Shaking a Sick Justice System

Our justice system is virulently shaken in the advent of the Trillanes amnesty nullification case.

Consider this. The Executive Department usurped the power of the Supreme Court when the President nullified the amnesty granted to Sen. Antonio Trillanes VI and ordered him arrested without due process, through Proclamation 572 on the claim that the senator did not  comply with the requirement of the grant, particularly his failure to  submit an application form.

The Supreme Court, on the other hand, was remiss on its duties when it did not act on the petition regarding the constitutionality of Proclamation 572, re the nullification of an amnesty that was granted by the joint act of the President and Congress. If amnesty were a joint act and if it were to be nullified for one reason or another,  it  logically follows, petitioner argues, that it should also be acted upon both by the President and Congress.

 The Supreme Court, instead of acting on the primary issue raised by the petition, that is, the legality or constitutionality of Proclamation 572,  opted instead  to deal first with the alleged failure of Sen. Trillanes to submit or file an application form to deserve the grant of amnesty. Inasmuch as the SC is not a triar of facts,  the case had to be remanded to a trial court.

 On that basis, the DOJ, on behalf of the President reopened the cases of Sen. Trillanes, dismissed 7 years ago,  at the Makati Reg. Trial Courts  Branch 150 (for rebellion) and  Branch 148 (for coup d’etat).

RTC Branch 150   acted quickly ex parte, without any hearing, on the information of the  DOJ  which sought to nullify the amnesty granted to Trillanes for his failure to submit the necessary application form. It issued an arrest warrant and a hold-departure order for the embattled senator.

When the liberty of a person is at stake, is it not incumbent for the court to hold a hearing to get the side of the accused?

The evidence submitted by the petititioner DOJ  to support its allegation was a certification from the DND  from a certain  Lt Col Thea Joan Andrade of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel JI that there is no available copy of  Trillanes’ application for amnesty in the records.

 Does it follow that when an application form is not in the records an application was never ever made or the application form was never ever submitted?  

Yet, Judge Elmo Alameda considered the certification strong enough to support Proclamation 572, that indeed the Sen. failed or did not submit an application form to deserve the grant, hence his amnesty was null and void from the beginning. The adverse decision was made, notwithstanding the fact that Sen. Trillanes submitted  two testimonial affidavits to counter Lt Col. Andrade’s  DND certification – that of Col. Josefa Berbigal and former Defense Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta.  

Berbigal, the head of secretariat of the committee tasked to process amnesty applications in accordance with a proclamation by former president Benigno Aquino III, testified that she administered the oath to Trillanes when he submitted his application form in January 2011. This form, she said, contained a section on admission of guilt. Azcueta, on the other hand, the chair of the department ad hoc committee on amnesty attested that Sen. Trillanes complied with the requirements for amnesty.

Between a certification and an affidavit which weighs heavier in court?

We were made to believe that to be accepted in a judicial court, an information has to be notarized to make public its truthfulness or veracity. To avoid fraudulence and to certify authenticity, a document for legal use or purpose likewise undergoes notarization.

 What prompted the Judge to give too much weight to a certification from a relatively unknown DND officer over some judicial affidavits of some DND officials that were directly involved in the processing of the application of Sen, Trillanes for amnesty?

And why is the presence of the application form that important to the case? What is in it that requires its physical appearance?

 If it is about its content re the admission of guilt, would not the counter affidavits  submitted by the accused of no probative value when these are prepared by the very officials of the DND who processed the application? If the form is missing or lost, would not a judicial testimony regarding its existence acceptable to somehow correct or prove its past existence?

The missing or lost application form was not in the custody of the accused but in the custodial DND, an institution under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, the primary accuser in the case at bar. Hence, it is understandable if it will never be found at all. In fact, it is expedient, that it shall be lost for good without any trace inasmuch as the application form  cannot be used to support but instead would debunk the allegation of Proclamation 572. 

If Judge Alameda dismissed the Trillanes affidavits as mere substitutes, what can he say on the certification of Lt. Col Joan Thea Andrade, a gospel truth beyond reasonable doubt enough to commit the accused back to jail?

It is likely that, if not rescued, the legal principle of  “double jeopardy” may also land in jail.

Fortunately, Judge Andres Soriano of RTC Branch 148 who was to try on the coup d’ etat case against  Sen. Trillanes did not follow Alameda’s course  of yielding to the prayer of the DOJ, that is, of issuing lightning fast an arrest warrant and a hold-departure order but chose  to uphold due process  by conducting a continuing hearing  of the case, allowing the parties to submit and argue their evidences.

Meanwhile, the Trillanes camp filed a Motion for Reconsideration in RTC Branch 150, praying, among others, for a similar hearing obtaining in RTC Branch 148.

Shaken and shambling, the justice system still works, so it appears. There is still a glimmer of hope that truth  prevails and justice will eventually be served.

