Happy returns for the day, Bing

No, I did not attend the asalto for Mayor Bing Leonardia yesterday noon. That does not mean, though, that I did not pray for his long life and the success of his stewardship of the city government.

The problem was that the invitation reached me at exactly 12 noon. Just after I had come from the hospital for an examination of my aching back. In short, even if it had reached me earlier, I doubt very much whether I still could have attended the party in his honor at the Palmas del Mar. Anyway, the most important thing is that I joined the hundreds and thousands who must have offered their prayers for the Mayor and his family. As the saying goes - ad multos annos, Mayor Bing.

***

I guess it's time to congratulate Gov. Joseph Marañon for ordering the audit of inmates of the provincial jail. No, it's not just a question of a headcount on their number.

More important is a study of the status of the charges they have been accused with. In a way, that also means a study of the legal duration of cases they are facing in the courts.

A few years back, I recall that the Prison Ministry with assistance from the Bacolod Capitol Lions Club, did undertake such an audit. And many inmates, who had been incarcerated, some beyond the term they could have been sentenced to had they been convicted, were finally released. And the lawyers had voluntarily rendered their services for free to the inmates.

That's the problem with the slow grind of the courts. Many have ended up serving in jail longer than their prison terms would have required them to had they been convicted.

Per se that's injustice.

That, I think, is the more important aspect of the audit that Marañon had ordered. Now, I think that justice can be accelerated. Most of the victims of the delays in their trial are the poor. And they are the ones who cannot afford the least the delayed decisions on their cases.

Here's hoping that Marañon may be able to expedite the resolution of these cases. The goal should not just be decongestion of the jail. More important is that the poor get the justice they deserve.

***

That should have been the wedding to attend. I mean the marriage of Joseph Stephen Paduano, national commander of the RPA-ABB, and his second wife, Ma. Lalaine O. Lam.

Carapali Lualhati, as the 42-year old rebel commander is better known, has been charged by his former wife, Jennelyn Jurisprudencia Paduano, of alleged failure to comply with the court order to pay child support of P12,000 per month for their four children.

But that is a private affair and not of any concern to most of us.

Anyway, on the basis of news reports, that wedding had as sponsors Rep. Ignacio Arroyo (5th), Vice Govenor Isidro Zayco, Himamaylan Mayor Carminia Bascon, and sugar farmer Lito Lacson.

And yes, there was also former vice governor Roy Gamboa, just for the record, Roy is a cousin of Carapali.*

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