Cezar MANCAO II’s escape from the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation dealt a crushing blow on the country’s law enforcement agencies and most especially on the Department of Justice. Mancao made the DOJ look like a fool when he allowed himself to be interviewed by different media groups after his escape. That just reflects the lack of public respect for our justice system and law enforcement agencies.
By his continuing success to elude arrest, Mancao is embarrassing the DOJ; worse, by alleging corruption in the DOJ’s witness protection program (WPP), he has added insult to injury. Understandably, this claim of Mancao infuriated Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The secretary, however, seems helpless in this situation; all she could do was to remove Mancao from the WPP and to dare him to prove his allegations of corruption.
It won’t shock anyone if indeed there is corruption in the WPP because corruption in government, as everyone knows, is not something new. Even the “daang matuwid” has failed to eradicate it. It may even be worse under the present administration, as shown by our bungling justice and law enforcement system.
Instead of denying the allegations of corruption in the WPP and getting herself more humiliated, it might be better for De Lima to just focus on recapturing Mancao.
—VINCENT VAUGHN,
starry_night174@yahoo.com