Category: aquino admin

July 12, 2016 was a very good day! #PNoy

Aminin na natin. It took chutzpah, audacity, what President Benigno Aquino III did in January 2013 when the Philippines instituted arbitral proceedings against China some months after da agawan sa Scarborough Shoal. Other presidents, from FVR to ERAP, GMA and RRD, were too careful to not antagonize China kahit anong kabastusan at kabulastugan nito sa karagatan nating pilit nitong inaangkin; or maybe they thought na madadaan pa ang Tsina sa magandang usapan LOL. No surprise then that PNoy’s closest advisers were divided on the matter, for and against arbitration court.  Read former SC Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio‘s first-hand account. Very interesting and impressive how PNoy simply stuck to his guns despite all underhanded attempts to stop him. Good good job!

AQUINO AND THE ARBITRATION AGAINST CHINA 
By Antonio T. Carpio
July 1, 2021

One of the enduring legacies of President Benigno Aquino III is the Philippines’ landmark victory against China in the South China Sea Arbitration. It took courage and wisdom to sue China, an economic giant and a nuclear-armed superpower. President Aquino made the difficult decision even as his closest advisers were bitterly divided, with one faction against the arbitration and the other in favor of the arbitration.

These two factions fought from the beginning to the end. After consulting with Law of the Sea expert Paul Reichler and his team, then Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario submitted to Malacañang his Memorandum to President Aquino recommending favorably the filing of the arbitration case against China. Unfortunately, his Memorandum was rewritten in Malacañang, making it appear that he was against the filing of the arbitration case. Secretary del Rosario swiftly found a way to give to President Aquino his original recommendation. President Aquino then convened a meeting of national leaders who, except for one, all voted to file the arbitration case.

When Paul Reichler recommended the amendment of our Statement of Claim to include the status of Itu Aba as one of the issues to be resolved by the arbitral tribunal, the two factions fought again. Secretary del Rosario arranged for Paul Reichler and his team to meet President Aquino in Malacañang so our lawyers could explain to the President the need to amend our Statement of Claim. Paul Reichler and his team waited for four hours in Malacañang for President Aquino, only to be told by then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. that the President could not meet them. Instead, Ochoa informed them that the instruction of the President was not to amend our Statement of Claim. Over dinner that evening, I asked Paul Reicher what he would do, and he replied he would discuss the status of Itu Aba in the Memorial without including it as an issue to be resolved by the tribunal.

When Paul Reichler submitted his draft Memorial to the Office of the President for approval, the two factions fought again. One faction wanted the 15 paragraphs in the Memorial explaining the status of Itu Aba to be deleted, while Secretary del Rosario insisted on the retention of the 15 paragraphs. I met with then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and explained to her why the 15 paragraphs should be retained. I gave her a two-page brief on the matter to give to President Aquino, which she did. When President Aquino called the two factions to a meeting, he announced his decision — the 15 paragraphs would remain in the Memorial.

Incidentally, when journalist Marites Vitug interviewed President Aquino in 2017 for her book “Rock Solid,” she asked the President why he did not meet with Paul Reichler and his team. The President replied, in the presence of Secretary del Rosario, that nobody told him that Paul Reichler and his team were in Malacañang to see him.

Finally, for the last hearing at The Hague in November 2015, Secretary del Rosario as usual submitted to Malacañang the list of names of officials who would form the Philippine delegation. The list included my name as observer, but when the approval came out my name was deleted. Secretary del Rosario wrote back that if I would not be included he would not be joining the delegation. Malacañang reinstated my name.

When I arrived at The Hague, I found Paul Reichler and his team terribly upset. Solicitor General Florin Hilbay had earlier emailed them not to answer the questions of the arbitral tribunal on Itu Aba, questions that were previously emailed by the tribunal to our lawyers. At the meeting with our lawyers the evening before the first day of the hearing, I explained that in the Supreme Court, if lawyers refused to answer questions of the Court during oral arguments, that would be taken very strongly against them and they would likely lose their cases. Thankfully, Solgen Hilbay did not argue with me anymore and Paul Reichler and his team took that as a green light to answer all the questions of the tribunal.

The nation is eternally grateful to President Aquino for bravely filing the arbitration case and for steadfastly pursuing the straight and principled path until final victory.

acarpio@inquirer.com.ph

 

 

 

Marcos Is Already Undercutting The Philippines’ Economic Future

WILLIAM PESEK
Forbes.com
Sep 27 2022

History just doesn’t seem to be Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s thing.

