Friday, December 3, 2010

Obedience To The Law

"The true is only the expedient in the way of our thinking, just as the right is only the expedient in the way of our thinking." - William James.

Senator Ping Lacson released a statement to the press that the only way he will come out is when "justice is served right" or "when I'm dead."

These are very strong words from the so called "fugitive senator".

The reaction from Secretary of Justice Delima was a curt "Senator Lacson's status does not give him the privilege of dictating the terms of his surrender."

That is the secretary's point of view.  The senator was not "dictating" the terms of his surrender.  He was "expressing" it.

Being charged of a crime he swears he had nothing to do with on the basis of a single witness's sworn affidavit which was shown to be inconsistent in so many ways and contradicted by three other witnesses, not being allowed to present other pieces of evidence before the DOJ panel, seeing that the DOJ panel had been very selective in quoting portions of affidavits to incriminate him - Senator Lacson can not be blamed for thinking and feeling the way he did.  What the DOJ called "probable cause" can not even stand the test of logic.

In his view, he could not dignify what he sees as persecution by the previous administration in implicating him to this crime of murder, a non-bailable offense, and would therefore land him in jail until he proves his innocence in court. 

"Innocent until proven guilty" - that is the legal maxim.  But in this case, "Incarcerated until proven innocent."

There are many people calling for the senator's surrender.  Many are well-meaning, others not.

In this instance, there is no right or wrong.  It is a personal principle and a personal choice on the part of the accused. 

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