Empowered criminals

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

One of the most troubling revelations that surfaced during the investigation into the successive kidnap-murders of car dealers Venson Evangelista and Oliver Lozano is history of alleged leader of the notorious car thieves, Raymond Dominguez, who was incredibly allowed by our justice system to post bail 19 times in different car theft cases. How can we trust that policemen and prosecutors in this country are doing their jobs, and that judges truly have the common good in mind when they manage to ignore the sheer number of criminal cases linked to a man by allowing him to repeatedly post bail a whopping 19 times for different variations of the same crime?Raymond Dominguez, the suspected carnap ringleader, now has another criminal case to deal with after Alfred Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, suspected members of the group that killed Evangelista, have linked him and his brother Roger Dominguez to the case.  But in another surprising twist, he turned himself over to the Bulacan Police to ensure his safety after he heard than a manhunt had been launched for him and his brother despite being included in the charge sheet for the murder of Venson Evangelista. Maybe his unbelievable experience with the police and a justice system that seems to be overly lenient towards criminals such as carnappers has led him to believe that he will indeed be safe there, and that once the attention of the media has shifted to other more controversial matters, he will be allowed to go free as he had been in his previous encounters with the law.

Criminals who repetitively manage to evade prosecution because of a lenient justice system will ultimately move on to more daring and serious crimes. Given the many flaws in our law enforcement and the justice system, it wouldn’t be surprising to find out that cases like that of Raymond Dominguez is the rule rather than the exception, making him just one among the many criminal elements who are out on bail despite numerous criminal cases filed against them. Will the administration of P-Noy look deeper into the culpability of the PNP, government prosecutors, and judges in such cases and have the political will to do something about this looming problem?*