By: Atty. Marlo T. Cristobal
May l share this letter with you which l sent to my high school batch residing in the USA, considering its subject that affects countries, governments, and peoples.
My friend Ric,
I wanted to react with more enlightening facts and opinion immediately right after your messenger chat inquiry last July 10 regarding Pastor Quiboloy’s alleged involvement in what you termed as “sex trafficking,” but could not do so because of my engrossment on a write-up that required research for social media publication. I do now, better late, than never.
I was particularly fascinated by your chat statement on July 14, “. . . like a parrot just keep uttering the same words without thinking, it’s pathetic.” This gives me the impression that my Hong Kong Pastor Quiboloy anecdote is creating quite a stir among you there, my countrymen in USA. Your quoted statement is full of wisdom akin to that of the statement of Jose Rizal, our national and genius hero, “Ang naniniwala sa sabi-sabi ay walang bait sa sarili.”
But most significantly, you may not realize that both your and Rizal’ statements partake of some of the many facets of this time-honored legal doctrine that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the court — not, by all means, the American FBI or not even by the President of the USA or any official or department under him. The presumption of innocence is an age-old doctrine that dates back in the second century Roman Law and invoked by generations after generations to protect the accused and the politically damned from conscienceless harassment and vandals of reputation and honor.
In our generation when Satan, which the Good Book concedes as the ruler of the earth, is getting stronger and stronger in our times (the Bible confides this fact), never has this presumption of innocence principle been more imperative a device than now that helps ensure the protection of the blameless and the helpless. It is a doctrine intended as a rule of equity on which the accused or the legally harassed clings to ward off oppressive government powers and restrain the malicious tongue wagging of judgmental individuals. Accordingly, all democratic or civilized governments or civilized pretending governments, like the Philippines and the USA, all over the world have enshrined in their Constitutions and/or general laws this precept of presumption of innocence until proven otherwise before the Court.
To put it simply, this doctrine demands that any accused or politically oppressed person, like Pastor Quiboloy, must be treated and regarded absolutely innocent — morally or legally —before the court verdict . Any talks or actions that condemn him before that verdict are utterly malicious and uncivilized.
You thus can divine the wisdom of your remark, “. . . just like a parrot, keep uttering . . . without thinking, pathetic,” in apparent swipe at some negative insinuations against Pastor Quiboloy relative to his US cases, and that of Rizal’s “sabi-sabi.” For clearly, any malicious imputation against Pastor Quiboloy that causes him dishonor, discredit, or contempt is a mere parrot thoughtless squawking or mere, in Rizal’s denunciation, “sabi-sabi,” in keeping with the innocence the doctrine imperiously demands prior to court decision.
For indeed before the court can come up finally with the truth and nothing but the truth, that is, only after a grueling and finely grinding process established by scientific rules of evidence that guarantee the truth of a case, people are the happy and convenient target of harassment and oppression of government powers and instrumentalities just to serve their political and self-serving ends against the truth, against individuals. That’s why enlightened legal minds for centuries contrived this doctrine of innocence until proven guilty to neutralize governments regular and ubiquitous excesses all over the world.
Thus, your FBI charges, before full blast judicial inquiry and judicial final disposition, must be taken at this stage as nothing but pure and simple harassment against Pastor Quiboloy. That the hearings of his cases in the US court are being postponed constantly by the government prosecutors themselves could only speak volumes as to the US government intentions and purposes — which certainly are away from the truth. Pastor Quiboloy in fact had confessed to the Filipino people that he is in receipt of confidential information from his Deep Throat that he is the object of what the US government coined term, “extraordinary rendition” to describe the process of plucking out a person physically from a country for eventual extermination.
The poor Pastor begged, through a formal letter addressed to President Marcos, for protection by his own country and government as a citizen of the Philippines, like the unconditional protection the US government dutifully and fastidiously gives its citizens abroad. Pastor Quiboloy in writing offered to give himself up to the custody of the Philippine government provided President Marcos commits not to turn him over to the US government for extraordinary rendition.
Not getting any sympathetic response to his cry for dear life, the Pastor remained in hiding. His action is absolutely correct. His action to preserve his life is superior to any state law or moral law. In our criminal law, when a man’s life is actually threatened by an unlawful aggression, the law allows him to take matters into his hands and prevent or repel the aggression by reasonable means, his injuring or killing his aggressor in the process, notwithstanding. Our Philippine Supreme Court had the occasion in one case to hoist the superiority of self defense in the hierarchy of man’s rights in this wise: “The defense is based on necessity which is the supreme and irresistible master of men of all human affairs, and of the law.” By parity of logic, Pastor Quiboloy had all the superior right to flee and hide himself from an actual aggression, which, in his case, is the notorious extraordinary rendition, the sword of damocles precariously hanging over his head ever-ready to snuff out the life in him.
Marcos instead, in a tearjerker spectacle of melodrama, unleashed his two battalions of police special forces, that were armed to the teeth and supported by armed-equipped helicopters to seize this lone religious, harmless pastor in his holy ground. Marcos, consistent with his comical and wayward ways, that are disgusting to the people, put up a 10 million-peso bounty in the head of Pastor Quiboloy in violation of the law.
All these, Marcos did in spineless, shameless subservience to the political motivations of the FBI against Pastor Quiboloy, in the same genre of his spineless kowtowing to the outright self-serving political ends of the USA toward our policies in the territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea, resulting therefrom a situation where our country is now in a brink of war with our neighbor country.
The joint acts of the US and Philippine governments against Pastor Quiboloy have all the trappings of a confederacy. Most relevantly, they are all in total disrespect of the constitutionally decreed innocence of Pastor Quiboloy while the court final disposition of his cases is nowhere yet.
I exhort our countrymen in the US in the name of fair play to be solemn, cleansed of all malice in thoughts, actions and words against Pastor Quiboloy, before the altar of innocence while absent a court ruling. The Pastor has been suffering more than enough even while the court that should deal him the rightful and just sufferings has not even spoken, as the full force and weight of the joint powers of US and Philippine governments — for political objectives, not the truth,not justice — are in hot and relentless pursuit of a reputed holy and peaceful man, with all the accompanying violence and utter lawlessness. I am afraid that this kind of government we have is treading the road to perdition!
