E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Credibility at issue
Sunday, 04 06, 2003
A credible person is one who is trustworthy and entitled to be believed. Ador Mawanay was exposed a long time ago as one whose testimony is not reliable, not worthy of belief. In short, Mawanay is not a credible person. Nobody believed then what he was dishing out against the political opponents of his original handlers. His claims were simply fantastic and outrageous. Now that Mawanay has retracted his previous accusations, he does not come off any more credible.
That Mawanay’s retraction of his earlier charges against Sen. Ping Lacson caught the camp of his original handlers by surprise shows an abject failure of intelligence, and lack of intelligence to rein in a perjured mind’s meandering thoughts. Mawanay was engaged to be a ramming post against Lacson, without possibly a background check of what he is capable of dishing out or his resolve to stick it out with those who enlisted his services. And they (his former handlers) did not even know that Mawanay would go public and retract everything he had previously said against Lacson.
Having taken advantage of Mawanay’s glibness, with the latter exposing anything and everything that he probably was fed, whoever took him under their protective care failed to anticipate what harm he could possibly do to them once his use has reached its limits or the promised favors not given. Mawanay had really been used to the hilt during the Senate hearings. He had his several hours of fame and notoriety. Now his former handlers are reaping the consequences of their amateurish handling of Mawanay.
Mawanay was a bomb that could explode anytime at his handlers’ hands. Yet, the latter made no effort to dissociate themselves from him, or preempt his further lack of use to them. True, he was taken out of the witness protection program, but it had nothing to do with any failure on his part to cooperate with respect to the gist of his testimony detrimental to Lacson and other senators he charged. He cooperated with his handlers alright, but he was thrown out of the program for reasons other than failure to cooperate.
Mawanay’s retraction rendered his previous testimony of no moment. Yet still, Lacson cannot rest east on Mawanay’s retractions. Mawanay’s previous testimony is merely rendered useless, but it does not make Mawanay any more truthful when he now claims otherwise. The only effect is that with two conflicting statements, one originally designed to portray Lacson as involved in smuggling, drug-trafficking, kidnapping and all the rest they leveled against him before, and another claiming that everything was concocted as a hatchet job on a political opponent, Mawanay cannot now be believed whichever side he is on. The truth will never come out of Mawanay. Whatever he says from here onwards, given his reputation, will mean nothing. Mawanay’s use to Lacson has ended with his retraction. He cannot be used any further.
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The revival of the Kuratong Baleleng multiple murder case could possibly involve a constitutional crisis, this time involving the Senate, where Lacson sits as senator under a six-year term. Lacson faces the prospect of being arrested, murder being a capital offense and the constitutional privilege from arrest of members of Congress being limited to cases where the imposable penalty is 6 years or less. Will the Senate oblige, by allowing the arrest of Lacson, or will it take a stand similar to what it did when the Sen. Miriam Santiago was served an order of suspension by the Sandiganbayan? The senators then took a collective stand, refusing to have Santiago undergo suspension.
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The massacre in Ilocos Sur involving Efren Rafanan, a political adversary of Chavit Singson, must be investigated and solved soon. Sen. Ed Angara, president of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino of which Rafanan is a ranking member, expressed dismay over the brazenness of the people behind this savage act of cowardice. Rafanan, widely touted to challenge Singson in next year’s elections, vows to pin down the assassins of his wife, son, brother and security aide. If this is not solved, the people of Ilocos Sur will continue to live in fear over the breakdown of law and order.
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Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Apolinario Exevea has gained headway in his battle for credibility, which unfortunately was dashed by the precipitate filing against him of an information before the Sandiganbayan for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. The Sandiganbayan granted Exevea’s motion for re-investigation, which means that the inculpatory statements against Exevea in an affidavit he knew nothing about will be properly addressed now in an investigation before the Ombudsman. Exevea, an awardee for excellence, has an unblemished public service record, except for the charge leveled against him by a losing litigant. He has to suffer that aggravation of a charge that no one in the Department of Justice believes he has committed. He lives simply in Lagro, is eyeing a nomination to the Court of Appeals, and would not jeopardize 37 years of public service. His colleagues in the prosecution service are one in vouching for his integrity.
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We pay tribute here to a man of the law who devoted 40 years of unblemished service in the government, 22 of them in the Judiciary. Supreme Court Justice Vicente V. Mendoza, whom his students at the UP College of Law fondly called “VV,” retired last Friday. A month prior to his retirement, Justice Mendoza was the recipient of the Outstanding Judicial Service Award by the Bantay Katarungan. He was cited for his “remarkable record as jurist,” and his “excellent contributions to the Rule of Law.” Justice Mendoza, an internationally-acclaimed constitutionalist, was also recognized for defining the place of judicial power in a constitutional democracy, always striking a delicate balance between political majorities that make a popular democracy, on the one hand, and the transcendental claims of justice enshrined in the Constitution, on the other.
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