Category: 2010

christmas 2010

if memory serves, not since the erap impeachment trial of 2000 has the holiday season been as politically charged as this one.   the acquittal of hubert webb et al continues to be front page news, with former nbi directors exchanging barbs and brickbats.   the dissing of the truth commission is still a sore point among the anti-gma.   the release of senator antonio trillanes et al and of ex-general carlos garcia on the right, and of the morong 43 (38?) on the left, have raised temperatures anew among ideologues, hard and soft, die-hards and half-bakeds.   and what about the conyo catfight on twitter between carlos celdran and james cordova over COMMUNISM, the big bad word, no less, what fun!   waiting with not bated breath for the tibaks to not weigh in, why not nga ba, ever (joma, are you there)?  

on the lighter babaw side the absence of twink macaraig from the brew for two consecutive episodes even if she’s been seen anchoring the news until yesterday has raised eyebrows, wazzup wazzup?   was it esposo’s philstar column berating her for “recklessly speculating” about the consequences for alfaro etc., or was it her remarks on the brew re tv patrol being too showbizzy , or whoa could it be that something she said about krissyleaky?   reminds me of an fb status that asked whether a news anchor loses some credibility when she also dishes out personal opinions on a sosyal venue like the brew.   or something like that.   sayang, di ko na mahanap, valid question it is.   but wait, carlosceldran just twitted that twink will be back next week, abangan, baka naman nagshopping nga lang.   meanwhile, truce muna.   merry christmas muna to one and all ;))

juana change calls out edwin lacierda

via Harvey Keh

Dear Atty. Edwin,

Tumaya at nangampanya ako para kay P-Noy! Pero aaminin kong meron akong interes na gustong isulong sa pagvo-volunteer sa kanya-ang makakita ng tunay na pagbabago sa gobyernong papalit kay GMA na kinasuklaman ko ng over. ‘Di na dapat maulit!

Ngayon panalo na si P-noy at boksingan na para sa mga posisyon. Kaya nga ako tumaya para may karapatan akong magsalita at tungkuling magbantay! Kahit na anong galing at kahit gaano kakailangan ni P-Noy ang serbisyo ng mga pinakamalalapit na kaibigan, kaklase o pamilya, dapat sila na mismo ang magparaya para makapasok ang mga sariwang mukha ng pagbaBAGO! Bagong dugong may kaalaman, eksperyensya at integridad. Sa pag-ikot ko, nakasalamuha ko ang napakaraming Pilipinong marangal at handang maglingkod kaso ‘di mga makakapal ang mukhang makipagbrasuhan sa posisyon.

Sa interview sa akin ng GMA tungkol dito ay iniwasan kong magbigay ng mga pangalan. Pero nasa isip ko na nuon ang mga Abad, Montelibano, at Juico.

Imbes ay pinili kong magpangalan sa isang artikulo ni Joy Aceron sa Facebook kung saan binanggit ko ang pangalan ng mga Abad dahil sila ay derechong makakabasa ng comment ko. Hindi ako kailanman nagalit sa mga Abad! Sinabi ko doon na sana ‘di naman mga pamil­ya ang nasa gobyerno gaano pa man sila kagagaling at kakailangan. Pwede din silang tumanggi!

Nakupo! Pinutakti na ako ng pangungutya ng mga tao ni P-Noy sa Facebook sa pangunguna ni Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. Bakit daw galit ako sa mga Abad? Gusto daw nyang marinig ang punto ko pero ang pinakamatinong maibibigay nyang comment sa akin ay naiinggit lang daw ako! Sinabi ng writer ng presidente na masahol pa daw ako sa mga trapong kinasusuklaman ko! At sabi naman ng taga new media na mahusay mag inggles na ako daw ay isang weasel. Pinagtanong ko pa ang ibig sabihin ng weasel dahil ang alam ko lang ay hayop yun! Tinatawag palang weasel ang taong tumitira ng patalikod!

Pinagtatanggol lang daw ni Lacierda ang kanyang kaibigan. Usapin ito ng mga prinsipyo para sa tunay na pagbabago! Hindi ito kampihan!

Dahil sa aking pagsasalita, nagalit ang mga tao ni P-Noy sa akin. Ito ba ang uri ng mga taong nakapaligid sa kanya? ‘Di makuha ang isyung pinag-uusapan? At nagkakampihan?

Kami sa Pinoy Power ang humingingmakipag-usap sa kanila kung saan si Lacierda ay tahasang tumanggi! ‘Di na daw kailangang makipag-kape! Ganun? Kasi volunteer lang ako? Kasi sila naman ang nasa pwesto? Kasi takot siyang humarap dahil nagkamali sya sa banat nya sa akin ng patalikod? Dahil ‘di sya dapat bumitaw ng ganung mapagparatang na salita dahil spokesperson sya ni P-Noy? Walang b____? Gusto kong malaman!

