When Justice is Unjust: The Dark Ages of Philippine Justice System

Observing and reading the events in Philippine politics today drives me back to the fundamental concepts of the many authors writing about civilization and governance. Politics and governance was fundamentally created to govern and manage a larger amount of population. The two books of Francis Fukuyama relate the evolution of civilization from tribal to the modern-day governance of military and the whole economic structure of a nation. As population grows complex challenges in politics and governance will always come in different persona. The text of Niall Ferguson define civilization as a complex thing that for centuries they can flourish in a sweet spot of power and prosperity. But then, often quite suddenly they can tip over the edge into chaos. Some reasons of political factionalism were exacerbated by a fiscal crisis as the falling purchasing power of money and currency, epidemic diseases, and followed by rebellion.

Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. (Former Supreme Court Republic of the Philippines 1998)

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno 2018 (@Ateneo de Manila)

Even during the time of Ming Dynasty between 1580-1650 the Ming system had created a high level equilibrium impressive outwardly, fragile inwardly. Thus, we can say that China today looks mighty as Thor but inside we cannot decipher that they are just mighty mouse. China is good at bluffing their counter parts that by reality the inner government political stability is also in trouble and in deep power struggle. Even America is still struggling with their Democratic government how much more of the system of China. Today many civilian activist are discontented with the way how China rule their general public. Even the Chinese people did not like their system of government. Thus, the top level government are trying their best to cover their inner political conflict that by outward media publicity we can see that China is mighty in many ways but the core public are dissatisfied already of their system. Chinese government is expanding its infrastructure outside of China to show power that other smaller nations like Philippines are in a dilemma not only through military activities but also political and public governance.

Professor Michael J. Sandel (Harvard Philosophy Professor) on Moral Law and Ethics

These kind of events in the Philippines at the moment will reflect from the theories of Francis Fukuyama from his book the origins of political order & political order and political decay and also the book of Niall Ferguson Civilization the West and the Rest. The notion of the many Filipinos today is the invasion of China through the military facilities in the West Philippine Sea and the inclination that China will invade not only our islands but also our justice and legal system. Outwardly the move of China is very intimidating to the smaller countries like Philippines and other ASEAN countries but in reality they are struggling also with their people. Their government houses are all close door that media cannot relay to the people what they are up to inside the inner circle of government. Unlike the government of the Philippines that every sentence spoken by the senators and congressmen are verbatimly recorded in Facebook live for example.

Mind you reader, it is not only Philippines who is struggling in the fragility and irregularity of politics but China as well. And by theory they are much worst because their government is huge compared with the Philippines. Few months or years from now China will experience a great human uprising just like what Mao initiated to topple down the last emperor of China.

The teachings of Mao and his present legacy which is the Chinese judicial system will not succeed not because of any military attack from other countries but by the people of China itself. We cannot say that only the mouse will get sick and the big dragon will not get sick. This political sickness of China will come from its people that we can say that the evolution of governance and politics will eventually change in terms of time, science, and learning. People now in China are not all sold out with their government policy that the burst of revolution is not from the missile from West Philippine Sea but rather within the people and the government ranks of China. As you can remember from the break down of Berlin Wall and the Fall of Soviet Union those are quick and dramatic events. Another good example is the fast and unbelievable conversation of unity between North and South Korea just few days ago. On the contrary, not only China who is struggling for their governance but other countries. Greece and EU with the case of Brexit are also in a universal issue of economics and politics adjustments. In the case of Philippines today regarding the Quo Warranto Case against the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, it goes to show in a laymen’s point of view that our justice system is now unreliable, from the thesis of this blog article, Justice is unjust when the people of the republic doesn’t trust the rule of law.

