NY Times Mistook The Philippines A Vassal Archipelago Of The U.S.


Some 8509 miles from across the globe, New York Times counseled President Benigno Simeon Aquino to step down from power after  2016 because the fragile democracy in the country is in peril if he amends the constitution to   run again and to clip the powers of the Supreme Court. This unsolicited advice betrays a certain…

Or Why The SC and Its Apologists Should Take A Hike!


The executive department is accountable to the people, the judiciary is not. Its power must not be co-equal with the President, if we have to maintain the principle that sovereignty resides in the people. That, in gist is a Jeffersonian philosophy. The spirit of republicanism is essentially this: every empowered bureaucrat should be within the…

The Three Stooges of EDSA 1


Our collective memories are not only short but malleable to the machinations of those who wanted to profit from the fall of the late dictator Mr. Marcos in 1986.   Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Gregorio Honasan and former President Fidel Ramos are not heroes of EDSA 1, but its villains.  They were Marcos martial law implementers whose participation in…

Supreme Court TRO Against the Senate Was Wrong!


Defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas, my venerable professor in civil procedure described the position of Senator Frank Drilon that the impeachment body was beyond the reach of the Supreme Court as “bankrupt” and without jurisprudential support.  He gloated over the Francisco v. House of Representatives  as an authority to the proposition that the Court has an oversight function…

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.”

When The Crooks Invoke The Rule of Law!


During the reign of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010), Senator Ping Lacson was charged with the murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.  He cried ‘political vendetta.’  He elevated his case to the Court of Appeals up to the Supreme Court and won.  He called it the triumph of  ‘the rule of law.’ By some stroke…

Is A Compromise over Unjust Justice Possible?


The battlefield had been drawn, the war drums tapped; and swords unsheathed.  An epic battle between a corrupt Supreme Court with a very low public rating and a very popular president is unfolding.  You can predict the outcome.  But victory will come only if the jurists whose reputations had been tarnished by injudicious partisan rulings,  resign…

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…