Category: justice

mike’s defense

so what’s mike defensor up to, dredging up the rot of the nbn-zte-fg deal that saw (alleged fixer) ben abalos resign as comelec chief and the project stopped in its tracks.   natabunan na nga ng walang katapusang iba’t ibang atraso at iskandalo ng arroyo govt, dapat ay nagsasaya na lang si mike, jun lozada’s camp was rather quiet, tila lusot na ang mag-asawang arroyo — thanks to romy neri, let’s not forget — at tila okey na lang sa bayan na hintayin ang 2010, malapit na naman, after all.   goodbye gloria, no immunity from suit.

so why?   i don’t buy mike’s spin that it’s just a perjury issue, nothing political daw, he just wants to clear his name.   josko.   eh walang kalatoylatoy ang inihain niyang kaso.

In his complaint for perjury, Defensor said Lozada had given conflicting versions of their conversation:

“Mr. Lozada’s testimony before the Senate significantly deviated from what he gave before the Court of Appeals. In the Senate, he stated that I asked him to deny that he was kidnapped; in the [appellate court] however, he said I asked him to deny any knowledge about the NBN-ZTE deal.

“The statement of Mr. Lozada before the Senate and the appellate court are clearly contradictory and cannot be reconciled. After validating the completeness of my story before the Senate, Mr. Lozada cannot thereafter change its tenor in the court hearing without being held liable for perjury.”

But on Nov. 14, 2008, Judge Jorge Emmanuel Lorredo of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) Branch 26 found no inconsistency on Lozada’s part and dismissed Defensor’s complaint.

In his ruling, Lorredo said: “In the second and third statements [at the Court of Appeals], Lozada was given the impression that if he does not stop, there will be a demolition job against him.

“The Court notes that even in [his Senate testimony], Mike Defensor also said ‘Tapusin na natin ‘to.’ To the Court, that shows the intention of Mike Defensor to put an end to all these things about the ZTE deal …”

well, mike is so lakas, a manila regional trial court obligingly reversed the decision.

Manila RTC Branch 11 Presiding Judge Cicero Jurado Jr. reversed Lorredo’s decision on March 19, upon Defensor’s appeal through his counsel, the Fortun Narvasa lawfirm.

Jurado said the MTC went “a notch above” the requirement for determining probable cause and seemed to have already rendered a verdict without conducting a trial when it concluded that an element of the offense was absent.

He said the question at hand was whether there was evidence showing that a crime had more likely been committed and the accused should be placed under custody.

it is quite conceivable to me that in that conversation between mike and jun, a lot more was said, including both statements mike takes issue with.    and neither is illogical in the context of the other, so what’s the fuss?

obviously naghanap lang ng dahilan to get lozada out of the hands of the religious / civil society and into the hands of the judiciary, where the arroyo admin has some influence (from the lowest to the highest courts) as we can see.   and, really, it has to be connected with jun lozada being urged to run for the senate in 2010.   may panalo kasi (inggit si mike), so the idea is to neutralize him early, let him run from jail, let him serve from jail?    trillanes shows the way?

if mike really wants to clear his name for the sake of his children, it’s simple: withdraw his support from the arroyo administration.   fat chance, yes, but that would wipe the slate clean.

screwed by manangs

read ricky carandang’s screwed and manuel buencamino’s “manangs” acquit a rapist.   my sentiments exactly.   what a huge setback for the women’s fight against sexist politics.   biglang we’re back to the dark ages when women were seen as sex objects incapable of saying no except when playing hard-to-get for extra favors.   biglang we’re back to the old biases and stereotypes, among them that girls who don’t behave with strict decorum, who dress to look ‘n feel good, who drink alcohol, dance dirty, flirt mightily in public, who just wanna have fun, are asking for rape.   wtf.   where are these women justices coming from?  opus dei?   catholic women’s league?  what books are they reading?   mills & boon?   barbara cartland?

read too rina jimenez-david who calls them “maiden aunts” and patricia evangelista who calls them “virtuous ladies”.   which set me wondering, teka, baka naman mga old maid nga ang “learned ladies” na ito of the court of appeals, and so maybe they don’t know any better about men and sex and rape, and quite possibly they’ve never been drunk in their lives?   so i googled them all, only to find that all three are wives and mothers, and maybe grandmothers, wow, good luck na lang sa karma.

both justice monina arevalo zenarosa and justice myrna dimaranan vidal were born in 1939.   zenarosa took up law in ust and feu, vidal in feu.  both are turning 70 and retiring this year.    hmm, formative years right smack during the japanese occupation and the liberation.   general douglas macarthur must be one of their icons.

justice remedios salazar fernando is a different story.   born in 1953, studied law in ateneo, so far she has been quite popular with post-EDSA administrations and has been having quite a rising career.

She was named Chairman of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in July 1987 where she concurrently held directorship posts at the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA)and the Office of Transport Cooperatives. In the latter part of 1991, she held the position of Officer-in-Charge/Assistant Secretary of the Land Transportation Office in a concurrent capacity.

In 1992, she was appointed Commissioner of the COMELEC. On May 21, 1999, she was appointed Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals, being one of the youngest to have been appointed to the position. She received several awards from both private and public sectors, such as Ten Outstanding Young Men given by the Jerry Roxas Foundation, Most Outstanding Capampangan, Woman of Distinction Award by the Soroptimist International, etc. When she retired from the COMELEC, she received an Award for Outstanding Service from the Senate of the Philippines.

i bet she has a moist eye on the supreme court.   i suppose this subic rape case decision is in aid of that?   how sad, specially for a baby boomer whose generation birthed the women’s movement for equal rights.

by the way, if you’re one of those who don’t feel competent to judge for themselves whether what smith did to nicole was rape or not because transcripts of the trial have not been released, so you’re willing to give the three  justices the benefit of the doubt, they must know what they’re talking about, you’re taking their word for it, smith is innocent, well you might want to make tambay sa subicrapecase website’s summary of  court proceedings.   it was rape.