FORCE OF LAW


There are two kinds of persons in custody of the law. The first, who are called prisoners, are those who are in jail by virtue of a final and executory conviction. The second, who are called detainees, are those who are in jail for one reason or another, but not by virtue of a final and executory conviction.

The problem
1.  Prisoners and detainees are human beings who are placed under the control of jailers or public officials who are either professional or unprofessional, and honest or dishonest.

2. In case the jailers are professional, but dishonest, the prisoners and detainees would suffer abuse or inhumane treatment.

3. In case the jailers are honest, but unprofessional, the inmates would suffer the same injustice.

4. In case the jailers are both dishonest and unprofessional, the inmates would suffer hell on earth.

5. It is only in the ideal case where the jailers are both honest and professional that prisoners and detainees would have a chance to be treated fairly and with due respect to human dignity.

6. The question is:

ARE PRISONERS AND DETAINEES BEING TREATED JUSTLY AND HUMANELY BY THEIR JAILER, NAMELY, THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT?

It is respectfully submitted the answer is NO.

The law
7. The 1987 Constitution provides that:
“The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions shall be dealt with by law.” (Sec. 19[2], ART. III)

8. The Civil Code provides that:
“Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith.” (Art. 19)

Comments
9. The Constitution offers an EMPTY BAG to inmates. It ALLOWS the jailers to ABUSE them.

10. Instead of affording them protection, it passes the responsibility in the seeming sense of “passing the buck,” to a majority of politicians who play the role of lawmakers.

11. Thus, it DOES NOT GUARANTEE standard and adequate penal facilities. Neither does it
guarantee HUMANE CONDITIONS.

12. What does it do? It passes such matters “to be dealt with by law”. So, instead of such matters being DEALT WITH BY ORIGINAL AUTHORITY OF THE SOVEREIGN FILIPINO PEOPLE, the same are unceremoniously and quite ignominiously volleyballed to be dealt with by derivative authority of elected politicians.

13. Some quarters hail the 1987 Constitution as libertarian or pro-liberty in character. They are, of course, either right or wrong.

14. If they are right, they should properly feel the strongest moral obligation to explain WHY the basic law DOES NOT PROHIBIT the:

a) employment of physical psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner or detainee, or  

b) use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions.

15. If they are wrong, they should confess and apologize to the Filipino people, and RECTIFY the mistake by publicly and doggedly prodding Congress into enacting CURATIVE MEASURES. Otherwise, Philippine history would likely judge them less than kindly.

16. How about the interpersonal conduct of the individual jail guards and managers towards the inmates and the latter’s visitors? In the performance of their duties, do they act with justice, give everyone his due, and observe honesty and good faith? According to numerous news reports, there is so much graft and corruption, bribery, trading of illegal drugs, gambling, guns for hire, and prostitution within the government’s penal institutions.

Conclusion
The seething frustration, angst, anger, and anguish of prisoners, detainees and their families and friends find a root cause in the 1987 Constitution, which is naturally abetted by what President Noynoy Aquino himself described in his Executive Order No. 1 (creating the aborted Truth Commission) as “large-scale graft and corruption in the government”.

The Filipino people cannot simply close their eyes to this ugly reality. They must understand they have the collective power to effectively reform the system. They must understand they owe it to themselves and the next generation to do right.