JADED JURISDICTION: Exposing The Illusion Of Accountability

Reelecting individuals with unresolved critical cases and questionable histories has long been a sign of a rotten system and ignorance among Filipinosᅳuntil even a group of intelligent, future lawyers ended up electing one.

It is also a recurring concern in Philippine politics that individuals with questionable leadership qualities sometimes rise to power; even in this miniscule-scale, BUeños unfortunately understood the assignment.

Perhaps, they were never an exception to this unending pattern as reflected in the recent Bicol University College of Law - College Student Council (BUCL-CSC) elections, where the student body has demonstrated the very Filipino tendency of voting people with murky pasts. The recent announcement of the new roster of officers for Academic Year 2024-2025 revealed Von Joseph Lagata as the newly elected Vice President which sparked uproar regarding an issue directly concerning him just about four months ago in retrospect.

The recently elected officer was involved in the resurface of screenshots about a group chat where he belonged and nicknamed “Justine Mesias_Wanted sa BU.” This is clearly a blatant mockery of red-tagging amidst the institution’s effort to clear allegations of being a breeding ground of communists and terrorist groups.

The screenshots were aired and posted by an anonymous BUeño in a Facebook group tracing that it allegedly came from the group chat of a political party during the intense heat of the University and College Student Council elections last May 2024.

After the malicious post, Dani De Jesus, a nursing alumna of BU and a Kabataan Partylist representative, showed disappointment in her post as she condemned how these student leaders made fun of the critical red-tagging case of Mesias, a BUeño who has been battling the grips of this dangerous labeling for years now.

The former BUCL-CSC has released an official statement regarding the issue as Lagata was their former Public Relations Secretary and promised a thorough investigation yet it seems that the case is now a ripped part of a book, dilapidated in oblivion.

The official statement became a prescription of pain reliever to the BUeños to give temporary relief with the ongoing chaos. But it was actually a sleeping pill that lulled them to a four-month slumber only to be awakened by another slap in the face.

The supposed investigation by BUCL-CSC which can be done in a matter of hours by scrolling through Messenger has taken several months of deep sleep. The accused, taking comfort in this silence, has become a cog in the machinery supposed to hold him accountable.

This raises essential questions regarding the council’s qualifications, electoral processes, and accountability where even a quick background-checking of the candidates was overlooked.

It is seriously alarming that the Student Electoral Board of the College of Law allowed someone who has pending cases ascend to a leadership position, reflecting a disregard to ethical standards. If the council is genuinely committed to fostering a safe haven for BUeños, it must take not just a statement and a delayed justice, but also an action to rebuild trust.

The council’s power is compromised by the unwillingness to confront these problems head-on, and also sends a message to the student body about the gravity of red-tagging and its threat to liberty.

Moreover, the council just made the situation WORSE, but the voting student body, which is ironically composed of law students, made this even WORST.

Quoting a so-called affirmation from their official statement: “As law students, we honor the recent ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Siegfred D. Deduro Vs. Maj. Gen. Eric C. Vinoya (G.R. No. 254753) about red-tagging. In the said declaration, SC has held that being associated with communists or terrorists puts the red-tagged individual in grave danger, making them a target for vigilantes, paramilitary groups, and even State agents. It is clear why anyone would fear for their life and security when subjected to red-tagging. Thus, the issue of red-tagging should not be taken lightly nor made fun of.“

Honoring the recent ruling is not enough to justify your allegiance to your advocacy to halt red-tagging but just a mere absence of accountability. Downplaying and mocking red-tagging is in no way tolerable the same way tolerating a person to run in a position who is under investigation. This only reflects how the student body was still under their deep sleep, hallucinated with that student leader’s hypocritical campaign—a poison to a voter’s judicious thinking.

This ignorance and negligence is indicative of a profound mismatch between the aspirations of legal education and the harsh realities encountered by the individuals targeted by political persecution. It is imperative for students to assess their decision and complement it to the advocacy they really fight and stand for.

Only through such vigilance can the students hope to foster a BU community that truly champions freedom of speech, human rights protection, and justice.

Ultimately, the responsibility lies not only with the council but also with the voting student body, which must awaken from its unconsciousness and complacency.

With the recent elections within the College of Law, it is not just an imprint of incompetence, but also a stark reminder of the urgent need of self-reflection and revitalization of its evaluation.

Having some grain of mercy to Bicol University, which has been listed on Top 12 as an institution that is allegedly a recruitment ground of Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the recent hearings of Senator Bato Dela Rosa and also the recent red-tagging by the page “GREEN SPARK“ to The Bicol Universitarian highlights the gravity of the situation.

Hence, students must awaken from their slumber, challenge the status quo, and demand better from our leaders to create a zone where human rights are not merely ideals, but are also lived realities.