THE LACK of public indignation over the spate of killings of alleged drug suspects is disturbing. But this could be viewed as manifestation of the public’s frustration brought about by inefficiency in the country’s justice system.
There is a failure of the justice system. Our people are upset because of the inability of our justice system to address criminality and punish the criminals with dispatch.
In our present justice system, punishment may come decades after the crime was committed. There is, therefore, no effective deterrent against crimes, which is why criminality in the country is always high.
Our justice system clearly needs reform. The Duterte administration must come up with a comprehensive reform package and long-term solutions to solve criminality and bring back the people’s trust in the justice system – so it does not have to resort to a “shame campaign” strategy in an effort to solve criminality.
Remember the local officials and police officers in the so-called Duterte narco list and publicly named and shamed? Have you heard them being charged in court? But that’s exactly the problem. The shame campaign as an effort to solve the illegal drug problem is not based on evidence and has significant margin of error. It is based on intelligence reports which – given the quality of the dark matter between the ears of our police and military people – may or may not be true. In fact the President admitted that he might be wrong or right. But a single mistake could lead to an error, say death, which could no longer be rectified.
What we need is an effective justice system that will make punishment a deterrent against crimes. We must work all together – the three branches of government – for a justice system that is capable of punishing criminals on time.
The effective deterrent against the commission of crimes is the certainty of punishment and expeditiousness of the proceedings.
