HOW do we define justice?
In a broad sense, justice is the legal system a country uses to deal with people who break the law.
Or it can be defined as the administration of law according to prescribed and accepted principles.
You can even say it is the use of authority and power to uphold what is right, just or lawful.
If you commit a crime, then you must be prepared to be punished by the State. That’s another way of defining justice.
We often hear the families of victims of violent crimes say when interviewed on television that what they want is justice.
What they really mean is that the perpetrators must be arrested by law enforcement agencies and brought before a court of law to stand trial, and, if found guilty, sent to prison to serve a sentence, or even executed for particularly serious or gruesome crimes like murder.
But recent events in the Philippines tell us that sometimes those accused of crimes would rather decide to make themselves scarce and see if they can get away with it.
Take the most recent case of someone running way from law enforcers and thumbing her nose at our judicial system.
Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who assumed the alias of Alice Leal Guo and ran and won as mayor of Bamban, Tarlac in the last local elections.
But she has been found to have obtained a fake birth certificate showing she is a Filipino citizen, stands accused of amassing huge wealth from illegal activities of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGOs she helped set up in the town using dummies.
She has reportedly fled initially to Malaysia then to Singapore and Indonesia to escape criminal charges here.
Another big-time fugitive from justice is Apollo Quiboloy, the self-appointed “Son of God” who heads the so-called Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the Davao region.
He is accused of rape, human trafficking and other crimes here and in the United States.
He has refused to face the criminal charges and opted to evade the arrest warrant the police tried to serve on him recently.
He is believed to be holed up in the vast property of the religious cult in Davao City and does not want to surrender to authorities, claiming political harassment.
There’s also former lawmaker Arnolfo Teves of Negros Oriental who stands accused of the brazen murder of the provincial governor and has fled to Timor Leste. He has adamantly refused to surrender for multiple murder cases in the Philippines.
Finally, there’s former Bureau of Corrections Director Gerald Bantag who is accused of being the mastermind of the murder of broadcast journalist Percy Lapid late last year. He has likewise refused to surrender to authorities.
These four fugitives from justice pose a direct challenge to the rule of law in our country.
They must be relentlessly pursued by our authorities and brought before our justice system as soon as possible.
