AS GUILTY AS HELL

It has been more than a week since Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency
director general Dionisio Santiago made a public admission that some
of his agents sometimes resort to planting evidence in order to nail
hard to get illegal drug personalities.

Judging by the silence and inaction of higher authorities regarding
that highly damning statement, Santiago may as well have said
absolutely nothing at all. In this country, there are indeed some
people who are either above the law or beyond reproach.

The president, who loves to tout her administration as being on the
way to eliminating the drug problem, has not given Santiago even a
light rap on the wrist. It is as if she is in fact in agreement with
the practice.

And why not indeed. Given the usual lethargy and ineffectiveness of
law enforcers in pursuing anything, much less illegal drug traders,
the only way this administration can pursue its vaunted anti-drug
campaign with success is to do just that --- cut a few corners.

The truth is, things are so bad in this country that people may
actually just close their eyes to this travesty of the law if there is
an absolute certainty that the victims being framed are indeed illegal
drug traders.

After all, framing illegal drug traders may not be as bad as
extrajudicial killings. Still, this is not to say that it should be
tolerated and encouraged. Being illegal in itself, not to mention that
it is in fact very dangerous, the practice should still be stopped.

Cutting corners with the law can be abused, and can be used against
otherwise innocent people whose only fault may be to rub certain
people the wrong way. And it can cast a cloud of doubt on all legal
law enforcement operations.

Remember the conspiracy theory, that the act of one is the act of all.
Well, the theory applies to agencies and bureaus of government as
well, so that if one is tolerated in taking liberties with the rights
of people, could not the others be tolerated similarly?

After Santiago got the flak over his statement, he clumsily tried to
cover his tracks by saying he was just joking. What is worse than
lying is getting caught with a joke that makes nobody laugh. If the
president cannot deal with Santiago, then she is just as guilty as
hell.