Frustrated over PHL justice system, some Pinoys choose to live abroad

Some Filipinos are choosing to live abroad as they are frustrated with the Philippine justice system, infamous for being notoriously slow, with trials taking six years to complete on average. Myrna Reblando, a so-called "Maguindanao Massacre widow," has been in self-exile in Hong Kong for over a year now, apparently out of frustration over the slow pace of the case her husband. Reblando is the widow of slain Manila Bulletin reporter Alejandro “Bong” Reblando, one of the 57 people, mostly journalists, killed in the notorious Maguindanao Massacre, noted to be the worst single attack on media workers in Philippine history. The massacre, which happened in November 23, 2009, was allegedly committed by the powerful Ampatuan clan. Reason for Reblando's departure  

Reblando surfaced at a conference of the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong on June 25, where she delivered a speech to Hong Kong-based media revealing the reason for her departure.  

"I decided to leave my country because people like me, who are seeking remedies and redress in our system of justice, had no protection,” she said.

 

“I am a person who is being hunted for what I have spoken and without protection even from my own Philippine government,” she continued. “I did not feel protected, even with my own security escorts.” 

 

In an interview with GMA News Online on Thursday, lawyer Harry Roque, Reblando’s legal counsel in the massacre trial, said there are no data that can show how many Filipinos like Myrna who leave the country because of frustrations with the legal system.

 

“They have the right to leave,” he said. “If they think there are threats against their safety, they have the right to go away.”

 

In an earlier statement in his website, Roque said he cannot blame Reblando, or the other victims’ families, if they want to stay outside the country.

 

“We do not take it against her that she had decided to take this course of action,” he said. “We know that she, like her fellow victims, has suffered greatly and has been under tremendous physical and emotional pressure."   

“Despite the best efforts of the prosecution, the trial is protracted and a successful conclusion is not immediately forthcoming,” Roque continued.

"Nicole"  

Another case involving a person leaving the Philippines because of the justice system is the case of Suzette Nicolas, a.k.a. “Nicole” from the Subic rape case.

 

Nicolas was involved in a 2005 case with an American, Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, who allegedly raped her, along with three other US military servicemen. 

 

The following year, only Smith was found guilty of raping Nicolas, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. However, Smith was detained at the US Embassy in compliance with the Visiting Forces Agreement.

 

Three years later, in March 2009, Nicolas issued a statement that expressed her doubts on what really happened the night she said she was raped. That same month, it was found out that Nicolas left for the US for good.

 

That time, Nicolas’ former lawyer Evelyn Ursua—before Nicolas terminated her services—said her client’s family no longer sees justice in the Philippines and has decided to just give up the fight. 

 

The following month, the Court of Appeals acquitted Smith and ordered him released. Ursua herself waved the white flag after the Court of Appeals acquitted Smith. - with Mark Merueñas, VVP, GMA News