Swift justice

Rolando Pacinos, alias “Inggo,” one of the persons linked to the massacre of five members of a family in Bulacan, was found dead on Tuesday.

Pacinos was implicated by Carmelino Ibañez, who confessed to killing three children, their mother and grandmother after an alcohol and drug binge with his friends.

Pacinos was found dead under a tree on Palmera Drive in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, his body strapped with a placard that read: “Addict and rapist, do not emulate.”

What happened to Pacinos would send chills down the spine of future offenders and make them think twice before they commit heinous crimes.

They know that if they get caught they will immediately suffer the dire consequences of their dastardly act in the same manner as their victims.

Pacinos’ fate also happened to rapists, murderers and drug pushers in Davao City during the time of then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, or “Digong” to his constituents.

Among them was a man who raped and strangled a female college student.

That man was later found dead in a deserted street with many barbecue sticks, which were bundled together, hammered onto his chest.

On the body was a placard that read in the Visayan dialect: “I am a rapist, do not emulate me.”

A picture of the man in the throes of death was taken and printed on leaflets disseminated around the city.

Nobody knew who did such a grisly deed to the rapist, but nobody cared; many even rejoiced over his fate.

Swift dispensation of justice is what’s needed in this country where the courts take their own sweet time deciding cases.

Take, for example, the case  of 13-year-old scavenger Christian Serrano, who was shot and killed by Chief Insp. Angelo G. Germinal of the Makati police in 2012.

Germinal fired at the young boy while the latter was gathering scrap materials from an abandoned building in Makati.

There was no reason for the cop to kill the boy as the latter didn’t commit any crime.

Germinal has been dismissed from the service (through the intervention of my program, “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo”), but his criminal case has dragged on.

The case has been passed around like a basketball over the years from one Makati Regional Trial Court judge to another — from Cristina Javalera-Sulit to Liza Marie Picardal-Tecson, Rico Sebastian Liwanag, then to Cesar Aganon, and back to Liwanag.

The last judge trying the murder case, Liwanag, has been postponing the trial due to the absences of either the defense lawyer or the prosecutor.

At the rate Liwanag is hearing the case, it might take 20 years for a decision to be made.

Meanwhile, the accused is out free because Judge Sulit allowed him to post bail even if the case is murder, a nonbailable offense, and the evidence against him is very strong.

Only Judge Sulit knew why she granted Germinal bail.