Category Archives: Columns

MANILA, Philippines—The barangay (village) polls on Monday, Oct. 25 (declared a non-working national holiday) will be conducted manually. No PCOS machines. No pre-printed ballots. No ultra violet security marks. No Source Code. No SysTest Labs. No compact flash (CF) cards. No five-hour queues. No random manual audit. No automated glitches and hitches. Just plain, old-fashioned manual election. Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines—For over a century, “jueteng” has been a national scourge. Though outlawed and criminalized by our lawmakers since 1930 when the Revised Penal Code (RPC) was enacted, and before that, from 1886 to 1930 when the Spanish Penal Code was still in effect in our country, jueteng persists to this day. Continue reading →

IF THERE is one issue in which the hierarchical Church is solidly united, and in which all our Catholic bishops are unanimous in upholding and defending, it is the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, which together compliments the sanctity of the family. This explains why the Church passionately opposes the Reproductive Health Bill and the divorce bill pending in Congress, and why it is extra sensitive to President Noynoy Aquino’s pronouncements on these sanctities. Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines—Media’s deafening howl over the Supreme Court’s decision (Lumanog vs. People, Sept. 7, 2010) convicting—via a vote of 10-4 with one abstention—the so-called “Abadilla 5” for the 1996 murder of Col. Rolando N. Abadilla echoed a lot of questions. To answer them systematically, I will lay down some basics of criminal law. Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines—I am glad that President Benigno Aquino is open to the Supreme Court’s proposal to increase the judiciary’s budget. Indeed, he could kick off his campaign promise of judicial reforms with an increase in the judiciary’s appropriation. At the very least, he could give the judiciary a proportionate share in the overall budget increases for the year 2011. Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines–Sen. Joker Arroyo lamented that it may take “200 years” to finish the Ampatuan multiple murder case. Noting that there are “200 defendants and 300 witnesses,” Arroyo may have used a hyperbole but indeed reprised the recurring problem of delay in the delivery of quality justice. Continue reading →

SOME OF us retirees from the judiciary were mulling how we could help revive or regain public esteem for the Supreme Court we all love. While occasional criticism is healthy in a democracy and while the Court itself allows, nay, encourages, its members to critique its decisions via dissenting opinions, the whole Court must enjoy residual credibility at all times. Indeed, there is a difference between the shifting winds of public emotion and long-term trust in the institution. Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines—Apart from creating the Ethics Committee that will preliminarily investigate “all complaints involving graft and corruption and violations of ethical standards, including anonymous complaints, filed against members of the Court,” which I discussed in past columns, the Supreme Court unveiled other secrets in its recently issued Internal Rules. I see this self-imposed demystification as the Court’s partial answer to the growing demand for more transparency and accountability. Continue reading →

MAY SUPREME Court justices police their own ranks? Isn’t it awkward, if not legally baseless, for the justices to discipline their own? So readers asked, in reaction to my column two weeks ago on the complaint for plagiarism raised by the Malaya Lolas Organization in the Court. If not they, who will? Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines—The stirring testimonial of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima toasting Chief Justice Renato C. Corona during the latter’s induction as chair of the Philippine Chapter of the Asean Law Association a few days ago was easily the most applauded among the many speeches that evening. Saying that Corona “is not someone who bears the company of only those who agree with him,” De Lima thawed the heretofore icy relations between Malacañang and the Supreme Court. Continue reading →