[Newspoint] The moral perspective

What I know is that the grant of bail to Bong Revilla has only predictably inspired the question — who's getting out next? Bong Revilla is one egregious denial of a normative proposition ascribed to Ramon Magsaysay, the seventh president, 1953-1957: Those who have less in life should have more in law. The graft court has granted Revilla bail for malversation, not plunder, the non-bailable offense, a point that could be seized in support of quibbling arguments. In the books, plunder is the worst form of official malversation. It sets the threshold of loot at P50 million. But official theft is official theft. Its worst victims are the poor. And corruption having become something of a culture in public office, the privation resulting from it only widens and deepens the suffering of the underclasses more and more. Of course, proportionality is always a factor to consider. Still, in a criminally lopsided society like ours, theft against the poor is the one reality that ought to basically inform the moral perspective for any judicial appreciation of official corruption. And if there’s one case that does not at all fit in that perspective, it is that of Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. Bong Revilla is one of those movie actors who have conquered electoral politics on box-office appeal, like his father. Ramon Sr. was already 65 years old when he won his first election, in 1994. He retired after 12 years in the Senate, at age 77. But he made up for his late start and short stint in politics with his prolificity. By the time he died, at 93, he was reported, uncontestably, to have sired around 80 children, possibly the largest contribution to any political dynasty by an original patriarch. Bong’s own wife, Lani Mercado, herself a former actor, and two of his children are now in Congress, not to mention numerous relatives who have been in those same and other public positions now and at other times. The dynasty is based in Cavite province, and its central bailiwick is Bacoor City. Bong himself sat in the Senate for 18 years, his last term ending when he suffered, in last year’s midterms, his very first loss in an election. Only 59, he is far too young to retire, although he already has made his mark in official service, if an infamous one. He was taken to court for plunder and later for malversation and other lesser graft. He beat all charges during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency (2016-2022), a regime that suited the Revillas’ dynastic disposition — it operated by patronage and cronyism. Until his acquittal, in 2018, he had spent four years in jail, but the ruling contained an order for him to return P124.5 million to the government. The odd implication was that, although judged not guilty, he had been found in possession of that stolen sum. He decided to keep the money anyway, and has gotten away with it. He is now among the members of Congress and other officials sued on suspicion of having been part of the conspiracy to which billions and billions of pesos was lost in flood-control projects fully paid for but either poorly done or not done at all. His sister Princess, an actor too, is herself attracting suspicions as president and chief executive officer of a construction company favored with contracts amounting to P4.72 billion for flood-control and other infrastructure works. The contracts were awarded between 2016 and 2025, when Revilla relatives held lower house positions invested with influence on budget and contract allocations. Princess’ Kuya Bong now walks free on bail, leaving the other accused in detention. With one Sandiganbayan judge remaining unpersuaded by his two Third Division colleagues, indeed standing in vigorous opposition to their ruling, I see no useful reason here for weighing in. What I know is that the grant of bail to Bong has only predictably inspired the question — Who’s getting out next? Certainly not anyone of the likes of Anchelita Sicio. Sicio, a public-school principal in Virac, a town in Catanduanes 500 kilometers from Manila, got 11 years for pocketing P5,000 from the schoolhouse repair fund. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading