Our fellow countrymen and members of the legal profession,
We hope this letter finds you well. We understand these are trying times for the judiciary and the entire legal system. The Bicolano revolutionary movement extends its solidarity to all members of the bench and the bar who continue to struggle for justice and freedom. NDF-Bicol especially writes to Judge Jeaneth Gaminde San Joaquin and her aide, Rocelle S. Martinez, who were attacked by state agents on October 20. We fully support the demand for a thorough investigation of the incident and the call for justice for all victims of state fascism.
This recent attempt on the life of Judge San Joaquin is the US-Duterte regime’s traditional way of emasculating the judiciary. It is a scare tactic and this is the message it wants to send across: anyone who dares contradict the fascist agenda will be readily dispensed with. Despite issuing the warrant leading to Nagrampa-Caballero’s arrest in July, Judge San Joaquin managed to independently perform her duty as a court official, review the mass leader’s case and eventually allow the latter’s release in the same month.
Members of the bench are not free from persecution. You bear the heavy weight of deciding the fate of thousands of individuals. Your courts are flooded with unresolved cases, some of which were filed maliciously by state agents against innocent people. And after a long day in court, you constantly face all sorts of threats on your life, family and career. Do you wish to serve and protect a justice system that cannot truly deliver justice to the oppressed and exploited?
Every administration has utilized and treated the judiciary as a rubberstamp of its fascist moves. The judiciary is so powerless that it has no other choice but to follow the command of the dictator or else face impeachment or removal from their position. This is the fate that befell former Chief Justices Renato Corona and Maria Lourdes Sereno, and the fate that will befall all other judges and justices who would dare challenge Duterte’s dictatorship. The US-Duterte regime will definitely exploit the judiciary for its fascist intentions – may it be the release of tens of thousands of unnamed arrest warrants or the approval of a new Constitution vesting greater powers to a dictator.
Reforms in this reactionary justice system are futile. The judiciary can never act independently. Justice, in a society controlled and run by the ruling elite, is not blind. It sees clearly and thoroughly discriminates for the class it represents. It preys against the poor and innocent and glorifies the greedy, corrupt and murderous. How can the rule of law ever be fair to people so distant to court processes? How can the judiciary ever act independently, when laws are hand-tailored to ensure there are enough loopholes the ruling class could utilize? Faster court processes and unclogging the court dockets will not solve the injustice being experienced by the Filipino people. Only a revolution can.
The people’s war is not a war of oppression, but a war for liberty. It is the people’s realization that this rotten justice system is beyond repair. It is the genuine exercise of their sovereign right to decide their fate and the future of generations to come.
The people need magistrates who will free the poor and oppressed, not one who would catapult and secure a dictator into power or warrant the arrest of thousands of innocent people. More than ever, members of the bench are crucial actors in the people’s fight for their rights. The people have justice on their side, and they will rejoice to have you with them in the frontlines of the struggle.
For a just and lasting peace,
Ka Ma. Roja Banua
Spokesperson, NDF-Bicol
PRWC Newsroom 