The most obvious example is how his administration, just 88 days in, is trying to whitewash his father’s disastrous 20-year reign that ended in 1986 amid a massive “people power” revolt. Now, though, Marcos is angling to rewrite far more recent history concerning his troubled economy.

In a September 23 interview with the Associated Press, Marcos said he wants to “reintroduce the Philippines” to the world and raise Manila’s profile on the international stage. The reaction from many global investors: Huh?!

Whether it be delusion or not, Marcos is glossing over how former President Benigno Aquino III already achieved that. During his 2010 to 2016 tenure, Aquino didn’t just say over and over that the one-time “sick man of Asia” is “open for business.” He proved it in ways that scored Manila’s first-ever investment grade credit ratings. READ ON…

sereno and the supremes, pNoy and dengvaxia

whew, what a week, and it’s only wednesday.

on tuesday came the oral arguments sa supreme court on the quo warranto case vs cj sereno (tuesday) that certainly had the makings of a drawn-out catfight between associate justice teresita de castro and the embattled CJ, but cooler heads prevailed, shucks.  seriously though, i pray that similar cool prevails when the time comes to rule on the quo warranto.

no matter what the solgen-who-has-never-lost-a-case says, it is not for the supremes to kick out the chief: it would be so unethical, it would be disgraceful, it would be unjust, and it would be undignified, to be so obviously pandering to self- and vested interests: there would be nowhere (for the justice system) to go but down.  the only way the supremes can come out of this smelling like roses would be if if they were gracious enough to give sereno her day in court, the senate impeachment court.

the very next day, wednesday, nambulaga naman si senator dick gordon with the blue ribbon committee’s final report on the dengvaxia mess that finds pNoy,  ex-dbm sec butch abad, and ex-doh sec janet garin guilty of malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance  …

Malfeasance is an affirmative act that is illegal or wrongful. In tort law it is distinct from misfeasance, which is an act that is not illegal but is improperly performed. It is also distinct from Nonfeasance, which is a failure to act that results in injury.

nakakaloka.  in other words

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee, in its report, found that the Dengvaxia program was implemented with “undue haste” by Aquino, former Health Secretary Janette Garin, and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

“Aquino, Garin, Abad and other officials are primary conspirators and must be held criminally liable… and must be prosecuted for all the tragedy, damage and possible deaths resulting from the Dengvaxia mass vaccination program,” Gordon said in a press conference.

parang kinakarma nang todo si pNoy.  malinaw by now that it was a very bad idea appointing such a young chief justice.  malinaw din na it was a very bad idea rushing the dengvaxia purchase and mass vaccination.

hard not to wonder why such mistakes were made in the first place, mistakes that could have been avoided.  one theory is that they were so sure mar roxas would be pNoy’s successor, as in, six more years, and sereno and the supremes would have had their backs?  well, karma’s a bitch, someone tell the duterte admin.

#kidapawan

just posted this on my facebook wall:

‪#‎kidapawan‬ reminds me of ‪#‎yolanda‬ when people were seen wandering the streets, having walked all the way from their homes in far barangays, in shock, hungry, thirsty, looking for food and water in the city to bring back to their families, but getting no relief, from government anyway, because, sabi ni sec almendras on tv, hindi malinaw kung sino sa mga yan ang taga-tacloban talaga at hindi.  so they wanted to give relief goods through the barangays where official residents are registered.  imagine. denying immediate relief, kahit tubig at biskwit man lang.  if NGOs and civil society orgs had not come to the rescue, meron din sigurong mga namatay na lang sa gutom at uhaw at shock.  sa #kidapawan ganoon din ang excuse ng palace spin artists, ibig idaan sa proseso kuno ang pagbibigay-tulong sa mga nasasalanta.  at nung ayaw magsialis ang mga magsasakang nagugutom, pinagbabaril.  imagine.  what kind of policemen are these who willfully shoot at unarmed civilians?  and where is the president in all this?  he should have ordered the PNP to stand down (as he did in mamasapano?), even to escort the farmers to the nearest rice warehouse and to keep order while waiting for dinky soliman to oversee the distribution of rice.  i would call it the EDSA way.  and COA would not dare, would not think to, question it.