I have a gentler, but more radical proposal for these people whose greed has gotten the better of them.

Rehabilitation.

After all, most progressives are at their very core, pro-life in the real sense of the word, and against cruel and inhuman punishment and the death penalty. So is the Catholic Church.

Ergo, let's unite on this one and pray for the speedy, comprehensive, truthful resolution of the NBN-ZTE case.

Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit or the spirits of our anitos—ancestors—hover inside the (un)august halls of Congress, helping people there see the light–or even just see beyond those envelopes of cash floating around. (http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=2179)

Let’s pray that they have the courage to begin new proceedings against these criminals… and really bring them to justice.

AND JUST what do we have in mind for these people who have acted for so long with arrogance and impunity?

Rehabilitate them.

Yup, rehab not extrajudicial killing, because evil is the resort of the weak, the challenged and the cowardly. (http://www.newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3471&Itemid=88889008)

Here are my suggestions:

1. Prosecute them, without impunity, in an impartial court.

2. Read them their rights.

3. Give them time in a jail. No need to give them extra difficult treatment-- I mean who believes in an eye for an eye? -- just the normal treatment in our normal, severely overcrowded jail. (http://pinoycentric.com/2007/10/15/philippine-jails/)

4. While in jail, give them time to review Philippine history, the Philippine Constitution, the Civil Service Code. For a few weeks, put them under a regimented schedule that includes lots of prayer, study time (topics above), and fpr leisure, watching movies like this:  http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/118279/Bayan-Ko-Kapit-Sa-Patalim/overview

5. Keep these images (and that of other heroes) around their room:

Remember, rehabilitation means:

“To restore to useful life, as through therapy and education or to restore to good condition, operation, or capacity. The assumption of rehabilitation is that people are not natively criminal and that it is possible to restore a criminal to a useful life, to a life in which they contribute to themselves and to society. Rather than punishing the harm out of a criminal, rehabilitation would seek, by means of education or therapy, to bring a criminal into a more normal state of mind, or into an attitude which would be helpful to society, rather than be harmful to society.

6. Because we recognize that these people who act with impunity are simply not in good condition, we also suggest psychotherapy. Try Safepricker's passions. There might be a acupuncture spot that lessens greed?

7. Part of their rehabilitation should also include:

a. Labor. Oh, no, not hard labor. Just the usual labor that 2/3 of our countrymates are forced to do everyda. Even better , the kind that Filipino children have to undertake: (http://www.geocities.com/philmovies/films/minsanlangsilabata/minsanlangsilabata.html)

b. Separation from family. For years, please. In the same manner that thousands of Filipinos are forced by a collapsing economy and a dysfunctional government to separate from their families and go abroad. We also suggest a six-month stint, at least, as a DH in Singapore.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4502046.stm

c. Six months living in one of Metro Manila’s slum areas, where 40 percent of Manileños now live. I suggest Payatas or Baseco, Tondo, where generations of generations of Filipinos have lived without hope.

Don’t forget the daily fare of lucky me, lucky me and MORE lucky me!

Oh, for rehabilitation to be effective, we have to take away some things:
No more breakfasts here:

No more limousine rides with a whole barangay of policemen with wang-wangs (sirens) blazing...

Instead, more of riding on this:

You, know, Zen and the art of motorcycle riding…

Oh, and  please, don’t forget the exercise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

AT THE END OF IT ALL, I am sure those once-arrogant, greedy and power hungry will see the light:

1. The GDP and the appreciation of the peso are NOT the sole measures of a growing economy.

2. Ang sagot sa kahirapan ay HINDI broadband! (The solution to our economic mess is NOT broadband!)

See, our proposed solution is nothing NOTHING compared what those in power have done to the best and the brightest who offered their lives for a better country.
http://yoopee.multiply.com/journal/item/1380

Let me end with a song dedicated to those who need to be rehabilitated from their greed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnwe8lngFy0

(english translation by jorge calderon)

My personal revenge will be the right
Of our children in the schools and in the gardens
My personal revenge will be to give you
This song which has flourished without panic
My personal revenge will be to show you
The kindness in the eyes of my people
Who have always fought relentlessly in battle
And been generous and firm in victory

My personal revenge will be to tell you good morning
On a street without beggars or homeless
When instead of jailing you I suggest
You shake away the sadness there that blinds you
And when you who have applied your hands in torture
Are unable to look up at what surrounds you
My personal revenge will be to give you
These hands that once you so mistreated
But have failed to take away their tenderness

It was the people who hated you the most
When rage became the language of their song
And underneath the skin of this town today
Its heart has been scarred forevermore

It was the people who hated you the most
When rage became the language of their song
And underneath the skin of this town today
Its heart has been scarred forevermore
And underneath the skin of this town today
Red and black, its hearts been scarred
Forevermore