A Small Request from a Tired Nation: “Show Us the Cuffs”

By Vincent R. Pozon

We are a people who have stopped asking for miracles. There are no more demands for swift verdicts or clean governance. We do not expect that cases filed today will be resolved while witnesses are still alive, and not after two presidents have occupied the palace. We have learned, painfully, to ask for less.

And so, in these exhausting times, we make a modest request of the State, should it care to pause and listen, so small it feels almost embarrassing to voice:

When the powerful are arrested, let them wear handcuffs.

Not hidden, not wrapped in a coat, or shielded from the camera. Even if it's just pretend play, cuff them. Let us make believe that the law really touches every erring wrist, especially the wrists that once signed budgets, sat in the Senate, or steered entire provinces.

This is not an eccentric demand

In South Korea, former President Park Geun-hye was brought to court in handcuffs after her arrest for corruption. In Taiwan, former President Chen Shui-bian was arrested on corruption charges and publicly photographed in handcuffs.

It is understood elsewhere that public office does not excuse public restraint.

Here, the opposite occurs: high-ranking officials accused of plunder or abuse of power arrive at hearings smiling, waving, unbound. Their dignity is carefully tended to, even as the dignity of the public—robbed, deceived, and made to wait—is sacrificed.

While the poorest suspects are cuffed immediately, hands behind their backs, the powerful can negotiate the metal.

A small symbol with weight

Of course, handcuffs are not justice. They do not recover stolen funds, rebuild collapsed bridges, strengthen hospitals, or construct classrooms that were never built, bring back the drowned and dead.

But in a country where meaningful justice is elusive, symbols matter.

Handcuffs offer the appearance of accountability. They allow the rehearsal of justice.

If the legal system must continue to move at a glacial pace, let symbolism do what it can to assuage the pain in our chests, while the courts struggle to convince anyone they still function.

We know this is theater. We know they will eventually be declared not guilty. Still, grant us this small token, this momentary fiction that the system works. We ask, politely, almost apologetically:

Show us the cuffs.

Vincent R. Pozon

After a year of college, Koyang entered advertising, and there he stayed for more than half a century, in various agencies, multinational and local. He is known for aberrant strategic successes (e.g., Clusivol’s ‘Bawal Magkasakit’, Promil’s ‘The Gifted Child’, RiteMED’s ‘May RiteMED ba nito?', VP Binay's 'Ganito Kami sa Makati', JV Ejercito's 'The Good One', Akbayan's 'Pag Mahal Mo, Akbayan Mo')). He is chairman of Estima, an ad agency dedicated to helping local industrialists, causes and candidates.

If you liked what you just read and want more of Our Brew, subscribe to get notified. Just enter your email below.

subscribe

Great! Check your inbox and click the link to confirm your subscription

Please enter a valid email address!

• What We Think

Click for other articles of

Vincent R. Pozon