Hooked in the Mouth

Television is a global communication medium, where what you say, how, when and where you say it is heard and is witnessed by a multitude worldwide. Not only that, the event can be recorded and may be repeatedly shown to many more anytime and may be used for one reason or another.

In Malacanang last Thursday, 27 September2018, in addressing new career executive service officers, President Duterte made a shocking statement against himself that reverberated here and there, to wit:

“Ako I will talk to a political exercise now. What are your sins? Ako? Sabi ko nga sa military, ano kasalanan ko? Nagnakaw ba ako diyan ni piso? Did I prosecute somebody na pinakulong ko? Ang kasalanan ko lang, yung mga extrajudicial killing,” [emphasis provided]

Loud and clear and not mincing words, President Duterte admitted his sin in extrajudicial killing (EJK) an issue against him in relation to his war on drugs.

Atty.Sal Panelo, his legal adviser was quick in the defense saying what the President says his sin is the issue of critics about him on EJK. Well, if that is so, if he admitted what is alleged, then he is guilty of the crime alleged, as he stated, EJK.

On the other hand, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the President was just being “playful” and was not even serious when he delivered the remark.His minions in social media picked this up and are quick in saying that such admission is another Duterte joke, another hyperbole. But no sane and right thinking man may consider the admission as a joke considering the manner and the context it was said. And nothing in the statement was exaggerated to amount to a hyperbole. If you read between the lines he denied corruption, plunder (he had not stolen anything) and injustice (he had not sent anyone to jail) as among his sins but categorically admitted EJK.

Na hulicam ang Pangulong Duterte, so what he said, the way he said it (his demeanor) and the context in saying it, is not simply for his lap dogs alone but for all right thinking people to review and evaluate.

DU30 has been hounded by the issue of the summary execution of perceived enemies of the state since he was mayor of Davao City up to his war on drugs upon assumption as President of the Republic. He muddled the issue and remained invulnerable by repeatedly denying and admitting it at times in hyperbolic manner, say, that he himself has killed not just one but 100 or 1000 and that he will kill again as many as 100,000.

This time around, he’s in holeshit. There’s a Cebuano expression that says ”Natagaan sa baba sa iyang kaugalingong bingwit” (hooked in the mouth by his own line), referring to a person who finds himself in serious trouble by his own doing, by his arrogance or boastful act, perhaps. DU30 is hooked in the mouth by his own line. The more he wiggles to free himself, the deeper the hook sinks into his flesh. This is too much for a diversionary tactic from the killer inflation that is raging throughout the archipelago.

President DU30, who is always ahead of the flock, pre-empted the floated Red October Plot against his government by staging a coup himself in September.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental, Philippines)

Moronic Justice

In any transaction where something is to be obtained or availed off, the availing party is often required to fill up an application form where the information relevant to what is being sought is provided, including in some cases attachments or documentary evidences for those claimed in the application sheet. For instance when you apply for graduation in a university, aside from your personal information,  you have to specify the degree sought, together with an evaluation sheet detailing all the mandated courses you have taken and passed, as well as a certification that you have submitted bound copies of your defended thesis  to your college.

When you apply for membership with the GSIS, your application details, among others, your appointment status and your length of service in the government unit you are serving. Photo copies of the documents you claimed in the application form – your appointment paper and service record,  need to be appended to the application sheet.

You will not be allowed to graduate and given a diploma if you cannot comply with all the requirements for graduation.

You cannot be a member of the GSIS if you cannot comply with all the requirements for membership as spelled out in the application form.

Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of the party that receives and processes the application to check the accuracy and completeness of the information provided in the application form.

An application once submitted becomes the property and at the disposal of the receiving party. Suffice it to say that the application document is for the receiving party to keep and secure because the information provided thereat is the primary basis in granting or denying the applicant of what is being sought.

For an applicant, the application form is no longer of much or any value at all once it left his hand and has served its purpose. Say, in our example, he was allowed to graduate and has received his diploma or he now is a regular member of the GSIS.

Proclamation 572 nullified the amnesty granted to Senator Antonio Trillaness IV on account of a certification from a certain  Lt Col Thea Joan Andrade of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel JI that there is no available copy of his application for amnesty in the records.

On that basis President Duterte ordered the Senator’s immediate arrest by the PNP and the AFP. When his arrest order could not be implemented in the absence of valid warrant, the President backpedalled and ordered his minions to revive the dismissed cases of Sen. Trillanes at the Makati regional trial courts.

Come to think of it, is mere certification from a staff at the DND, who might  not have even been involved in the processing of amnesty applications, a sufficient basis  to nullify an  amnesty granted by the President of the Republic and concurred by the two houses of Congress?

Does it follow that if an application form  is not found in the records, no application was ever filed?

Anyway, the Makati Reg. Trial Court Branch 150  accepted as immutable truth the allegation of the President that indeed Trillanes has no application  for the amnesty he was granted in as much as the Senator could not submit to the court any. Hence, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Since when does our justice system revert from the English to the Roman system of antiquity where the burden of proof in a judicial case lies in the accused and not in the accuser?

