Category: senate

midas marquez, cj sereno, and the senate

according to my facebook newsfeed, it is midas marquez, court administrator, who is leading the wear-red / sereno-resign campaign inside the supreme court.  check out this march 12 post by jovy acosta-nisperos:

Did you see a lot of people in red at the courts today?

Then you probably heard that Midas contacted courts all over the country telling them that he will visit them today, and that they should wear red for his visit. Deceptive, no? There was also innuendo that if they don’t wear red, they will lose their benefits under “the new Chief Justice.”

As court administrator of 2000 courts in charge of leaves, benefits and supplies, this Midas person is really using his position to bully judges. No wonder Sereno irks him, her decentralization reforms are really going to clip his wings.

And of course you know about the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) and some SC employees’ unions issuing statements calling for CJ Sereno’s resignation.

Well, did you know that there are a total of FIFTEEN – yep, FIFTEEN – employees’ associations in the judiciary? And that only four of them issued a resignation call? FOUR. And the boards of those four didn’t even get a vote from their members.

Did you also know that there are 1200 judges in the PJA but only 20 of them signed the PJA’s statement? It has reached a point where RTC judges are reaffirming their oath to uphold judicial independence and expressing disdain for those who try to curtail it. Have you seen that statement that RTC judges are using as their cover photo? Cool, huh?

Oh, but you have to read that post by Judge Lutero of RTC QC in PJA’s closed group. She gave them a piece of her mind. With judge-ly finesse, of course.

Wait, there’s more. MetCJAP, the association of MTC judges, has refused – with one solid voice – to join the fray. Just in case it wasn’t clear, the President of MetCJAP, Judge Leilani Grimares, changed her profile pic to one where she states her stand for judicial independence.

i remember midas, of course, when he was spokesman for the puno court, and then the corona court.  i especially remember that very gay shriek when a mic accidentally fell off the podium, lol.  i didn’t realize though that he was also court administrator, a very powerful position, and highly ranked at that —  “justice marquez” ang tawag sa kanya sa lower-house hearings where he made sereno sumbong about this and that.

dami niyang isyu against cj sereno, some of them verging on, if not downright, petty.  after googling him all day, i can see why.  he was identified with corona and when the latter was dismissed, he was replaced by ted te as spokesman.  and of course he has no chance of being promoted to associate justice, not while sereno is cj.  so it’s like he’s going for broke, so to speak?  no guts no glory?

here are some links to midas stories on the web 2012 to the present.

from Midas Marquez: Spooksperson of the Supreme Corona by ross del rosario @BeKindToUs Troll

Lawmakers are calling again on Marquez to resign … because of his ardent call of allegiance and defensive statements in support of the Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Impeachment prosecution panel spokesman Rep. Miro Quimbo said Marquez must choose between being the spokesman of Chief Justice Renato Corona or the court administrator. “Para na rin sa kapakanan ng buong SC — ayaw nga nating maapektuhan ang buong SC– magdesisyon siya. Siya ba ay magiging personal spokesman ni Corona o magpapatuloy gampanan ang makapangyarihan at sensitibong posisyon ng court administrator?” Quimbo said.

from World Bank bares Supreme Court misuse of loan for judiciary reform

The diminished internal auditing mechanism in the court was exemplified by the uncanny appointment by Corona of Jose Midas Marquez as court administrator, head of the Public Information Office, and chair of the Bids and Awards Committee of the APJR or the court’s Action Program for Judicial Reform.

…Without naming Marquez, the bank said that “this senior official, due to the combination of his appointments and functions, was the requestor of the services, the approver of the terms of reference, the end-user of the services provided by the firm, the authorizer of contract extensions, and the authorizer of payments to the firm.”

from Did Supreme Court Spokesperson Paint Himself into a Corner? 

Marquez will soon find himself in a no-win situation. Having firmly tied his fate to that of the Chief Justice; should Corona lose his impeachment trial, an Aquino-appointed replacement will likely not want Marquez around. And even if Corona keeps his job, Marquez has shown one and all that he is unfit for the job because he lacks that level of professionalism that allows him to understand that his loyalty is to the institution of the high court itself, and not to the person who happens to sit as its Chief Justice for the time being.

from The Midas Marquez touch by Ted Te

When he started speaking for the Court, it was for his former boss, Reynato Puno, for whom he served also as Chief of Staff.  When Chief Justice Puno retired, his successor, the now-removed former Chief Justice Renato C. Corona retained him to speak for the Court, on top of his now new assignment as Court Administrator. It became evident early on that he was fiercely loyal not to the Court itself, as an institution, but to one person, the then Chief Justice.

… When the smoke settled and the former Chief Justice was removed, it became a question of “when,” not “if,”  he would be relieved as spokesperson of the Court.  And it came as a surprise to very few that one of the first acts of the Court, in its special session after the removal of the former Chief Justice, was to confirm that Atty. Marquez was no longer speaking “for the Court,” as the post was coterminous with the former Chief Justice. That, by itself, was telling — that the Court itself would acknowledge that its own spokesperson was not speaking for the Court but for one man alone because of the coterminous nature of the relationship.

from Court Administrator Marquez joins nominees for SC justice 

Historically, court administrators are promoted to the SC. Court administrators, through whose office the SC exercises its administrative supervision over all lower courts in the country, who have been appointed to the SC were Senior Justice Josue Bellosillo (retired), Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., and Jose Portugal Perez (retired).

from Sereno impeachment: RCAO, JDO, and Midas Marquez

When Sereno was still associate justice, she was vocal in her criticism of Corona’s management decisions. She also once criticized Marquez for supposedly misinterpreting a court decision. Marquez stood as court spokesman during Corona’s time.

Marquez has also been nominated to be Supreme Court justice under the Duterte administration, but has yet to make the shortlist.

In 2012, when Sereno’s AO generated controversy, Senator Francis Pangilinan said in a statement that then chief justice Corona “suspended the decentralization of courts during his helm”, contrary to what Marquez claimed in his testimony.

“I cannot help but ask if this controversy stems from the OCA refusing to give up the powers it had enjoyed under former Chief Justice Renato Corona. Former Chief Justices Hilario Davide Jr. and Reynato Puno both implemented the decentralization. Why was it right then and wrong now?” Pangilinan said in a statement then.

from Sereno camp: Court administrator’s presentation ‘low blow, fake news’

Marquez appeared at the impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives on Tuesday. He said TWGs (Technical Working Groups) formed by Sereno in 2015 caused a delay in the release of benefits for retired judges and justices, and in the approval of survivorship benefit claims of spouses.

It took the committee and TWGs two years before 12 of 29 applications were approved, Marquez added.
…
Sereno’s camp first disputed that the groups were formed by the Chief Justice alone. Lacanilao pointed out the committee also consisted of Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Presbitero Velasco Jr., and Sereno only signed the document.

… Lacanilao denied the TWGs are causing delay, saying there was only one application pending in the committee level, 79 in the Office of the Court Administrator, and around nine pending in the Supreme Court en banc.

The spokesperson slammed Marquez’s presentation as “selective,” saying he only picked five cases which probably had administrative issues — which therefore took a long time to process.

“The data [was] not complete. He didn’t say when the en banc gave it back to the committee, how long the committee worked on it, when these people applied to him,” said Lacanilao. “It was unfair, it was very unprofessional for him to do that.”

from SC records show Midas, not Sereno, sat on Mamasapano transfer request

In a statement Thursday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II blamed Chief Justice Sereno for the delay … in transferring the Mamasapano murder trial from Cotabato City to Metro Manila.

It’s the Office of Court Administrator (OCA) Midas Marquez, said the Supreme Court (SC) Public Information Office (PIO) on Friday, January 26.

… Citing SC records, the PIO press statement said, “Under the applicable procedure, considering the request involves the lower courts, the Office of the Chief Justice wrote an endorsement letter dated February 9, 2017 which was sent to the Court Administrator on February 13, 2017 and stamped received by the Office of the Court Administrator on February 14, 2017.

from Sereno: Marquez likely behind ‘Red Monday’ protest 

Embattled Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno believes Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez was likely behind the “Red Monday” protest at the Supreme Court that sought her resignation.

