Most prosecutors lack common sense

HOW IRONIC that people get arrested and detained for possession of a single bullet in their purse or suitcase at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), but inmates at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) are able to get away for possession of ammunition arsenals and guns inside their cells.

Not a single inmate has been charged with possession of guns and ammunition.

It’s a glaring example of the government catching the small fry and letting go of the big fish.

The big fish at the NBP—convicted drug lords—are not touched because they have money to grease the palms of corrupt officials.

Most of those caught with one or two bullets at Naia were overseas contract workers or ordinary citizens who didn’t have the money to bribe their captors.

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Inquirer columnist Ramon Farolan has called on his fellow retired Air Force general, Angel Jose Honrado, to resign as Naia general manager in the face of the “bullet planting” scandal at the airport.

“There is life after government service,” Farolan advised Honrado in his latest column.

But Honrado will never budge, even if the call comes from a fellow Cavalier. He has so much to lose: a P1-million intelligence fund every month at his disposal.

Honrado has probably forgotten that he was an officer and a gentleman when he was in the military service. The word gentleman refers to a dignified man.

Money makes some people lose their sense of dignity.

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Laguna provincial prosecutor George Dee wrote in the Letters to the Editors section that “ a bullet is ammunition of which the mere possession without proper authority is a violation of the law.”

I agree with Dee, formerly a reporter at the Philippines News Agency where I was a deskman in the 1970s.

Dura lex, sed lex. The law may be harsh but it’s the law.

But a government prosecutor has the power to dismiss a case against a person carrying a single bullet if he finds that the respondent had no intent to harm others.

For example, an old woman carrying a bullet for protection against “kulam” or a hex should be released immediately.

A person who misplaced a bullet in his suitcase should also be released, and the bullet confiscated.

The government prosecutors in Pasay City who handled the inquest or preliminary investigation of the “bullet” cases should have dismissed the cases because there was no intent to harm on the part of the respondents.

Plain common sense, amigo. But then, not everybody has that.

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Many in the present crop of prosecutors are too lazy or too dumb to decide cases on their own. They want to play safe and pass on the case to the judge.

They’re not making use of the prosecutor’s quasi-judicial power to dismiss cases filed in their offices.

If you don’t use your brains, someday it will atrophy.

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Taxes on “sin products” like cigarettes and liquor continue to go up.

From January to September, the collection from excise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic drinks totaled P91 billion or 16.5 percent over the same period last year, which was P78.4 billion.

Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares is doing a great job collecting higher taxes on sin products. These taxes support the government’s health care programs.