 In our traditional English justice tradition, which the Makati court was supposed to uphold, the burden of proof lies in the accuser not in the accused. And the proof must not simply be alleged but must be proven beyond reasonable doubt in court. The court ought to have ordered the DND  to produce the missing  copy of the application form which was in its custody or to explain why it cannot produce, rather than demand it from the accused Trillanes.

What proof can the accusers of Sen. Trillaness present in court to support their allegation? None. In such case, the amnesty granted to Sen. Trillanes holds and is presumed valid from the beginning.

There could be one and  thousand reasons why the DND cannot produce or locate the application form of Sen. Trillanes. After 7 years from the processing of said application, it may have moved from one hand or office to another and is already difficult to trace. Or, it was already physically disposed because its purpose has already been served: the Senator was already issued a Certificate of Amnesty. Another reason could be that the application form was deliberately lost or hidden so that Proclamation 572 can be promulgated to harass, torment and silence the irrepressible Duterte critic. It’s difficult to find something when those who are looking for it are the ones hiding it.

Sen. Trillanes could not also present a copy of his application form, if ever he bothered to have a copy of the same after the submission. At any rate he produced for the court testimonial affidavits from certain DND officials who processed his application that he indeed submitted application for the grant of amnesty. Moreover, he presented to the court a copy of his certificate of amnesty – the end result of his application, which the court apparently did not bother to give a glance

Sen. Trillanes got what he applied for- the certificate of amnesty which evidences the perfection of the Proclamation of Amnesty affecting his person. Is this certificate of less probative value vis the DND certification on his missing application form?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

A 3-in-1 Response to the Calamitous Econom

The cab driver who took us to our hotel from the airport was like a July downpour in dropping on us his resentment on the chocking economy and his ire to the senseless  people who have irresponsibly pushed the country to starvation.

The people are slowly dying from hunger, he wailed. The prices of everything have flown high beyond the reach of many. The adjustment made to those who are still able is like drinking a 3-in-1 coffee, which means a cup of coffee today have to be shared by 3 drinkers to warm their stomach before they scramble to foray for anything to ward off hunger and survive the day.

Indeed, the economy is in a disastrous twist. The purchasing power of the peso has dipped to a precarious low The inflation has hurt the poor more than any other sector, crippling, for instance the poorest region of the country like Bicol that hits an annual rate of 9% and the ARMM at 8%.This means that the income of a wage earner that remains the same, can no longer buy the same amount of food and other basic necessities it used to do a year ago.  A year ago a kg of rice was around P40; now it hovers between P50 and P60 or more depending on locations, if ever still available. In Basilan, one of the depressed areas in  Mindanao, a kg of rice is reportedly P80.

With the prices of commodities going up and  the purchasing power of the peso going down, the demand  consequently goes down and production logically dips, driving  workers from production and distribution out of job reducing further production and  demand. With less supply the price of commodities rises higher, wrecking the capacities of fixed salaried and wage earners, and devastating the lives of the expanding unemployed and the penniless.

 With the demand becoming unprofitable, production may eventually stop, throwing many further out of job and more families becoming more hungry and angry every day.

For one, the rice shortage is hitting the people  real hard. Even the weevil-infested grains that DA Sec. Pinol wants us to stomach are becoming invisible in the market.

A 3-in-1 coffee can only do much to quell a grumbling stomach. After a while the monster that hunger creates in the mind may eventually find release in the streets as historically shown in food riots and violent upheavals in many countries in time past.

Unless the government and its economic planners immediately correct the course of the politics and the economy of the nation we might fall to quagmire that we may have extreme difficulty of crawling back.

It’s time for President Duterte and the wise guys around him to stop blaming the external world for the current economic malaise. No doubt the trade war in the international arena had sent to our shores shock waves in the devaluation of the peso and the spiralling cost of imported fossil fuel. Incidentally, before it happens, the trade war had loomed for some time in the horizon and yet our policymakers and planners had done nothing to avert its likely consequences to the country. Instead it has imposed more taxes on the people that wreaked more havoc to everybody.

We should not be duped by word play and diversionary tactics. If there is group or force  that is threatening the political stability of the country and the administration’s grip on power, it’s not the political opposition and the critics of the regime but the worsening economy which is the administration’s brainchild.

Successfully Lewd

Many are asking: will Uson be booted out from her government post because of the lewd federalism video controversy attributed to her creative juice?

No way.

Amorous Tatay Digong is so enamoured with Mocha because she is one of the rare mammals who can read his mind. In other word, they are in the same operating frequency. Both think and act Machiavellian. They do not care about the negative reactions to what they say and do as long as they get what they want. DU30 became so popular and landed as tenant of the palace along murky and stinking Pasig  precisely by making unprecedented controversies, cursing the pope, claiming  he had killed and will still kill, regretting about not being in the queue over the ganged-rape Ausie missionary, offering  the improvable but titillating promise, which captured millions voters,  to end  the drug menace, corruption and criminality in 6 months’ time, and now has remained popular and continued to have a  tight grip of power by  creating enemies with church authorities and calling God stupid.