This is what is happening now in China as well. People in China wants to reinvent the teachings of Mao that in this present situation the government with the teachings of Mao they are eager and desperate to spread the gospel of Mao and its governance across the neighboring countries in South East Asia. Thus, even the government of the Republic of the Philippines are in a dilemma as to what system they will follow. If you can observe few weeks ago before the general public of the Philippines, the senate did not care for any reason as to what the court decides against the CJ Sereno but when the people starts to Buzz across the streets and the social media the sleeping senators starts to scramble. Do you think that our legislative body are just waiting to what stunts they are going to perform just to entertain the public? I am writing this blog article as a common citizen of the republic showing our fellow men that our justice system is not that dependable. As a common filipino’s point of view every time there is a court ruling like the ruling against CJ Sereno, in the eyes of the public the ruling is tainted with bias from the supreme judges given. The public is actually tired of always assisting our government officials in upholding the proper rule of law and governance. That is why they are called “PUBLIC OFFICIALS or SERVANTS” because they are there to serve the people. But at this very moment the people are more mature in dealing with our judicial crises. With so many lawyers in the country still our judicial system is not functioning according to the expected convenience of the people.

I can just imagine that (correct me if I’m wrong) there are more lawyers now in the Philippines than Farmers. That is only my personal observation, but every family story of successful profession is either lawyer or a doctor. Even the “Maalaala Mo Kaya” TV program are not encouraging people to farm instead the story goes like… the poor family from the province sold their buffalo to send “Juan” to Manila to study law or Medicine. That is the stereotype drama of most of the TV Tele-drama series you can watch every night. Today Philippines lack farmers. Lands are now operated by foreign conglomerates. The worst-case scenario, we have now a lot of lawyers in the capital but the judicial system is still ailing that people cannot depend and trust. To give a concreate example why the judicial system of the Philippines is still ailing, rebels still exist in our country. With this matter it strongly suggests that our justice system is still immature. In my personal view. Do not add more complications but rather simplify and make the public “TRUST” our judiciary system. In the case of the Chinese government, still the government of China is struggling with its people inside their government.

I don’t know what will happen next few years of Chinese government, but as of now the government of China is boiling “like a kittle full of water” that is why right now they are selling their ideology and concepts of governance around south east asia hoping to regain their political influence and strength across the south east Asian region. On the contrary, if Philippine government will adopt and uphold some of the governance and public administration of China as a Filipino, we are like buying an “expiring” product that by the next day you cannot use the product anymore because of its obsolescence. Indeed, the concept of McCormick regarding law and morality proves the teachings of Adam Smith regarding morality. The writings of McCormick will prove the thesis of Hare and Weinstein in terms of democracy of speech related to reason and law. The morality that McCormick expressed in his journal reflects the resent notion and hypothesis of Michael Sandel when it comes to Virtue, Rights of Humans, and over all the Justice system. All these years the refined law that are being used in integrated in any legislative courts are from the laws of Rome, England, and the United States. Thus, EU was created with the strong influence of the American judiciary system. As I confer to the writings of Thomas Pain, equality and morality are the outmost fundamentals in every judiciary system and the overall governance.

From the French Revolution to American Revolution the American Crisis in terms of its judiciary system boils down to common sense and the rights of men. During the “AGE OF REASON” men are enlightened with their rights as a human being. In the case of China now, people starts to feel uncomfortable how they struggle politically and judiciarily in their country. Do you think it is reasonable to adapt some of their judicial system? What is really the backbone of the Philippine judiciary system? With so many lawyers in the Philippines why our judicial system until today is not ratified and not dependable to the eyes of the public? And this is the most funny hypothetical question… Do you think the Imperial China will rise again given that the people China are tired of the teachings of Mao. Is the political system of China obsolete considering the advances of science and education at this time?

Again, bullets and missiles will not conquer China but its people alone. It is still fresh in my mind the movie of the last emperor when Mao toppled down the Empire of China and change it to the Peoples Republic. Who knows this time it is the other way around. By the way where are the descendants of the emperors of China long time ago from the Qing Dynasties and so on. I am sure if this great revolution of the people of China will repeat its history and the Imperial China will come back, then that would be a great history. Who knows, just last week North and South Korea are already friends.

Video References:

Ai Weiwei and the Present Political Crises & Realities of China