And The Curse of the Interesting Life continues…
Turns out I didn’t have to wait long for my next episode of interest.
Just moments after I typed my comment to JR’s latest blog, I received a call informing me that CBF Law Offices had been ransacked.
As I rushed to the office, I mentally inventoried the sensitive cases that I was handling, tagging all the possible suspects that I would name. Apart from the daily grind, our office deals with several controversial and high-profile cases (public interest, political, election, banana plantation, murder, plunder, etc.) that I had to sort out who was lucky number 1 on my list.
Upon cursory inspection of my office, I noticed only that my drawer was open. The cash and the checkbook were gone. The case files appeared untouched, although we will have to make a complete inventory as soon as possible.
The other offices were the same way. The money inside the lawyers’ desks appeared to be the robbers’ primary target. One of the computers was disassembled and left near the main door, indicating that the robbers probably wanted to take it too, but changed their mind at the last minute. Then again, we’ll have to check all the file folders to see if the evidence are still intact.
Luckily, the last week of December is off-peak for our office. Our monetary loss was minimized, although the amount could have paid our staff’s salaries. The IBP and Jogger’s Club funds kept by my law partner took a hit too.
The crime scene investigator photographed the area and dusted for fingerprints, which was probably useless unless they caught the culprits. Besides, before the police arrived, we had already made preliminary assessment of the damage and most likely, smudged the fingerprints. The Chief of Police assured us “aayusin ko ‘yan, ‘pre”.
Later, we learned that there were three offices on the same floor that were ransacked that day. One was another law office who counts as its former occupant an incumbent fiscal. The other was a distribution company. Ours was the third. The first floor of our building bustles with activity even at night. A police car is regularly parked in front of it “to protect and to serve”. Yet, there were no witnesses that came forward as of blogtime. Apparently, the police are only there to deter crime and not to catch criminals. It is clear that they even failed to deter.
The crime scene investigator noted that there were many small fingerprints that could belong to a minor. The modus operandi of robbers, thieves and drug pushers nowadays is to use minors to perpetrate the acts, since the police will just release these minors if caught, owing to the lack of juvenile detention and diversion staff and facilities.
The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006 sponsored by Sen. Kiko Pangilinan has many commendable provisions, especially since it purports to be geared towards restorative justice. However, the raising of the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 9 to 15 is unreflective of current social realities. Just last month, I assisted in the administrative investigation of a 15 year old truant accused of grave threats, drug possession and attempted arson, whose father, a school principal, loudly told him, “Don’t worry anak, minor ka pa, nothing’s gonna happen to you”.
Unless Sen. Pangilinan swallows his pride and responds to the voices calling for reinstatement of the age of criminal responsibility to 9 years old, I will campaign against him in whatever political position for which he will run. But I digress…
I want to make it clear that I am hereby retracting portions of my earlier blog. I no longer wish to wonder what the rest of 2007 will bring. I’m no longer loving the surprises.
I want the rest of the year to be as boring as dust.
