Hi roming thanks for the article Judge people less on their mistakes than on how they handle their mistakes, any Robin Hood out there ?
Posted by Roming
There's a universal rule in the world's penal laws that what is stolen or malversed must be returned 1) by the robber to his victim and 2) by the public officer to the government in addition to claims for damages/injuries, after conviction.
Just a maxim
This doctrine is a shining shibboleth to the young law students, but old lawyers have views that contradict the maxim. There's no new view against the return/repayment of stolen money or property.
Or asking Al Capone to pay taxes
The above rule is like asking Al Capone to pay the correct taxes to the federal government after his conviction for tax evasion in the 1930s. Or forcing large-scale swindlers of hundreds of small bank deposits "uncovered" by SEC and BSP officials only after the Senate investigators were told of bribes - one was a Ford Expedition.
Who will return P728 M
Illustration: One CoA report has listed items bought at an incredible overprice for a total of P728 M. Both CoA and the Senate now lack the power to get even a small portion of the total that was malversed.
The anti-graft act speaks of "confiscation/forfeiture in favor of the Government any prohibited interest and unexplained wealth."
Stealing as habit
Public officials who habitually steal government funds or accept huge bribes lack the innocence or stupidity to deposit them in the nearest corner bank in their names or their immediate kin (wife, children, parents, etc).
Does any agency of the government, CoA especially, keep a list or record of money and property returned by public officers after conviction?
For vices, first?
There's a common saying that "stolen money or property" is badly needed by the thief for his vices, first, and for his family, second or last.
Last week, most readers were forced to purse their lips when one housewife reportedly complained that the fat allowances mentioned by CoA did not reach the recipients' family/home.
Afterthought
The above became one great aftershock, because the report came as an afterthought from an agency ordered by the Constitution to act fast in "preventing/disallowing" questionable disbursements of public funds.
From all appearances, our public officials, high and low, love to prosecute with full knowledge that repayment of stolen money/property is beyond recovery.
Small hole for a bowl
We saw President Noynoy on TV Wednesday night inspecting squatter ghettos near Malacañang. He probably saw shanties built on an estero; some are five stories high and of dangerously light materials.
A TV camera focused on a toilet in Sta. Cruz used by various families without basic sanitation: One small room has a hole on the floor in lieu of a bowl. In rice farming, this is called "direct seeding" for lack of a septic tank.
Just a boast
The yearly boasts of politicians and civic leaders that Pasig and esteros/creeks may still return to their pre-WW II condition will remain mere boasts. The tens of thousands of families and their leantos/shanties built on banks need to be relocated to a new town that can accommodate a population of more than three million squatters in Metro Manila only.
The lakeshore neighborhood
Let's not forget the tens of thousands of homes built on the shores of Laguna de Bay, thousands standing or sitting on lakeshore waters without basic sanitation, except old wooden/bamboo foot bridges to dry land.
The problem of squatting on public/private land will hound us in the next 50 to 100 years or forever.
Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com
