THE PHILIPPINES: Justice for the Governor

A slender, hard-faced man, outwardly calm and obviously used to authority, stood last week in the governor's office in Bacolod, capital of Negros Occidental Province, and heard himself sentenced to death. At this, an insignificant-looking woman, the mother of his victim smiled wanly and said: "Now I know that justice is for the rich and poor alike."

In 1951 Rafael Lacson was the undisputed boss of Negros Occidental, second most populous province in the Philippines. He sat in the governor's chair and, allied with the big sugar planters, ran a tight police state. The province's 200.000 voters...