And Uson, meanwhile was trolling, diverting or fogging issues, maligning everyone perceived against her patron and  has become so successful and popular and for that was made the queen of the social media of the Presidential Communications Operations Office of the Palace.

So how could the President kick out such a wonderful asset? Forget the upset party-mates in Congress. Blabber as they may they will still remain nearby to lick his butt; they had nowhere to go.

Anyway, minus the ethical and morality issue, from communications campaign standpoint, Mocha was right. One of the objectives of the operational campaign on federalism was to create or raise awareness on the subject.  The video has achieved that, and, in her words, “it is now the task of the experts to provide the substance.”

Theoretically, the target of a communication campaign passes through the process or stages of awareness, interest, knowledge, decision-making, and action. The boundaries are of course imaginary but for the purpose of planning, they are presumed to exist to determine the strategies in maximizing the end results. Each stage requires different message types and media of communication.

In awareness, the communicator works to make his product familiar and recognizable by the target audience.  Naturally, the message is one that can attract and immediately capture the attention of the audience and the media to use are those that can reach the widest target. In the past, the radio dominated, still does apparently, in awareness campaign because radio receiving sets are available even in the remotest of barangays. And catchy 30-seconder radio jingles are easy and cheap to produce. Remember the jingle” sa ikakaunlad ng bayan disiplina ang kailangan” to sell and embed in the consciousness of the people the Marcos Martial Law?

Mocha is not in the mass media. She has a different platform and is concerned and focused on  her accordingly 5 million or so followers in the social media. She did what she had to do and succeeded: her lewd video became viral in just a few minutes from posting. Federalism is now made familiar to everyone , not just in her turf but outside. There was, in fact, an overflow that reached unnecessarily even to  the territorial Senate, creating a ruckus that further enhances far and wide the awareness drive on the subject. What is now needed is for the intended population to really know and understand federalism, sustain their interest, and eventually internalize and accept it. This may require new platforms,   more cerebral workers, and different strategies and messages.

Will the experts succeed in selling finally federalism to the Filipino people at the same level with Mocha’s success in raising awareness about it?

Whatever,  PCOO Asec. Mocha Uson has already done her part. She may now have her vacation, basking in glory on her accomplishment.

The Finite Sea

We often come across the old saying that you “give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Not anymore.

This adage in its literal sense was applicable to Confucius’ time when the sea was so huge and was an inexhaustible source of fish. Thus even, if more fishers were added to the existing hands, there would still be fish for everybody.

In the Philippines, the  government in the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources  still believes in the adage and behaves accordingly. That is why it has been distributing   fishing boats and nets to fishers new and old under their anti-poverty and food security program, notwithstanding research reports on the deplorable conditions and the plummeting catch in the country’s fishing grounds.

Truth to tell, the capacity of the sea to replenish whatever resource extracted from it has been compromised by a lot of things –  by the rapid change in information and extraction  technologies  that has shrunk its size resulting to over-exploitation and destruction; by pollution, and by climate change.

 There is, for instance, no international law enforceable in the community of nations that regulate the extraction of fishery resources. Thus commercial fishing vessels of wealthy nations employ fishing nets of several kilometres long to maximize catch haul all over the globe. Unfortunately, during extremely foul weather, these nets are severed from the fishing vessels to save the vessels and the crew. Here was born the phenomenon of ghost fishing, where several nets of hundreds of kilometers long are drifting in the oceans catching and killing whales,  sharks, turtles, cow fish and other big sea organisms their harvest of which does not benefit anyone.

At the archipelagic level, destructive fishing undermines the natural capacity of the fishery resources to replenish extraction. The situation is made worst by the spiraling number of poor who join the fisher population in order to survive.

The sea is the last refuge of the very poor. Without a farm to till and employable skills, the sea, which does not require any qualifications, accommodates anyone interested to engage in fishing as a livelihood, unreliable it may be as a source of income to feed a family. To increase declining harvest, fishers employ destructive fishing methods like blasting, the use of fine-mesh nets and poison which at the end only diminish further their catch.

Moreover, pollution from various sources is smothering fish nurseries and other habitats that further worsen the productivity of the marine waters.

The advent of climate change has increased the temperature in tropic waters forcing fish to migrate to  cooler regimes up north of the equator, impoverishing, thus the areas left behind.

Hence, what is imperative today is not simply to teach a man how to fish but also  to teach him and everybody in this planet to protect and save the sea.

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Freedom of Spit: On a Perfect- Intelligent God and a Stupid God

 President Duterte’s concept of a perfect and intelligent God who created the cosmos and holds the heavenly bodies together is a concept  that doesn’t come  from empty space but apparently originate from his exposure to the bible and, perhaps, with  the Quran’s account of creation, the two accounts of which  hardly vary in substance.

