It's tragic that former Philippine defense secretary Angelo Reyes committed suicide last Tuesday after he was summoned to testify in the Senate investigation about corruption in the country's armed forces. Reports said that although he was not invited to the inquiry as an accused or a witness but as a “resource person”, he found himself accused of massive corruption when he was still in the military and that he received a $1 million “pabaon” or farewell money when he retired as defense chief. Quoting witnesses, the police said Reyes shot himself in the chest with a pistol before his mother's grave a few days after the inquiry by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. Reports said Reyes was ridiculed and rudely grilled, particularly by senators Jinggoy Estrada and Antonio Trillanes IV who could have inhibited themselves from the probe because they had an ax to grind against him. Jinggoy Estrada is the son of former president Joseph Estrada whom Reyes – who was then armed forces chief during Estrada's watch – abandoned during the second People Power revolt that installed then vice president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the presidency. Reports said Trillanes, former military mutineer who who was jailed in Arroyo's time and freed when President Noynoy Aquino came to power, sneered at Reyes during the inquiry that he had no reputation to protect or speak of. The Filipino people deserve to know the truth about the extent of corruption in the Philippine armed forces so that remedial measures can be implemented to put an end to it. But in the Philippines, which prided itself as the only democratic country in Southeast Asia, every one is entitled to due process and presumed innocent unless proven otherwise by the courts. Reyes is not the first “resource person” to be insulted by lawmakers. Government officials defending their budgets are routinely subjected to rude questionings. In the halls of Philippine Congress, there are lawmakers who wield their power unsparingly as if their authority were a badge to abuse the less ordinary mortals. One thing that must come out from Reyes' death is to put an end to such congressional lynching. Congress is not a court of justice, but the legislative arm of government. It is the reason why investigations in the legislature are made – to borrow a cliche from the lawmakers – “in aid of legislation.” It's possible to unearth corruption with civility and respect for everyone's rights. __
