Mabini Hall - Access to Justice

The first call came in around nine in the morning on a Monday from a dear friend. In between sobs, I pieced out the story that her husband of five years has recently started to hit her. The hubby, a law graduate, was wily enough not to inflict tell tale signs of external injuries against her. He would instead pull her hair, shake her violently and force himself upon her. The two older kids at 4 and 3 years of age are witnesses. What explains this behavior to someone whom you have promised to love and to hold till death do you part? She now fears for her life as the threats and harm have drastically escalated.

Through lunch, another incident was brought to my attention. This time it involved the rape of a 17 year-old house help by the 35 year old man of the house. The latter denies any wrongdoing and says that the family of the house help was trying to extort money from him. Does it matter if the guy admitted they had sex, at the marital bed at that? This was enough to ruin my appetite despite my years of being involved in this line of work.

Later in the afternoon, another call came through from a girlfriend traumatized by the weird actions of a former boyfriend who refused to let go. The guy would call her literally at odd hours, text her in whatever language he deems fit and insists on her meeting her some place, some time. What was she to do? Can she report a crime? Is it a crime to turn your back on someone you finally got to know?

The day was not yet over. After dinner, a gay friend reported a loss of valuables running in the low hundreds of thousands to a male friend who had stayed over for the night. There was no evidence of ransacking or force upon his things. He simply could not find a thing or two including a piece of Cartier jewelry. Caught between reporting to a police with the stigma having let someone he had known for a few hours into his flat, a stranger in the dark, or swallowing down the incident.

All these and the first week of the month was really not over yet. Clearly there is a legal solution or redress to the cases. On a rather different plane, it sets us to think why things happen the way they do. No matter how many times one may have read or encountered these similar incidents, it always brings a chill to the bones to be reminded in your face that they continue to take place day in, day out and there is only so much or so little you can do.

Back in college, we were drilled into thinking about vocations and the mission, about living our lives in the best tradition of service. The question remains: how do we do it and still retain our sanity in this mad world?

I was invited by a group of friends for a nightcap. Over some mango crepe, my favorite food, we talked about careers, filmfest, headlines and Abercrombie. That was enough to take my head elsewhere and forget OPPs – Other People’s Problems and dwell on the lighter side of life. It is draining when the people who come to you are those you have know for years and years and are good people - people who have no reason to face such a fate or to wrestle with such cruel destinies. People who are frail and vulnerable whose judgments become clouded and whose decisions turn out faulty simply because they care too much.

This morning I woke up with a pile of paperwork and plunged in. It was time to set some things right if I can help it. The feelings of helplessness and frustration slowly ebbed as the pleadings took shape. Specific words took the place of vague emotions. Who says lawyers are too rational and too cold doesn’t really know them.

Soon, another horrible case will come up as they do always. Stories of sheer individual depravity or conduct unbecoming of a gentle human will be with us again. In the meantime, we continue to prepare ourselves hold the fort for that one big one that might just be a bit too overwhelming and to man the ramparts against the eventual tide of wickedness.