When he said” Your God is stupid,” “your” logically refers not just to Catholics but to all his Filipino audience or listeners when he said it, to everyone for that matter who believes in the God of creation as narrated in their holy books.

Mr. Duterte lambasted  the God of  holy-book believers  for this God’s  stupidity in creating man as a perfect being and then making him imperfect by temptation.

The President owes us an account how his perfect God created humans. Did his perfect God create  humans or  did he not at all to avoid imperfection?  Duterte publicly admitted that he is imperfect and only his God is perfect.  His logic in castigating the Abrahamic God , that Jews, Muslims and Christians revere, runs  that a perfect God could not have an imperfect creation, say, in man.

Why not if it’s God’s purpose to remain supreme above everyone.

Is the President not a hard evidence in this regard - his perfect God creating an imperfect Rodrigo Duterte?  Otherwise, if he is not his God’s creation nor of the God of Abraham, whose stupidity and association he abhors, then whose product is he?

 Everybody is entitled to freedom of expression and freedom of religion, to his belief or unbelief; but to glorify one's belief and mock what others believe is uncouth. It is self-righteousness and meanness in the highest order.

Of Making Choices

All of life is about making choices.

What you chose in the past made you what you are today. Do not blame your parents, genetics and the environment nor fault destiny. You are what you decided or not decided to be.

If you are not happy and satisfied with the way you are, you can still make new choices to change things. It is never late to choose wisely and responsively to deserve a rich and meaningful life.

Choose health. Eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and have an ample rest. Do not overindulge in anything you do.

Choose truth. Take time to study, contemplate and discern the truth from lies and appearances. Do not be trampled and be swept away by the conviction of the mob. Stick to the truth however it may inconvenience you at the moment because it will ultimately set you free.

Choose courage. Do not be afraid to take risks because risks are actually opportunities to enrich life. Stand for causes that are moral and noble which affect the people you love, society and the world at large.

Choose freedom. Do not sulk in a corner and let things you do not like happen. Get out from your comfort zone now and then and be counted in making a difference.

Express yourself. Make a statement and never be silenced by the cowardice, the apathy and the indifference of those around you.

Choose love. Free yourself of hatred and vindictiveness; they are a burden to your spiritual journey. Instead, spread love and compassion to all around you, most especially to those who suffer from social injustice and from the tyranny of those in power. If you have not much to share, just listen to their cry. Say some kind and comforting words. The gesture would mean a lot to them.

Show understanding and kindness, too, to those who are lagging behind in the spiritual journey. They might have hurt and caused you pain along the way, but they now are also suffering from the fruit of their choices. Taunting them and ridiculing their plight does not offer anything good to anyone.

I Survived

On this day three years ago at around 9:30 in the morning, I figured in an accident while attending a national church (UCCP) planning conference at the First Pacific Leadership Academy in Antipolo, Rizal. I tripped and I heard people shouting: It’s a stroke! They rushed me to a hospital, and the physicians after some tests confirmed it was, indeed, a stroke -  a cerebro-vascular accident.

 Great Thanks to God, I survived the accident.  My gratitude is beyond words to those around who extended  all possible support and assistance to help me overcome those moments of  helplessness.

The accident, like many other accidents, happened without any signs or warning. I experienced no bodily pain or discomfort before and when it happened. The stroke cut off the power supply to my left extremities to this day. I can’t move my left leg and arm. My vision gets a little blurred, and I lost strength and control in my speech. I notice I talk rather fast and tire immediately.

After three months of physical therapy I was able to rise from bed unassisted and walk with a cane inside the house. In a little while I managed to walk some few meters without a cane. The progress was disrupted by a sudden inability to pee.  My left extremities convulsed in excruciating spasms. I thought my left arm and leg would break and separate from my body. It was torture for some 5-6 days before and after a ureteroscopy to remove a kidney stone from my bladder.

Indeed, when it rains it pours. I was back to square one  in my walking exercise. It was never the same again because the drop foot seems to have worsened. Nonetheless, I am back with a cane. But I weigh 53 kg. Imagine dragging a sack of rice to move a distance with a cane.

The struggle continues with the encouragement and support of my loved ones and friends;  I thank everyone for this.

Life is still good despite some piercing bouts of depression now and then.

I am grateful to the Lord for not repossessing my mind. This frees me from the prison of my body and allows me to move far and wide in time and space.

Life is beautiful.

On Comparison

To maintain a positive outlook in life, I’d been told to count my blessings and have also told others to do  the same. It seemed to work for some moments but at the end of the day, I was back to square one. I’ve been told not compare myself with others, and I told others the same; because if we compare ourselves with others we either become vain or miserable. Compare yourself with yourself and enjoy and take glory of the progress – the difference.  This worked for me for a long, long time until in recent years: I was  terrific in the past, now I’m in a terrible shape.