“Marami ang nagsasabi sa akin na ganun. Marami akong nabasang report na ‘yun ang impression. Palagay ko no, oo,” she said Wednesday in a Bandila DZMM interview.
…
It was last year, she shared, that she faced mounting pressure to step down.

“Kung hindi ka magre-resign, pahihirapan namin ang buhay mo. Kung hindi ka magre-resign, ipapahiya ka namin. Sisiraan ang iyong character. Yuyurakan ang pangalan mo,” she said.

i’m not even all that crazy about cj sereno.  i was most disappointed when she did not inhibit from voting on torre de manila, considering that her husband once worked for DMCI.  and in the oral arguments i was dismayed when she pointed out how other monuments are in the midst of malls and high-rise buildings — the unsaid being, why should jose rizal deserve better?

associate justice carpio was no less dismaying:

“his (Rizal’s) dying wish was to face east but the captain of the guard said no so he died facing west.” …“Now, Rizal is still facing west. We still deny him his dying wish…”

ironically, it was associate justice teresita de castro i lauded for hitting out at the NHCP’S inefficiency and inconsistency.  it’s too bad that she went along with midas and the lower house on sereno’s impeachment.  dami rin niyang isyu against the chief justice, but the biggest, i bet, is that she will have retired by the time sereno retires, the cj being so young, which means no chance no hope no prayer of herself rising to chief justice.  unless na nga sereno is impeached by congress, or unseated by the supremes themselves via a ruling that her 2012 appointment was illegal.  or something desperate like that.

which brings me back to midas marquez, who is relatively younger.  but wait.  the internet has no data on his birthyear so i don’t know, is he maybe the same age as the CJ, and so he has no chance of making it to associate justice man lang while sereno seats?  or is he younger than sereno but simply impatient, nagatungan nga ba ng duterte diehards?

i visited his facebook page.  top post is a Duterte Kami 13-minute video of erwin tulfo, iniisa-isa ang mga kasalanan ni noynoy aquino. including, i guess, corona’s dismissal.  below that is an araw ng kalayaan video 2017 by presidential comms, and below that, this, on revenge:

Atty. Jose Midas P. Marquez
5 April 2017 ·
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord . Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Romans 12:17‭-‬21 NLT

hmm.  if what he is alleged to be doing to unseat the CJ is not revenge, i don’t know what is.  but what appalls, if true, is that it’s like he thinks he can swing a PNoy?  oust a chief justice?  in the lower house, yes, it would look like it, though it’s certainly taking forever, but in the senate?  umm, come to think of it, i’ve seen facebook posts warning that the senators are puro bayaran.  well, whoever’s behind midas marquez must have very deep pockets.

the senate will be tested.

from cj puno to cj sereno #lookback

cj sereno’s quick rise to the judiciary’s highest post in 2012 was far from auspicious, coming as it did on the heels of the ignominiously controversial impeachment and conviction of her immediate predecessor, cj renato corona, in 2011.

and then, again, the reverse might also be true:  that pNoy’s appointment of sereno was auspicious because it was a matter of righting a wrong — the corona appointment by outgoing prez gloria arroyo was a (post)midnight appointment, expressly prohibited by the constitution; it was for incumbent prez benigno aquino III to appoint the replacement of cj reynato puno who was due to step down may 17 2010.

(Article 7, Section 15) “Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”

katatapos ng may 10 2010 elections, obvious winner na si pNoy, pero presidente pa si gloria, when on may 12 she appointed corona sc chief justice — ni hindi pa bakante ang posisyon — with the backing of the puno supreme court, no less (even if puno himself abstained), and some very powerful figures in legal and political circles.

it was the culmination of a scheme initiated as early as december 2009 by arroyo diehard, rep matias defensor, so the backstory goes.  read marites danguilan vitug’s Inside the JBC: The appointment of the Chief Justice in 2010.  

