Standing brave

CAREFUL, CAREFUL.

I thought the dearly beloved showbiz maven Tita Luds, aka Inday Badiday, came to life with a long-time friend cautioning me to “tread softly” on the current of news flowing in the front pages of Punto! lately.

“Your dirty sneakers have stepped – hard – on some delicate judicial toes with your treatment of the Delfin Lee issues,” dear pal, a court hanger-on, told me. “And you sure are well aware of that cliché of Gehenna having no fury like…”

Oh, hell, never have I scorned any woman, I cut him. Not in my personal pursuits, not in my journalistic practice.

The Delfin Lee stories, only two at this point – his appeal not to be moved out of the Pampanga provincial jail for fear of his life, his case against the honorable executive judge of the regional trial court – were well confined within the pages on which they were written. Document-grounded, as they stood. Fact-based, until proven otherwise by a competent court.

Cut-and-dried straight news, as Ashley Manabat wrote them, as I edited them, as they appeared in Punto’s front page, to wit:

Delfin Lee fears for life in impending jail transfer in our Nov. 3 issue.

Delfin Lee files case vs. RTC Executive Judge with the bullet For ignorance of the law, usurpation of authority, graft on Nov. 5.

Compare the second headline to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s in its Nov. 6 issue:

Delfin Lee accuses Pampanga judge of extortion.

A confession, sans contrition: I was tempted with the headline Delfin Lee cries extortion vs. RTC judge.

It had the dramatic punch, the louder scream, the stronger sensation.

But “extortion” was too strong a word, and in the context of the documents on hand, speculative, if not conclusive. The word totally absent in the texts of the complaint Delfin Lee filed with the Office of the Court Administrator.

Tag me a cobarde, but I’d rather stick to the facts for a story than stick my neck out and risk it being chopped. Yes, notwithstanding my solid background in the tabloid press, I remain a contrarian to that precept in yellow journalism: “Why sacrifice the story for the facts?”     

So, how could I have stepped out of journalistic bounds and stomped on some dainty toes at the RTC?

Your column, Fearing Judge Dredd (Punto! Nov. 5), my friend just won’t give up.

What about it?

It was a mere presentation of the letter of the Honorable Divina Luz P. Aquino-Simbulan, executive judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Third Judicial Region, to RTC Branch 42 Presiding Judge Maria Amifaith S. Fider-Reyes where Lee’s case is docked, seeking “advises that the appropriate Court Order” for the transfer of “accused Lee” from the Pampanga Provincial Jail to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology facility in Barangay Telabastagan, City of San Fernando.

In short, a brief of the arguments advanced by the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan to support her case for Delfin Lee’s transfer. And, in the spirit of fairness, Delfin Lee’s Omnibus Motion to prevent that transfer.

Nothing more than a “she-says, he-says” narrative.

What about your commentary at the end of the column, ah, so stubborn is this  friend.

Politics, as long clichéd, is the art of the possible. Murder and mayhem, not excluded.

And Philippine jails are never wanting in incidents where inmates are unceremoniously, if routinely, executed even before any conviction is promulgated.

Be afraid Delfin Lee, be very afraid.  

No way, not even in the remotest sense, were the statements linked to the Honorable Aquino-Simbulan or to anyone.

Those are facts of life in these islands, stated as they are, absent any allegation, empty of malicious implication, devoid of even the slightest insinuation.

Why, Fearing Judge Dredd is whining pussy to the tigerish roar of Star Alex Magno’s First Person column in the Philippine Star of Nov. 10, sub-headed Judicial Dynasty, to wit:

…The courts in the province of Pampanga are under the direction of Executive Judge Divina Luz Simbulan. As executive judge, she wields some clout over the appointment of court personnel and the work of other judges. She is, among the judges in the province, first among equals.

It turns out, Judge Simbulan is married to Atty. Jesus Simbulan. The husband, for his part, holds the rank of regional state prosecutor for Region III. As such, he directs the work of all prosecutors under his jurisdiction.

…(T)here is a sense that some conflict of interest might pertain if the executive judge of a province is married to the regional prosecutor whose domain encompasses that province. The position of one could serve to magnify the power of the other.

For better or for worse, we live in a culture where informal influence is often more telling than the letter of the law. Although the couple may do their work completely independent of the other, the situation causes much unease and opens much room for malicious speculation. The judge, after all married to the prosecutor.

Now, there’s a brave stand.