In many democratic countries of the world, the rights of citizens are protected and guaranteed by their constitution. In most cases, you will find a specific provision in a democratic constitution that says: "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the law".
In the Philipines, a country that is considered a showcase of democracy in Asia, justice is tilted in favor of the rich and powerful. If you are rich, your chances of getting justice to work in your favor is much greater than the poor and the less powerful.
In a democracy, society is governed by specific laws which are enforced by the State based on the laws enacted by the country’s legislature in accordnce with its constitution. Despensation of justice, therefore is governed by specific laws or implementing rules. One of the basic provision of the law that deals with prosecution of civil or criminal cases is the rule on filing fees which the ordinary citizen sometimes cannot afford. These fees could run to thousands of pesos depending on the nature of the case.
If you are poor or don’t have money to pay for the required fees, you automatically lose the case by default. If you cannot afford to pay for the services of a good lawyer, you are already at a losing end because your opponent can afford to hire the best and the brightest lawyers while you may just end up engaging the services of a court-appointed lawyer who may not be able to render quality service owing to the hundreds of other cases that he has to attend to. Again, if you don’t have money to spend for legal research and other fees, you will most likely lose even if you have a winning case.
This is the reality in a democracy. You cannot reason out that you lose your case because you are poor. In a democracy you are given the opportuinity to get rich. And when you do, justice will also be tilted in your favor.
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