President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has come to the defense of the government’s slow pace in bringing into jail the personalities behind the multibillion-peso corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects of the government. During a roundtable with journalists here on Tuesday, he admitted that he had been constantly receiving messages urging him to lift his hand and put behind bars those involved in the controversy, but the President stressed the need to follow due process and build strong cases against the real culprits.
‘We have to remind people that we have now moved from the political arena to the legal one. And in the legal arena, there are very strictly defined procedures,’ he said.
‘I get messages all day, every day – ‘Put them in jail already!’ ‘We already know who they are, imprison them!’ ‘Take all their money!’ ‘Sell their houses and return [the money] to the people!’ – but what would I be accused of if I did that?’ the President added.
He also warned that filing a case, even without strong evidence, would only lead to the acquittal of those accused.
‘Can you imagine these people, who have stolen billions from the government and the Filipino people, walking free because the evidence was poorly handled? That would be a much worse outcome,’ the President said.
Due process
‘Due process must be observed. We must make sure that we know the real culprits. We will make sure that all of them will be jailed, and all of the money they stole will be returned to the government and to the people,’ he added.
The country’s largest business and labor groups were among the latest to criticize the government’s slow progress in addressing the ongoing corruption scandal, almost three months after the President exposed this during his fourth State of the Nation Address in July.
They called on Marcos to conduct concrete actions ‘before the people’s patience finally runs out.’
The President acknowledged the anger of many Filipinos, admitting that he himself was ‘very frustrated’ on how long it is taking for authorities to convict and finally throw those corrupt officials behind bars.
‘The government’s lawyers told me of their adage, ‘The wheels of justice [turn] slowly but they grind very well.’ So we are counting on that,’ he said.
Marcos, however, warned that authorities could not just haphazardly jump to conclusions.
‘Why are they in a rush? That’s not possible, we will be compromising our cases,’ the President said.
‘I cannot just order the police to arrest all those alleged to be involved in corruption. It will destroy the integrity of our cases, and we cannot charge them again because of the principle of double jeopardy,’ he explained.
‘I understand the frustration because we do have a very good idea about who these people are. But you have to take them to court. You have to present evidence. They have to be convicted,’ the President added.
While none of those tagged in the corruption scandal has cases pending before courts, the President trusts that the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice will eventually file airtight cases, ‘with solid evidence that will not lead to an acquittal.’
‘They will pay for it with their liberty, and they will pay for it with treasure that they have taken away from the government,’ Marcos stressed.
‘We only have one chance. We cannot waste that opportunity to bring justice to those people – to bring those people to justice and to bring justice to the Filipino people,’ he added.
Not meddling
Marcos also believed that the decision of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to live-stream their investigation would not affect the credibility of its fact-finding process.
The President created the ICI to specifically investigate anomalous flood control projects and other infrastructure built by the government in the past 10 years.
He deferred to the ICI to ‘decide for themselves’ on their rules for the live-streaming of their processes, citing the independence he granted to the super body.
‘I really have an opinion, of course, but I want people to see that I and the executive branch will not interfere with them,’ Marcos said