[OPINION] Presidents and felons in a liberal democracy

A liberal democratic order is troublesome to keep up and protect. It requires a citizenry aware of its duties and able to carry out them, but additionally one conscious of its rights and ready to defend them.

On January 11, 2025, Donald Trump made historical past. With the Supreme Courtroom declining to forestall his sentencing for a unanimous responsible verdict on 43 counts of falsifying enterprise information, Trump established a doubtful, double distinction: the primary former American president convicted of against the law and the primary felon to imagine the US presidency. It’s a file a distinguished forged of Philippine politicians have didn’t match. To this point.

No former Philippine president has but achieved conviction and subsequently gained the presidency once more. Joseph Estrada got here closest. Convicted of plunder in 2007, he didn’t recapture the presidency in 2010 and needed to accept Manila mayorship in 2013. Marcos Jr. was a detailed runner-up. Regardless of a 1995 conviction for failure to file revenue tax returns as Ilocos Norte governor, he gained the presidency in 2022, thus reaching one in every of Trump’s accomplishments.

In equity, Trump had a neater path to his file. The US structure doesn’t bar convicted felons from working for elective federal places of work, though some state-level legal guidelines impose this bar. The Philippine Structure completely disqualifies from public workplace criminals convicted of “ethical turpitude.” The penal code imposes the identical punishment for plunder and riot convictions. In idea extra restrictive, Philippine legal guidelines present for exemptions. Amnesty and an absolute pardon restores political rights. Furthermore, disqualification takes impact solely after ultimate judgment. The convict has the suitable to attraction the case by means of the authorized course of that successfully suspends sanctions and will lead to reversal of the preliminary determination.

Thus, though indicted in 2010 by the Sandiganbayan for shifting some US$200 million in public funds into private, conjugal Swiss financial institution accounts, Imelda Marcos was nonetheless capable of mount a presidential bid in 2010. However she misplaced and he or she was solely first woman. Sentenced in 2018 to a jail time period of 42 to 77 years, her case continues to be present process attraction.

Former president Gloria Arroyo, additionally charged and detained for plunder, gained acquittal primarily based on “inadequate proof” of guilt. Former vice chairman Jejomar Binay was below investigation for plunder on the time of the 2010 elections when he ran for president. Indicted by the Ombudsman’s workplace in 2017 for overpricing within the building of the Makati Science Excessive Faculty, Binay simply gained the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of the case on “insufficiency of proof.” Arroyo and Binay usually are not prone to run for president once more.

Due course of is a cardinal ingredient of a liberal, democratic order, and we should always rejoice when the precept prevails and justice presumably triumphs. However Trump really achieved a 3rd distinction. Regardless of the judgment of a jury of his friends that he had dedicated severe crimes, he is not going to endure any jail time or any important materials penalties that an bizarre citizen in the identical scenario should bear. Trumped by a authorized mandate defending the president from prosecution, the identical safety the Philippine president enjoys, the court docket might solely situation an unconditional discharge on the case.

The logic of defending a sitting president from authorized harassment that may hamper the efficiency of official duties makes eminent sense. However the costs towards Trump concerned crimes dedicated when he was a personal citizen for acts unrelated to state issues. The court docket, in its judgment, careworn that the unconditional discharge, required by presidential immunity didn’t “cut back the seriousness of the crime or justify its fee in any approach.”

Whereas the case wouldn’t function a precedent that might be invoked by anybody charged with comparable crimes who was not headed for the White Home, it does break a second, basic precept of liberal democracy: since “all males [and women] are created equal,” no particular person, no matter delivery or workplace, is above the regulation and deserves favored rights in its enforcement.

Protection legal professionals argued that the Trump conviction by a 12-person jury had been rendered moot by the bulk vote of the residents electing him president. The argument appeals to a 3rd liberal democracy precept: equal rights of people to take part in political selections.

Knowledgeable legal professionals and philosophers will probably proceed to ponder the which means and implications of Trump’s uncommon, authorized trifecta on the suitable stability among the many three rules of liberal democracy: the crucial of imposing the rule of regulation, equal entry to justice, and the primacy of particular person rights. They are going to want a historically-grounded understanding of how these rules have been developed, reworked and managed over time and with what penalties.

In follow, the apparent, instant drawback, particularly within the Philippines, comes from the rising complexity of a authorized course of decided by a justice system burdened with precedents which have turn out to be irrelevant and challenged by new points arising from geopolitical pressures, know-how and social media. Reversing a conviction requires skilled authorized assets, prolonged time, and the monetary assets to avail of them. These necessities elevate doubts about the potential of making certain equal entry to justice.

Particularly, since highly effective political connections are sometimes additionally obligatory, judicial selections will be, paraphrasing Estrada, a “weather-weather” situation. Even Leila de Lima pals marvel if she might have gained her case when she did, had not the political wind turned with the exit of the Duterte administration.

As within the case of Trump, rich and well-connected politicians can use all of the authorized instruments to delay judgment after which demand the dismissal of the costs towards them as a result of the delays denied them due course of. Juan Ponce Enrile had his pork barrel costs dismissed on these grounds and the difficulty of delays additionally factored in De Lima’s case.

A liberal democratic order is troublesome to keep up and protect. It requires a citizenry aware of its duties and able to carry out them, but additionally one conscious of its rights and ready to defend them. However it’s the system we’ve got chosen, nevertheless imperfectly we’ve got managed it. Are we keen to commerce it for one thing else? – Rappler.com