Sa proclamation nag-abot ang aming mga tingin. Inabot ko ang aking kamay sa kanya at sabi ko, “Edwin magkape tayo.” Pautal syang umoo sa akin.

Tagapagsalita ka ng pangulo ng Pilipinas. Ako nagpaparating ng sentimyento ng taumbayan. Bakit ka galit sa akin?

Ganunpaman, ang anumang gusot ay dapat na napag-uusapan. Kaya ko yun Edwin. Dapat kaya mo rin! Kaya mo ba? Usap tayo!

Para sa bayan at mamamayan,

Mae Paner aka Juana Change

noynoy vs. the supremes

CONSTITUTIONALIST Joaquin Bernas on Wednesday urged president-apparent Benigno Aquino III to set aside his opposition to the appointment of Chief Justice Renato Corona as a way of avoiding a constitutional crisis.

but a constitutional crisis is already upon us, thanks to the supreme court decision exempting the judiciary from the ban on midnight appointments by outgoing prez gma.   in effect the supremes practically, unilaterally, amended the consitution to accommodate the padrina to whom they owe their appointments.   associate justice conchita carpio morales stands tall as the lone supreme dissenter, mabuhay siya!   excerpts from her dissenting opinion, including transcripts of concom deliberations, via elmot @ pinoysoundingboard.com:

The clear intent of the framers is …  for the ban on midnight appointments to apply to the judiciary.

Taking into account how the framers painstakingly rummaged through various sections of the Constitution and came up with only one exception with the need to specify the executive department, it insults the collective intelligence and diligence of the ConCom to postulate that it intended to exclude the judiciary but missed out on that one.

To hold that the ban on midnight appointments applies only to executive positions, and not to vacancies in the judiciary and independent constitutional bodies, is to make the prohibition practically useless. It bears noting that Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution already allows the President, by way of exception, to make temporary appointments in the Executive Department during the prohibited period. Under this view, there is virtually no restriction on the President’s power of appointment during the prohibited period.

The general rule is clear since the prohibition applies to ALL kinds of midnight appointments. The Constitution made no distinction. Ubi lex non distinguit nec nos distinguere debemos.

What complicates the ponencia is its great preoccupation with Section 15 of Article VII, particularly its fixation with sentences or phrases that are neither written nor referred to therein. Verba legis non est recedendum, index animi sermo est. There should be no departure from the words of the statute, for speech is the index of intention.

It is ironic for the ponencia to state on the one hand that the President would be deprived of ample time to reflect on the qualifications of the nominees, and to show on the other hand that the President has, in recent history, filled the vacancy in the position of Chief Justice in one or two days.

It is ironic for the ponencia to recognize that the President may need as much as 90 days of reflection in appointing a member of the Court, and yet abhor the idea of an acting Chief Justice in the interregnum as provided for by law,[21][21] confirmed by tradition,[22][22] and settled by jurisprudence[23][23] to be an internal matter.

The express allowance of a 90-day period of vacancy rebuts any policy argument on the necessity to avoid a vacuum of even a single day in the position of an appointed Chief Justice.

As a member of the Court, I strongly take exception to the ponencia’s implication that the Court cannot function without a sitting Chief Justice.

To begin with, judicial power is vested in one Supreme Court[24][24] and not in its individual members, much less in the Chief Justice alone. Notably, after Chief Justice Puno retires, the Court will have 14 members left, which is more than sufficient to constitute a quorum.

The fundamental principle in the system of laws recognizes that there is only one Supreme Court from whose decisions all other courts are required to take their bearings. While most of the Court’s work is performed by its three divisions, the Court remains one court — single, unitary, complete and supreme. Flowing from this is the fact that, while individual justices may dissent or only partially concur, when the Court states what the law is, it speaks with only one voice.[25][25]

The Court, as a collegial body, operates on a “one member, one vote” basis, whether it sits en banc or in divisions. The competence, probity and independence of the Court en banc, or those of the Court’s Division to which the Chief Justice belongs, have never depended on whether the member voting as Chief Justice is merely an acting Chief Justice or a duly appointed one.

IN LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, I vote to hold, for the guidance of the Judicial and Bar Coucil, that the incumbent President is constitutionally proscribed from appointing the successor of Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno upon his retirement on May 17, 2010 until the ban ends at 12:00 noon of June 30, 2010.

CONCHITA CARPIO MORALES
Associate Justice

read too legal maverick alan paguia‘s take on the corona appointment (INVALID) and abe n. margallo‘s take on the supremes (FALLIBLE).

and here’s rene saguisag, who never fails to enlighten:

I decided to resist Martial Law from Day One. Not many others did because the Good Filipinos, like the Good Germans, would salute anything calling itself as law printed at public expense. Today we again hear from Good Filipinos: follow whatever government says even if the Supreme Court (SC) rules that the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) may be ignored altogether.

