AT TIMES THE application of law can be so shortsighted it can lose the essence of why laws are made in the first place. Justice Secretary Leila De Lima is making a big deal on the mystery surrounding the travel document that allowed Senator Panfilo Lacson to get back into the country from Hong Kong after 13 months in hiding. Of course, it is understandable that the Philippine Passport Act may have been violated. But the context of that potential offense was never to commit a crime but to avoid getting incarcerated for innocence of a crime that may have been made an excuse to persecute a critic of the past administration. If we understand a man who killed someone on self-defense, cannot we do the same on a person who wants to protect his freedom and the honor of the office he is serving? I would agree with PNoy that getting deeper into the matter in order to put a legal claim on Lacson would be a waste of resources. It is tantamount to a law which had lost its spirit--that spirit tha
Keeping Issues to Its Core