Those who rallied for the appointment of a Chief Justice despite the ban during the election period stood on shaky ground. Their main argument hinged on an imagined scenario that revolved on a forthcoming novel experience. With the country’s first-ever automated polls, they foresaw confusion and a deluge of election protests that would eventually reach the Supreme Court. It was important, therefore, to have a Chief Justice to preside over the resolution of these contentious cases.

more than a decade earlier, says marites, cj andres narvasa was faced with the same kind of pressure but he withstood it.

Chief Justice Andres Narvasa refused to convene the JBC to fill up a vacancy on the Court because it fell during the appointments ban. He fiercely stood his ground despite pressure from Malacañang.”

unfortunately, cj puno was (is?) made of different stuff.

In March … In a 9-1 vote, the Court decided to exempt itself and the rest of the judiciary from the appointments ban. President Arroyo could appoint the next Chief Justice.

so accommodating of cj puno, diba? making an exception for arroyo, on such flimsy grounds, when an acting chief justice would have done as well during the transition.

what if

what if puno had done a narvasa instead.  what if he had stood firm about following the constitution?  he would have saved nation the aggravation and expense (!) of the corona impeachment and trial and, even, this whole sereno shebang.  i guess it tells us whose side former cj puno was really on then, and whose side he’s really on now, as he shepherds the crafting of a draft constitution.  (gma, is that you?)

matakot tayo.  magtanong tayo.  ano ba talaga ang agenda ni ex-cj puno?  who / what convinced him to be part of this scheme to sell charter change and federalism as the solution to all our problems, which are legion and complicated.  does it not bother him that many think him a sad sell-out?  is he?  pa-executive session executive session pa ang consultative commission (just heard it on dzmm).  what’s all the secrecy all about?  what do they think they’re cooking up.  other than more chaos and anarchy, mabuhay ang elite rule?

what if cj puno had insisted, first, on an intense multi-media information campaign, and shown some semblance of taking the time to listen to and discuss with the people.  twould  be great to have a national conversation about this.  and it’s what we need.

but back to cj impeachments  

if puno had not played along with arroyo, and if arroyo had not appointed corona cj when she did, then pNoy would have had to choose from a list that could not have yet included sereno dahil i-a-appoint pa lang niya ito as associate justice in august 16 2010.

malamang ay napilitan si pNoy to choose from the eminently more qualified and next-in-line, and the supremes might not now be so restive and vulnerable to political nudges from left right and center, what a shame.

which brings me to the 2012 sereno appointment and the perception that it was a good, an auspicious, beginning, because a matter of righting a wrong.  i have a real problem with this.

the wrong done was the midnight appointment, the wrong was done by president arroyo with the complicity of cj puno and the supremes.  BUT the wrong found and for which corona was punished — undeclared wealth — had nothing to do with the midnight-appointment itself that was a brazen violation of the constitution.

bakit ganoon ang nangyari?  because no one dared take gma to court?  or it was easier, took less courage, if a lot of money, to find fault with corona, anything that would get him out of the way?

in my final analysis, corona was faulted and removed for accepting the arroyo appointment — he could have said no, it was against the constitution, he’d take his chances with the new prez.  ironically enough, sereno too might well be faulted and removed for accepting the aquino appointment — she could have said no, she was too young, she had no court experience.

neither anticipated that their SALNs would be under scrutiny.  after all, according to senator rene saguisag who helped craft the law, violation of the SALN law was NOT an impeachable offense until the enrile senate sitting as an impeachment court dared declare it so in the 2011 trial.

in any case, pareho lang si corona at si sereno, it would seem.  and she, too, deserves her day/s in court, let the chips fall where they may.

at itigil na please ang quo warranto eklat na iyan, mr. solicitor-general.  nagmamalinis naman masyado ang duterte admin.  after six months of impeachment hearings in the lower house that practically tore apart the cj, let s/he who is without sin cast the next stone.  i would so like to meet him  and shake his hand.

senate hearing on BBL, good job, migs zubiri!

but shame on mainstream broadcast media — press freedom press freedom kayo diyan tapos walang nag-cover sa TV o radyo! and yet and yet may live coverage ng sereno impeachment hearing sa lower house ang ANC!  ano na.  is this their way of making sipsip to duterte’s supermajority in aid of renewing the network’s franchise in 2020?

but seriously, except for tribune.net.ph and mb.com.ph, online media (mainstream and social, including duterte’s comms peeps and trolls) seem to be ignoring developments on the BBL front.  is it deliberate?  meron bang secret memo vs BBL?  from whom?  AND alam ba ito ng presidente?  just a few days before yesterday’s hearing, duterte practically promised that BBL would be passed ahead of shift to federalism. one would think that enough of a heads-up for media to monitor and report the progress (or not) of the matter.

