I would very much like to call the incident I am about to discuss an "Abuse of the law," but the truth of the matter is that it was absolutely BY the letter of the law and that means that the Philippines judicial system has enshrined abuse as a virtue. Why not? In a nation that sees nepotism as admirable, bribery as anything but note worthy, and discusses Extra-Judicial Killings the way other nations discuss sports scores, the abuse I am about to describe will barely raise an eyebrow on Mindanao, indeed even most of the nation.
On January 13th, 2010 radio disc jockey Albert Loyola was doing his "Radio Patrol" morning segment on station DXRJ, in the province of Lanao del Norte's Iligan City. The 27 year old was discussing very troubling discrepancies in the city's 2009 Budget Appropriations process and singled out City Councilor Chonilo Ruiz for attention. In fact, Loyola informed his audience that he was currently working on an investigative segment about the issue and inferred that he had found some more than troubling facts about Councilor Ruiz. Chonilo Ruiz, in charge of the P14 Million ($300,000) Committee Services Budget, maintains that the entire sum of 14 Million Pesos was spent on providing SNACKS at Committee Hearings. Loyola quipped that he attends nearly every Hearing and has yet to see a single snack provided to anyone, and summed up the observation by calling Ruiz a liar.
As Loyola segued into some commercials, and then into another unrelated segment, Councilor Ruiz barged into the studio, angrily threw open the door to the disc jockey's booth while screaming and cursing at the top of his lungs live on the air, began beating the crap about of the hapless radio jock. Loyola, after being taken to the hospital, filed a criminal complaint, or "blotter" as they are called here, charging the out of control politician with Attempted Murder.
The charge was eventually downgraded by the Prosecutor to the much less worrisome, "Assault with Slight Physical Injury" and while Loyola felt victimised by the system AS WELL AS by the thuggish city councilor, he did his best to put it behind him. Then, on April 18th, 2011 while on the air, Mr.Loyola was "captured" by a composite force of the PNP, or Philippine National Police's PRO RID-10 (Police Regional Office Regional Intelligence Division, Region 10) and the CPO-IDM (City Police Office Investigation and Detection Management unit). What did our hapless radion announcer do? Was it a bombing? A firefight with the army? Maybe he was leading a secret life as an insurgent, investigating city budget snafus by day but praising Mao and his poodle Professor Sison by night...In fact, Albert Loyola's only despicable crime was...are you ready? LIBEL.
Because Mr.Loyola dared to suggest that a City Councilor who sits upon the Council's Budget Appropriations Committee MIGHT have been partially responsible for the subsequent budget shortfall, he was jailed in the city's jail in Barangay Tipanoy on P12,000 (~$300) bail. Ruiz was subsequently bailed out by a journalists organisation (the bail is akin to the bail charged to armed robbers and is a significant amount of money in the Philippines. Had he not been the recipient of such largesse he more than likely would have spent more than a year or more languishing as the case slowly made its way through the nation's notoriously corrupt and slow justice system).
I am no fan of the Philippine Media. Most are as unprofessional as the day is long but that only adds to my distaste since professional journalists in any nation are manipulative, heavily biased and lacking in common sense for the most part. I think it is safe to say that anyone with more than an iota of military experience feels the same. As one of my first Commanding Officers once told me, "The Media is the Devil." However, a third rate politician in a backwater burg using his political weight to batter someone who is merely doing their job? Well if made to choose I will definitely favor the man speaking his mind. The Philippines isn't the only nation with semi-retarded libel laws. Heck, England is only a shade or two better (forget the "or two"). Yet, when you juxtapose the Philippine Law against Councilor Ruiz's brutal assault, witnessed by several onlookers and heard by tens of thousands of stunned listeners, and THEN realise that the Councilor gets a pass and the victim gets a stint with robbers, rapists, and murderers...
The warrant served was for a single count, issued by Regional Trial Court #5 but there is an additional count coming down the line from Regional Trial Court #3, both in Iligan City so that our intrepid Mr.Loyola can look forward to another P12,000 Bail. In addition, the snack-obsessed Councilor Ruiz has ALSO filed Libel charges against the station's parent corporation, Rajah Broadcasting Network Incorporated, Station Manager Rolito Saquilabom, and the station itself, DXRJ. Ruiz also has filed a Civil Rights case and is suing for damages in excess of P3 Million from each of the four defendants. Disgusting.
In the first and second quarters former President Fidel Ramos toured the region as he drummed up attention for BIMP-EAGA. The Brunei -Indonesia -Malaysia -Philippines -East Asia Growth Area was the crowning achievement of Ramos' otherwise lackluster performance as President. Of note was the ex-President's visit to Sabah. Sabah, a Malaysian state located on the large island of Borneo is a point of contention between Malaysia and the Philippines. Though the Philippines is involved in territorial disputes with just about every nation in Southeast Asia (except Mynammar/Burma, Cambodia, and Laos), Sabah came close to plunging the nation into open, protracted war. For the sake of brevity I will simply note that I offered an in depth explanation of that fateful period in the late 1960s, over the course of three entries, "Operation Merdeka," Parts I, II, and III.
Likewise Sabah played a pivotal role in the Mindanowan Insurgency with the nascent militant organisation that would become the MNLF, or Moro National Liberation Front, finding succor and training there until 1976. Since then the territory has continued to play a part in local geopolitics because of the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos living there, albeit illegaly for most, as well as the perrenial drumbeats raised over the desired restoration of the Sultanate of Sulu. Originally controlled by the related Sultanate of Brunei, Sabah was given to the Sultan of Sulu, along with Palawan, in 1658 for assistance rendered to Brunei during a troublesome civil war.
Not wanting to miss an opportunity to further muck things up, Ramos could not resist bad mouthing one of the contenders for the title Sultan of Sulu. When asked his opinion about the claims of these contenders Ramos, referring to Mohammad Akjan Ali, offered that he believes the man to be a printer. Yes, as in "printer of books." Asked to elaborate he said the following, " He has all sorts of beautiful documents, including printed upon on old parchments like 150 years old...very impressive logo and nice pictures of him. Like some TV advertisements, but with due respect [sic]." Suuuuuure.
No word about a response from the would be Sultan who had himself crowned at his house on February 2nd, 2011. Billing himself as "Sultan Shariful Hisham II, the 33rd Sultan of Sulu," he was forced to do some furious backpedaling when local politicians began screaming that he be charged with Sedition, punishable by death. He clarified that the ceremony at his home in Kampung Lokas in Sabah had actually been a feast of thanksgiving for having been "chosen" to be Sultan. Aaaah, you can take the man out of the Philippines, but never the Philippines out of the man.
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