Apparently It Seems That No High Officials in Government Has Ever Been Jailed for Graft and Corruption, Is It Because Our Constitution Provides More Guarantees on the Rights of an Accused or Is It Purely Lack of
Apparently it seems that no high officials in government has ever been jailed for graft and corruption, is it because our constitution provides more guarantees on the rights of an accused or is it purely lack of political will on the part of our leaders?
Before I answer the question, we better cite the existing situation we have regarding the AFP corruption and analyze this situation. Carlos Garcia of Armed forces of the Philippines was accused of plunder. The appearance of witness Heidi Mendoza of Commission on Audit became a big help in investigation. They proved that Garcia is guilty. But Ombudsman Gutierrez believed that the allegation to Garcia is weak, or that there's no enough evidence. She and the special prosecutors proposed a plea bargain agreement with Garcia. The bargain asserts that Garcia will return P135 million of the P300 million that he took. The plea bargain deal was a tacit admission that Garcia was guilty of plunder.
Is this how they do things in our country now? If you stole and caught guilty of the act, will you just apologize and give the half of it and easily escape the issue? So, where is the justice there? I don’t think that this is fair and just. As a result, many people think that this is the way our leaders do things in our country now. Our country’s justice system is getting worse. The plea bargain entered into by the Office of the Ombudsman through the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with Garcia is illegal and in contravention of law and the Rules of Court.
After considering the present situation of AFP corruption case, I therefore conclude that the problem is the lack of political will on the part of the leaders. If the government stated that they are only providing more guarantees on the rights of those accused, it is not reasonable because having a political will in our government must incorporate the right of an accused one as included in our laws. Although finding the corrupt officials and investigating
Before I answer the question, we better cite the existing situation we have regarding the AFP corruption and analyze this situation. Carlos Garcia of Armed forces of the Philippines was accused of plunder. The appearance of witness Heidi Mendoza of Commission on Audit became a big help in investigation. They proved that Garcia is guilty. But Ombudsman Gutierrez believed that the allegation to Garcia is weak, or that there's no enough evidence. She and the special prosecutors proposed a plea bargain agreement with Garcia. The bargain asserts that Garcia will return P135 million of the P300 million that he took. The plea bargain deal was a tacit admission that Garcia was guilty of plunder.
Is this how they do things in our country now? If you stole and caught guilty of the act, will you just apologize and give the half of it and easily escape the issue? So, where is the justice there? I don’t think that this is fair and just. As a result, many people think that this is the way our leaders do things in our country now. Our country’s justice system is getting worse. The plea bargain entered into by the Office of the Ombudsman through the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with Garcia is illegal and in contravention of law and the Rules of Court.
After considering the present situation of AFP corruption case, I therefore conclude that the problem is the lack of political will on the part of the leaders. If the government stated that they are only providing more guarantees on the rights of those accused, it is not reasonable because having a political will in our government must incorporate the right of an accused one as included in our laws. Although finding the corrupt officials and investigating