DAVAO CITY —  The law creating the Bangsamoro, the new autonomous political entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will be passed this year, ahead of the shift to a federal system of government, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

Duterte told MindaNews in a sit-down interview Friday that the Bangsamoro law should be passed first because “pagka i-amend mo ang Constitution, wala na yan. Wala ka nang barahang ibigay for Mindanao. Mahirapan kang lumusot” (once you amend the Constitution, that’s a goner. You won’t have a card left for Mindanao. It will be difficult to push for its passage).

mabuti na lang at may live streaming from the senate’s website that’s available on youtube, all four hours-plus of it that’s worth checking out if you want to know what certain people and sectors are thinking and saying these days about BBL, given its convoluted and tortuous history.

the jan 23 senate hearing chaired by senator migs (subcommittee bangsamoro, committee on local government) was very well attended, and it was quite a top-notch update on the state of the debate over bangsamoro autonomy.

good of senator migs to ask committee secretary berna mahinay (hope i got her name right) to read out the list of resource persons present, a list i’ve bothered to transcribe if only to show that all sectors were represented.  resource persons were given 3 minutes each to express their sentiments for or against the BBL, in general and/or in particular.

former senate president aquilino “nene” pimentel
hermogenes esperon, national security council)
jesus dureza, presidential adviser onthe peace process
francis tolentino, office of the political adviser
benjamin diokno, department of budget and management (DBM)
nabil tan, deputy adviser on the peace process and chairperson of the GPH implementing panel
tahir lidasan, national commission of muslim filipinos
ricardo david jr., DND undersecretary for defense policy
cesar yano, undersecreatary, defense operations
norman daanoy, chief for legal administrative services
brigadier general raniel t. ramiro, AFP peace and development office
brig general serme ayuyao, judge advocate general
bayani agabin, undersecretary, department of finance (DOF)
ariel ronquillo & krunimar escudero, civil service commission
bartolome j sinocruz,  COMELEC commissioner, deputy director for operations
jose lorena, commissioner, bangsamoro transition commission BTC
mussolini lidasan, commissioner BTC
susana anayatin, commissioner BTC
omar yasser sema, commissioner BTC
mohagher iqbal, commissioner BTC
ibrahim ali, commissioner BTC
raissa jajurie, commissioner BTC
said shiek, commissioner BTC
melanio ulama, commissioner BTC
gafur kanain, commissioner BTC
abdul sakur tan, former gov of jolo, sulu
muedzul lail tan kiram, sultan of sulu and north borneo
hadji duma mascud, chairperson of the sign-BBL movement, sustainable initiatives of grassroots and networks for bangsamoro basic law in cotabato city

sultan of lanao firdausi ismail abbas, not on the list, was also present, as was one who spoke in behalf of indigenous people (IP) na hindi ko na mahanap, sorry.

except for one voice calling on moros to assimmilate instead — no one seconded the motion — the vibes were generally quite positive.  there are contentious issues remaining, of course, and senator migs and co. have their work cut out for them, facilitating the reconciliation of differences for the good of the whole.

kapag naipasa ang BBL, lahat tayo ay panalo, hindi lang ang mga moro.  let’s trust our moro brothers and sisters — it’s the only way to stop war and terrorism in mindanao.  let there not be another marawi.  let there not be any more bakwits.  and may our lost media be found.

calling out congress #passBBL #no2revgov

it’s great that the war in marawi is practically done.  we all need breathing space from the killings and destruction, the misery and loss.  we need to stop and take stock, seriously consider how to prevent pre-empt more war in mindanao.

in two speeches, before and after hapilon and maute were taken down, the president was unequivocal: federalism is the only way to keep the peace.