Lesson: Avoid making any comparison of any kind  to escape misery. Accept people, things or whatever that comes. Live at every moment. Be happy or be sad according to what is called by the situation. Savor what you feel, whether joy or pain, to the last drop;  nothing lasts forever.

If Life were a Race

Birth is a great divider. Some are born with valuable talents and gifts, others are not. Some have already wealth upon birth, others don’t have . If life is a race, the racers are not in the same starting line. It  looks unfair, but in reality is not. Those ahead by a lap or two and those falling far behind, the swift and the slow will all reach the finish line; all will be humbled not glorified by the race.

At the end of the race, nothing really counts. Our dreams and achievements, our failures and pains, our missteps, indecision and regrets, our health and aches, joy, sorrow and suffering do not matter at the end.  Life is fair after all. The finish line is a great equalizer.

Never Mind

What can be better to a foreign policy that develops strong ties and strengthens friendly relations with a giant and powerful neighbour? Where foreign investments are promised to rise sky high to provide employment to the poor, hungry and jobless? And foreign assistance in the building of road and bridges, railways and other transport systems will come like manna from heaven?

Never mind that in exchange of all these promises  is the deafening silence of the vassal-behaving state on  the encroachment of the giant into the latter’s sovereign territory, constructing surreptitiously   military bunkers, and safe havens for the giant’s  naval warships  and air bombers.

Never mind if the  initial billion pesos  of   promised investments came in the form of smuggled  illegal drugs (methamphetamine) that has provided business opportunities to local drug lords and death-courting  employment as drug pushers to the poor and jobless.

Never mind if, as a consequence, millions of   young people’s lives are ruined by addiction.

Never mind if the eradication of the drug menace is one the centerpiece programs of the regime.

Never mind, never mind, as long as the head of the vassal state is assured of his perch in power no matter what.

So what do we get from a never-mind governance?  Nothing but promises and contradictions and more promises of an imagined paradise from its build-and-build  program. But, nothing has been built so far except those friendly Chinese military structures in the country’s Scarborough Shoals and the “eco-friendly” resort hotel  in the midst of the diminishing  forest of Boracay island. Of course in the pipeline is the Chinese Galaxy mega $500M Casino Resort Hotel that can accommodate accordingly 5000 guests at any given time which is to rise in a 26-ha island property in 2019. 

Never mind if the island is ordered closed to undergo massive rehabilitation because it already smells shit, its carrying capacity having been broached long time ago.

With the clear and imminent danger in West Philippine Sea, the worsening economy driven to the drain by the out-of-control rampaging anti-poor TRAIN, and the unsettling political atmosphere, the country is  in bad form, to say the least. But the President is not worried nor is afraid because he had solicited and accordingly got the support and assurance of bosom friend Xin Jianping that he remains in place and that China will never invade the Philippines, as if it has not done it yet.

The future is bleak. It has never been bright anyway, said some. But if our primus leader continues to waggle in the dark and is continuously egged by his millions of blind followers to push through the darkness, how far and how long can we see the glint of hope? 

Ang sabi-sabi sa kalye, my apologies to the UP baby boomer activists for the liberty:

“Kong walang kikibo, sinong kikibo.

Kong walang kikilos sinong kikilos.

Makibaka, huwag UMASA!’

One Year After: Never Again

Reportedly six proposed master plans for the reconstruction of the ravaged city of Marawi with cost estimates ranging from P 30 - 80B, had been on the table for government to choose from, as early as  December 2017, or some two months  after the conclusion of the conflict.

 Six months later, it seems the government has yet to make a choice or has to come up with another plan. Meanwhile, the 350000 displaced residents are accommodated in temporary shelters and evacuation centers exposed to the elements and at the mercy of the vagaries of the weather. Those who were not accommodated by the quick-response projects had no other option but to seek refuge in the kindness of relatives in neighboring communities while waiting for their dwellings  in ground zero and periphery to be liveable again. 

In any case, the exceeded carrying capacity of these temporary measures may spawn, if not yet already, a lot of troubles along sanitation, health, and relationship. The elderly and the infirm, the nursing mothers and their young will be the first to buckle down from poor sanitation and hygiene, inadequate food supplies, water and medicines.

In fairness though, the rebuilding of the city cannot take off until the rubbles are cleared and the hundreds of unexploded bombs that were dropped from the air are recovered from their sink holes. It’s still a long wait,  but in situations like this, safety is the best policy.

How to avoid what happened in Marawi, the decision and strategies that caused it, is something the government should seriously review in the meantime that the clearing and bomb retrieval is still in progress. Congress, both the Senate and the House, is duty-bound to conduct an investigation on the matter. It ought to eschew politics and leave no stone unturned in finding why the fighting to hunt and terminate 100- 500 terrorists (the figure kept on changing during the battle) turned into a war effort that took 153 days to complete and had effectively and outrageously destroyed an entire city.

