give malice to that,” he said in a briefing.
“That’s highly irregular. That is not usually done but it’s an open secret in the legal profession that if somebody is trying to facilitate the issuance of an order he usually prepares the order for the signature of a judge, prosecutor or hearing officer,” Francisco said.
There are times when a judge, prosecutor or hearing officer asks the facilitator—usually the lawyer of a defendant—to prepare the draft for his signature, the lawyer said.
“Nobody will have the guts to prepare an order for the signature of somebody, in this case Secretary Gonzalez, unless he’s certain he can get this signed and get away with it,” he added.
Francisco is among those who filed charges against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. in connection with the graft-tainted $329-million National Broadband Network deal.
Francisco, Medina and Verano are alumni of the Ateneo College of Law, and are fraternity brothers in the Fraternal Order of Utopia.
Drilon said: “He (Verano) should be disciplined. That’s a question of ethics. Why did he do that? There’s no excuse for such behavior. It’s beyond lawyering.”
Ermita said: “On the face of it, it’s not regular.”
Verano’s behavior and the transmittal of his draft release order to Gonzalez through the office of Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor again highlighted corruption in the judiciary as well as easy access of the rich to the justice system, according to Francisco.
“The members of the judiciary are in a denial stage. They keep denying that corruption is going on, but we have a very corrupt judiciary. The litigants, lawyers know that it has become a quest for survival,” he said.
“How does one survive in a corrupt judicial system if he doesn’t go along with it? That’s the question lawyers and litigants are asking,” Francisco added.
Medina, also the executive director of the Ateneo Human Rights Center and a convenor of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections, said: “The problem with the justice system is that the poor have less access to it than the well-connected, rich and powerful.”
Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez said the controversy facing the justice department was “symptomatic” of the corruption affecting the department and the rest of the bureaucracy.
“It is now the department store of justice. For the right amount of money, you can shop at the DOJ for any order that you want,” Chavez said.
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