“The MI pati MN has been hanging on to the range of their forces. They are cooperating with government, fighting alongside with government forces, but they are hoping that what they have been asking for centuries will be given.

“If we fail to come up with a reasonable counter proposal, then I assure you that there will be fighting everywhere in Mindanao. For then, the mainstream rebel groups would now be joining with the extremist groups.  …their common determination, their dream is … magkaisa itong lahat against the Republic of the Philippines.  And I have it in good authority that they will declare an independence. They would declare an independent Mindanao.” [oct 12]

“… it would be easy if we agree na mag-federal tayo.  kapag hindi, talagang sasabog ito, because then i would predict that the MI (and) MN would now join with everybody in, and there are aplenty…. armas. mahirap talaga tayo magsurvive as a nation, the republic, intact.  hindi ko kayo tinatakot….  sinsasabi ko yan noon pa sa kampanya. bec i know that it would create division and eventually maybe a breakage. ang mahirap nyan kung papasok na naman yang mga UN at … makialam … then if they recognize a belligerent state now, then you would have to treat it as an independent entity. yan ang delikado diyan. once makialam itong mga united nations … we would be reduced from the … yugoslavia, before, then you have serbia, you have so many city states, the balkan states, watak watak na sila, kanya kanyang state …”

Because then if there is a status of belligerence given to them, then it becomes very, very, very serious for all of us. …  And the Americans will realize to their sorrow that they have been too myopic in this thing. [oct 16]

the president has not mentioned the draft BBL (version 2017) transmitted by the palace to congress in mid-august and which the senate prez and house speaker promised will be passed by yearend, na tila di gumagalaw; anyway walang balita except a tidbit from ANC‘s  Bangsamoro and Beyond: A National Conversation taped oct 5 and aired oct 19, na meron na daw itong more than a hundred signatures sa lower house.  totoo?

tila walang sense of urgency sa legislature, and this might explain why the president is antsy, seeing destab plots, and threatening  revolutionary government, by hook or by crook?  revgov na lang, kung walang BBL by yearend, para makapag-chacha para makapag-shift to federalism para maibigay sa MI at MN ang matagal nang inaasam na regional autonomy for muslim filipinos?

naguguluhan ako, at siguro ang lehislatura rin, dahil back in july 2016, his first month as president, this is what the president said:

If majority of Filipinos vote against federalism in a plebiscite, President Rodrigo Duterte will throw his support behind the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), he said.

“If the Filipino nation in a plebiscite would not want it, I am ready to concede whatever is there in the BBL law. We will see to it that it will pass,” said the Philippine president on Friday, July 8 during a gathering of Muslim leaders in Davao City.

Duterte said he is eyeing a “framework” on federalism to be ready by the end of 2016.

“Towards the end of the year, we can come up with the framework,” he said. The framework could entail a “reconfiguration” of territories of ethnic groups like the Tausug, something desired by Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari.

okay lang naman kung BBL muna, i can’t imagine why not. calling out speaker alvarez and senate prez koko, paki-explain why you guys aren’t bothered by the president’s fearless forecast of war in mindanao if BBL does not happen.  (i know, i know, they’re all on vacation.)

of course, puwede ring plebiscite muna to vote on a new charter that provides for federalism and a truly autonomous bangsamoro region, why not.  balita pa nga ng rappler, meron nang draft constitution na naisumite ang PDP-Laban Federalism Institute sa lower house.

… a draft Constitution that would govern the Philippines under a federal system of government. The draft is the result of research and consultations done by a group of experts gathered by PDP-Laban president Aquilino Pimentel III through the institute. 

i always figured that it’s the president’s call, as he’s so astig.  but, yes, he needs the cooperation of congress, whether for the BBL or the new charter, and congress is proving to be uncooperative, even recalcitrant.

come on, guys!  kaysa naman mag-revgov?  or is that the goal.  argh.  these trapos.

#passBBL #no2revgov