There are other  cities and urban centers in Mindanao  that are vulnerable to terrorist incursions and propaganda efforts. The Marawi tragedy should be avoided: it should not repeat.  The cost of the war in terms of lives, human suffering and financial and material resources was staggering. If the cost in lives and consequent suffering of the populace is put in the equation, the decision in pursuing the war borders in insanity. It should not be allowed to happen again.

It is, of course, imperative for the government to preserve and promote peace. But any intervention  along this must be thoroughly calculated and put in the balance  to determine the overall cost, particularly in lives and human suffering. Here enters the thorough assessment of the political and  military strategies to employ in pursuit of  war objectives. Without this exercise, a war on terror may become unnecessarily destructive like hitting with a hammer  a scorpion on the head of a person: you crush the scorpion as well as the head of the person you wish to protect from the deadly  arachnid. That is what happened to the Islamic City of Marawi.

The Maute-ISIS  terrorists evidently lost the battles but might have won the war in portraying the government as a giant terrorist in the eyes of the Meranaw, especially in the young.

This should not be allowed to happen once more.

Never again.

The Falling Ax in the Mind

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno of the judiciary department of the Republic was axed, Out.

 Is the President that scared that the ax may next fall on him that he has to secure the assurance and support of Communist China’s  president Xi Jinping?

 But who is really after the President’s head? Is there a group with enough power and capacity to do it?

However he talks, there’s no denying that PRRD is an accomplished strategist. He has packed Congress with his lapping dogs. The Supreme Court has started wagging its tail, too. He has secured the loyalty of the armed security forces of the State by raising their salaries and other emoluments heaven high beyond  anybody’s expectation.

Meanwhile, the political opposition looks emaciated and has  not shown any meaningful activity to prove its worth. Indeed, it’s rightly called yellow. The Bangsamoro rebels have been quieted by an assurance of self-rule via federalism. The NPA can only afford a mosquito-like disturbance here and there.

The CIA won’t dare any external adventure to remove him with his good-vibes Trump around. Unless, of course, the intervention will greatly advance  the interest of the USA. It will not under present circumstances when China is flexing its muscles in West Philippine Sea.

 The  International Criminal Court (ICC)  can’t even step a foot in Philippine soil to conduct on-site investigation on EJK; the minion of trolls will surely chase its investigators  away.

 There is nothing around to fear then. So what is the Time’s strongman afraid of? 

 Nothing but fear itself, the fear  in his mind – the fear of fear.

And this is the worst kind of fear, the fear without shape or form, with no material existence. This fear is a malevolent ghost, the resident evil in the mind. This fear becomes pain that turns a strongman into a weakling. The only way to overcome this worst enemy is to take Fentanyl and be in cloud nine as he once claimed (joke or no joke).

Of course, to quell the disquieting backlash,   the assurance of friend Xi about Tay Digong's continuous stay in the Palace by the murky Pasig may soon be declared as a joke.

Declaring an unthinkable as a joke has been proven by the regime as the best way out of a quagmire.

But mind you, he that started the joke that started the whole world crying would soon find that the joke would be on him. Here’s the Bee Gees to be exact:

I started a joke which started the whole world crying
But I didn't see that the joke was on me oh no
I started to cry which started the whole world laughing
Oh If I'd only seen that the joke was on me

I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me

I looked at the skies running my hands over my eyes
And I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said
'Till I finally died which started the whole world living
Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me
Oh no that the joke was on me

A Coup d'etat in May

May 11, 2018 will go down in history as a day of infamy in the country’s judiciary.

 On this day, the Supreme Court decided 8-6 to remove its own Chief Justice on a quo warranto petition filed by the Solicitor General of the government of the Republic of the Philippines.

We may recall that 9 out of the 14 sitting justices of the Supreme Court joined last March the detractors of CJ Sereno in demanding her resignation. Thus, in deciding on 11 May 2018, to remove the Chief Magistrate from her post, the SC cannot be said to be impartial and objective, a basic requirement in dispensing justice.          

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A judge should not only be presumed independent, impartial and objective to decide on a case but in actual behavior must be, so as not to derail due process. If from the start the majority of the justices were already after her removal by resignation, and the quo warranto petition before them was about her removal, too, then their independence, impartiality and objectivity were tainted if not compromised. This notwithstanding, they tried and decided to remove her. Due process was, thus,  blatantly trampled upon by the very authority that is supposed to protect and uphold it. It was a historic miscarriage of justice.

                                                  

The said justices could have volunteered to inhibit themselves so that the integrity of the court could not be held suspect.   Considering the power politic preceding the event, it should have been the best thing to do.

It is everybody’s knowledge that the President was mad at the Chief Magistrate when she insinuated that the Palace was behind  SG Calida’s filing of the quo warranto petition against her. The  furious President  thereupon declared  war  on the Chief Magistrate and vowed to take steps to remove her .

