I Will Cross Examine The Chief Justice!


During my active years in trial, I have a client who issued as payment for his rental a check without funds.  The apartment owner was the late Chief Justice Felix Makasiar. My client left the premises and would like to redeem his check by paying cash.  The late chief justice would want that aside from the…

“We Masquerade Our Dysfunction As A Quest For Due Process”


The Corona Dilemma I am writing a book about the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona because this historical political exercise effectively divides the nation between those who believe in the myth that there is nothing wrong with the judiciary and those who believe that there is something wrong with it and CJ Corona represents everything…

World Bank Report: An Indictment of The Supreme Court!


“This Review identifies fiduciary failures which appear to have begun in 2010 and accelerated in 2011. From mid-2010, project decision-making became more centralized; Program Management Office (PMO) capacity deteriorated; lack of segregation of functions caused a breakdown in the internal control environment and elimination if internal checks and balances; questionable procurement and expenditure decisions led to ineligible expenditures, retroactive contracts, uncontrolled commitments, increase risks of contingent liabilities and potential for over-commitment of project funds; vendor payments were delayed; and project account difference between Court offices remained un-reconciled. As a result, the quality of project implementation and the reliability of project financial information deteriorated. Ad hoc/unplanned use of projects is exemplified by IT goods procurements during 2010-2011 – some were not agreed with the World Bank or reflected in the procurement plan or were not connected with the project developments objectives, and 62% by value was procured not for front-line judges and court personnel who desperately need such equipment for backlog reduction and case management, but for the Supreme Court and appellate courts in Manila, in small lots. A clear picture of commitments, contingent liabilities, impact of exchange rate losses and the quantum of uncommitted project funds is no longer available, and the project financial statements cannot be relied upon. The review confirms that the project fiduciary environment has deteriorated to an extent that project management, project procurement and project financial management are nor rated “high risk” and “unsatisfactory” The PMO is requested to point out any factual errors or omissions in this Review.”

Opening Statement Before The Senate Impeachment of Chief Justice Corona


Honorable Senators sitting as impeachment court, ladies and gentlemen in the galleries, citizens of the republic and friends. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and President of Pixar, in 2005, five years before he died said: “Don’t be trapped with dogma,  which is living with the results of others’ thinking.  Don’t let the noise of others’…

SC Decision On Hacienda Luisita, A Deodorizer!


Though coming from a family without single hectare of farmland into our name, I can be passionate about the effect of the recent SC decision parceling out the 6,000 hectares Hacienda Luisita  (HL) to some 6,296 farmers. Not that the high tribunal’s decision came after a long deep slumber in the court which had earlier decreed…

GMA and Her Obscence Constitutional Discourse!


Today, Friday, an arrest warrant was served on the former President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for electoral fraud, which is a non-bailable offense – while she was confined in a hospital in Taguig.  Two policemen were assigned to watch her ward and to monitor her visitors. Photo-op and fingerprinting, the police said, would be made when she is ready. If her…

Legal Fornication, aka, RP Judicial System!


According to Newsbreak, the Sandiganbayan has withdrawn the arrest issued against Jaime Dichaves, co-defendant of former President Joseph Estrada in the plunder of P4.1 billion in 2002. Dichaves was abroad and probably had left after he was impleaded as co-defendant  of the former President.   The recall of the warrant was issued “in absentia.” Just like what the Court…

The Ghost of UP Malcolm Hall!


Malcolm Hall houses  the UP College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City.  It was named after Justice George Malcolm of the colonial Supreme Court.  Though the college  was established in 1911 at UP Padre Faura,  it was only in 1948 where its facilities and its huge law library were transferred to its present site in UP Diliman Campus.…