Chief Justice (CJ) Davide and CJ Puno were both told by GMA that she did not like the JBC lists and asked them to submit another. Neither remonstrated to protect the body’s independence. Pray tell, how could an economist and a general as Little Prez know better than the JBC whose members are all lawyers?

We hear today, be prudent, just continue multiplying like rabbits. This was probably what our leaders were telling our people in the face of Spanish, British, American, Japanese, and native oppressors. The poor protested in 2001. Rene Corona, as GMA adviser, reportedly called them “mga walang ngipin, walang salawal, atbp.” May they rely on him for justice in a society where the system reflects the biases of the ruling class? If he must stage a presscon, he should not do so in political combat but tell us what he intends to do, if he must speak at all other than in writing in an actual case. I was privileged to know his father, a very good man who lost his life the same my wife did, in a vehicular incident. I cannot believe his father would look down at the poor the way Rene reportedly did in 2001.

Today leaders in the community tell us to obey a CJ who even stages presscons, behaving like a taunting politician and doing what the unelected SC members do, issue circulars without any public hearings as is done by elected lawmakers. It used to be that law grew by precedents set in actual cases and we were told that future cases must be examined as to their facts because general propositions do not decide concrete cases. Now we drown in circulars such as one disrespecting an accused’s right not to speak by compelling him to appear in criminal pre-trials and stipulate.

Holmes said that even a dog would know the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked.We got kicked by the Spaniards, the British, Americans, and Japanese and when our own started to oppress us, we could not tell the difference anymore. Follow the rule of law, the natives were told, by the arrogant in power.

Seniority was one reason I said no to a signed SC appointment in 1986. I was 47 and so many qualified career people in their 50’s and 60’s were ahead in line, which did not stop modern and forward-looking lawyers Rene and Tony Carpio from bypassing so many others. They should have been taught by Ma’m Baby and Fr. BB of an earlier time to stand in line. We are watching whether Rene knows his right foot from his left given his very sad start in 2001. And Tony does not stage presscons to insult a political foe of GMA. At 62, Rene remains immature, from where I sit.
opinion@manilatimes.net

and so i agree with manolo quezon:

In the end what every administration has the right to expect, is to set the tone for its turn at the helm. This is why there have been so many innovations and departures from tradition in inaugurations. Thus putting in place a chief justice who soiled his own robes not only justifies, but almost makes mandatory, some sort of deviation from tradition. Whether a barangay captain or associate justice administers the presidential oath matters less than the next president’s right to demonstrate that ethics will be part of his core approach to the responsibilities of his office.

nothing wrong with breaking from tradition when tradition only serves to validate the illegal.   if i were the president-elect, i would ask associate justice conchita carpio-morales to swear me in.   she deserves the honor and place in history.

noynoy’s sisters 4 binay???

totoo kaya itong inside story ni emil jurado, kolumnista ng manilastandardtoday?

Admittedly, the biggest surprise in the election is Makati Mayor Jojo Binay, who is almost sure of becoming the next vice president. Binay is likely to beat Liberal Party vice presidential bet Senator Mar Roxas.

While poll surveys had shown the surge of Binay overtaking Mar Roxas during the last two weeks of the campaign, nobody, including myself, expected Binay to lead the actual vice presidential race.

So why Binay? I was told that during the last stretch of the campaign, the “three Stygian sisters,” (like those in the movie “Clash of the Titans”) told Noynoy supporters to campaign hard for Binay instead of Mar.

The “Stygian sisters” were not comfortable with Mar being a vice president. They knew deep in their hearts that Noynoy would be overshadowed by Mar. Roxas has all the credentials and qualifications we can hope for. He has achieved many things. You cannot say this about Noynoy.

Aside from this, I was told by LP insiders that the “Stygians sisters” were also uncomfortable with the Aranetas and their money. The Aranetas later stopped the funding, which led to a confrontation between the Noynoy and Mar strategists. The confrontation was so intense that party insiders feared a breakup between Noynoy and Mar.

Recall that Noynoy went to the extent of saying that he would share up to 80 percent of his powers with Mar if they are both elected. That statement was taken by many as reckless and irresponsible, made only to please Mar and his followers. The bottom line is that the presidency has the sole responsibility and accountability in his administration. The buck stops at the desk of the president.

In any case, when Senator Chiz Escudero announced his “Noy-Bi” preference, the “Stygian sisters” and Noynoy strategists went all-out for Binay, junking Mar Roxas. The result is now what we see in the election results with Binay ahead of Mar in the latest count.

so i googled “kris for binay?” and got this instead:

“I only have good feelings for Mayor Binay – but my  vote is for MAR,” nakasaad sa Twitter ni Kris.

hmm.   baka naman she meant jejoMAR!!!   LOL