PRRD minced no words in expressing his anger sayings: “Ikaw Sereno, sinabi ko na sa ‘yo hindi ako nakialam (I’m telling you, Sereno, that I didn’t meddle). If you are insisting, then count me in. Count me in and I will egg Calida to do his best. Ako na mismo ang maglakad, [ka]kalaban sa’yo (I will be the one to do it, I’ll fight you,)”

What was really the beef of the President with Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno?

We may be reminded that during the witch hunting that accompanied the bloody  campaign against illegal drugs, the President pinpointed  some judges implicated in the commerce of illegal drugs.

CJ Sereno was quick to react and declared, in behalf of the Supreme Court, that the Court is independent from the other branches of government and ought to be left alone, following its procedures, in determining the guilt or innocence of any accused judges. This belligerent stand in an attempt to protect the independence of the judiciary infuriated the ball-wrecking CEO of the land and everything went downhill thereafter.

The battles were waged and raged in all fronts. The impeachment proceeding against the Chief Justice was initiated thereupon. Before it can be completed, the Solicitor General  filled the quo warranto petition against her. Along the way, some group within and outside the court worked to force her resignation.

                                 

Valid or not the grounds for her impeachment, her accusers can proceed in pursuing it because it is the constitutional remedy to remove her from office. The Impeachment Court decides her guilt or innocence. The quo warranto proceeding, other hand, came in like a coup initiated by the Executive Department. It’s foul, a blow below the belt, a no - no in a constitutional democracy. It’s violative of the fundamental law of the land.

Come to think also of it, the Solicitor General, who is under the command of the President, is the principal law officer and legal defender of the Republic of the Philippines. His primary duty is to represent the government, its agencies and instrumentalities, its officials and agents in any litigation, proceeding and investigation before the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals.

Why then would the legal defender of the government launch the offensive of filing a petition to remove the government’s very own Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

Whatever, the President got what he wanted; his archenemy was booted out from the highest justice tribunal of the land.

The Supreme Court will never be the same again.

Reforming SK

The  Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) election which is supposed to be held every 3 years since December 4, 1992, was last held on  May 9, 2010. The succeeding elections were postponed several times and were never held on the appointed dates until Monday, 14 May 2018.

Among others, the several postponements were apparently made by lawmakers to develop corrective counter measures to observations that the SK failed as a training ground for future leaders but has become instead a breeding ground for political dynasty and corrupt politicians.

Consider this. The youth in many communities were observed to disappear in the eve of SK  elections. The young voters were herded by politicians or their leaders into resorts and other secluded areas, and were fed, wined and given allowances to secure their votes for the candidates of the  politicians’  choice, often their kids or close of kin.

Moreover, the SKs developed a poor reputation. A 2007 study by UNICEF and the Department of Interior and Local Government reported that  “The SK’s performance for the past ten years has been generally weak. This is especially true in terms of coming up with legislations, promoting the development of young people, submitting reports and holding consultations with their constituents.” It goes without saying that the 10 percent of Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) from barangay funds set aside for SK activities were not meaningfully spent or were used instead by the barangay government for other purposes.

After legislating to postpone the SK elections three or four times, Congress finally passed the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Law (RA No.14742) on January 15, 2016. The law addresses the issues that had hounded the SK, particularly of its becoming a breeding ground for corrupt political dynasty and the ineptness of the youth council to manage the affairs and concerns for young people. The law changed the age of council members from 15 -17 to 18 -30 years old and forbids individuals from seeking an SK post who are related to any incumbent elected official, either local or national, to within the second degree of consanguinity (blood relations- covering siblings and grandparents-grandchildren). RA 14742 is the first Philippine law with an anti-political dynasty restriction for elected positions, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.

The SK  functions much like the barangay council, albeit focusing on everything that’s related to the barangay’s youth or members of the Katipunan ng mga Kabataan [KK], barangay residents aged 18-30. Under the SK Reform law, elected SK members are required to go through training programs before they can assume office. SK officials are also allowed to sign government contracts, which presupposes this time their capacity to use responsibly funds allotted to them.

 How the law improves the performance and the image of SKs is something to watch within three years.

 Suffice it to say that the anti-political dynasty restriction in the SK election may only work if COMELEC is serious and truly diligent in examining the bloodline of each candidate on the possibility of being related to any incumbent elected official in the government. But on this Monday elections, was the COMELEC prepared for the demanding task when the filling for candidacy was so close to election day?  Failure to do the bloodline examination may force the body to yield to a messy post-election remedy, that is, to petitions for disqualifications from defeated candidates. Expect quo warranto cases to rise later in more informed and capable urban areas.

On the other hand, raising the SK age qualification to 18-24 is premised on the assumption that the individual in this age range, already in the age of majority, is now mature and responsible enough to make public-affecting decisions. Thus elected SK officials can now enter into contract in the exercise of their functions. This new capacity is expected to improve performance and advance the interest of the young people of the community.

While this development is promising, it makes SK officials vulnerable to corrupt practices. Contracting for government projects are a rich avenue of corruption. This exposure will make or unmake SK officials.  This hands-on training in management  may deliver either a good or a corrupt leader.