What the System of Justice should be

By Belarmino Dabalos Saguing

Rome Italy 15 April 2015

The functioning of the country’s institutions, by virtue

of reason, is an agreement by the people who have come together to protect their shared interest: humanity. A system of justice was built and in the local context of the Philippines it is called the “Five pillars of the Criminal Justice System”(composed of the police, prosecution, judiciary, prisons and the community). The reason for its existence is not solely to protect and maintain the institutions; but for individuals who are part of this group of people--by birth, nationality or habitation--that is called the Philippines. 

All the Filipinos who compose this nation are subject to its rules. It is the protection and preservation of the rights of this individual and the group he is part of that is the reason for the existence of the system.

But when the system of justice no longer functions for the protection of each individual, but rather an exclusive small group of people who are part of these institutions; and to protect the institution that they work for, the purpose of its existence has lost its meaning. The institutions may still survive but not for the reason for which they were originally built, but only to protect the interests of the people who are part of the system. Those who protect these systems are the very people who themselves do not feel protected and secured; thus, being part of it gives them protection so they protect its status quo.

Therefore, the neglect and abandonment of the country’s system is felt hard by people who are not within the system, but who were part of the original reason for its creation. But in reality, the system which they once had can no longer protect them unless they are within it. The system thrives not because it satisfies the individual or the group but rather because their physical existence justifies its need. An individual cannot create and subject himself to his own system and be a nation unto himself. ---

The people has the right to change the set up of the system in the situation when it no longer function for the majority of the people. More than just a right, it is even a duty for all Filipinos to rise up and remedy the situation  Justice must never be exclusively for a few. It must be rule fof the majority that must prevail.

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