Pomp and “Circumstance”

Claudio Teehankee, Jr. – convicted murderer-turned-free man – enjoyed the perks of his penance and the wages of his sin.  In a place where you’re supposed to be reformed, rehabilitated, and restituted to the straight and the narrow, this murderer had an air-conditioned cell with the works: tennis courts, burger stands, food stalls, 42-inch plasma TV’s.

Take a convicted lawmaking rapist in Romeo Jalosjos, for example.  The excesses of his own prison cell were the stuff of legend: coffee shops, a full office, and a gymnasium with a four-million peso audio system were all needed for him to “exercise his duties.”

Now, former Occidental Mindoro Rep. Jose Villarosa – a convicted murderer – is pinning all of these perks on… lemme just quote an Inquirer article:

Villarosa said the construction of his kubol at the NBP maximum security compound was bankrolled by another inmate, former Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos, with the permission of Bureau of Corrections officials.

He said the congestion in the regular prison cells and the NBP’s meager budget had prompted bureau officials to allow the construction of “separate units,” usually made of sawali.

- “Solon: Prison perks out of ‘circumstance’”
Nikko Dizon and Jocelyn Uy for the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Circumstance, my ass… and yes, I’m talking about prison.

Prison is supposed to be that great equalizer of the justice system: if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.  While I agree that prisoners should be treated humanely, prison is not a place where you – as a convicted criminal expected to do time because the law says so – have the privilege of 42-inch television sets, air conditioners, and practically turning your cell into a swanky condominium.

Teehankee’s well-appointed cell, the feasts that Jalosjos throws in his prison gazebo, and whatever excesses that there are in the Philippine prison system are not “circumstances.”  They are a slap in the face of justice, restitution, and rehabilitation.  Any other murderer would have been thrown into a crowded cell of murderers with the risk of getting murdered.  Any other rapist would have been thrown into a crowded cell of rapists with the risk of getting anally raped.  It’s inhuman and it’s unjust, but crime does not pay.

As a citizen, I can’t be judge or jury for whether or not Teehankee, Jalosjos, Villarosa, Rolito Go, or whoever’s in prison should be granted clemency; that is the prerogative of our (imperfect and tarnished) justice system.  What I do question is why the Philippine penal system chooses to favor the named and the landed enjoy the consequences of “circumstances.”  If these circumstances can favor the influential convicts, why can’t it favor the poor who sleep in the barren concrete of cells?  If a man with a prison ID number can sponsor lavish feasts for friends and family, why can’t another man with a prison ID number have a decent meal?  If a man required to dress in orange has a bedsheet above his king-sized bed, why can’t another man required to dress in prison garb have a cot to call his own?

So much for “great equalizers.”  Proof that, in the Philippines, crime does pay… with your prisons becoming a good alternative to bathtubs with girls in nightshirts in a swanky hotel.  Just in case you forget.

Circumstances?  In case you want to send me to prison, give me wi-fi.

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