DOJ, BIR chiefs should decline CJ nomination

DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima and BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares

Many think Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago is out of her rocker, like I do, but, hey, let’s give credit where credit is due.

The feisty lady senator should be lauded for her recent pronouncement that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares are not morally fit to be considered for the post of Chief Justice (CJ).

“It’s not necessarily disqualification to be a member of the Cabinet but if they participated in the impeachment trial it cannot be helped but raise doubts in the minds of the public that they were testifying so they could get rid of the incumbent and replace him,” Santiago said in an interview with reporters.

This is not only an astute observation, but a reasonable and valid assessment as well.

It is therefore in the best interest of the nation and to the advantage of the general public that de Lima and Henares decline the offer for the CJ position, much less their nomination as candidates.

It is not only the right thing to do, but it is showing the highest sense of delicadeza (propriety) by a public servant involved, one way or the other, directly or indirectly, in a very high profile case such as the ousting of no less than the CJ of the Supreme Court.

Let us not add more controversy to what we already have been subjected to. Enough is enough.

Let us move forward and have a short list of candidates instead who are less controversial and more deserving of the position of a CJ to choose from.

There are plenty of judges in all levels of the judiciary who have shown conviction, knowledge of the law and exemplary behavior, and who are more worthy than any politician or political ally out there.

Let us be fair. Let us give others the chance to serve.

Let us choose the best – one that is not beholden to any political potentate.

Probe Arroyo lawyers – why not?

Arroyo lawyers: Lambino, Topacio and Flaminiano

It may be unlikely that Arroyo lawyers Jose Flaminiano, Raul Lambino and Ferdinand Topacio may spend time in jail for their alleged “grand deception to hide the real condition of Arroyo,” but what the heck – probe them just the same to see where the case will end up to.

From the very beginning it has always been my contention that the doctors of ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should, among them, designate a spokesperson, who would be facing the media to report the accurate and factual condition and situation of the patient.

As it was, the lawyers were the ones hugging the limelight, answering the questions from the media, relative to Arroyo’s health, with their own medical diagnosis and recommendations.

Of course what they were saying could be considered as hearsay as the health bulletin regarding Arroyo’s predicament did not come from the horse’s mouth, but from lawyers whose hidden agenda was to argue that their filthy-rich client be allowed to leave for treatment abroad. Thus, the explanation has to come from them so that, with the articulation that they are known for, they can move and sway the public sentiment.

It is just right, therefore, that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima wants the lawyers of Arroyo investigated, not only by the Supreme Court and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, but also by the Philippine Medical Association, over reports that they harassed their client’s doctors just to try to win their battle on the legal front.

There seems to be a strong belief, among many, that Arroyo’s lawyers were not only grandstanding and playing with the emotion of the public for sympathy, but were allegedly harassing the doctors for a report giving credence to the Arroyo request for travel and seek treatment abroad.

De Lima explained that forcing doctors to certify false medical certificates – just as what the lawyers alleged did to Arroyo’s doctors – “smacks of grave coercion, if not obstruction of justice.”

“Their (doctors’) rights are being grossly violated,” she pointed out.

Now that the truth has been revealed, when Arroyo’s doctors testified before Judge Jesus Mupas of the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 112 that their patient was mending well and ready to be discharged from the hospital, all of a sudden Arroyo’s arrogant lawyers not only turned 360 degrees, but also changed their tune by saying that “the medical condition of Mrs.Arroyo is immaterial when it comes to her right to travel.”

Lawyer Raul Lambino said further that “It was not important whether Mrs. Arroyo was well or not, since the issue centers on her right to travel and her right to life was just a “side issue.”

Oh, yeah? Were you not making us believe that it was the other way around?

These anomalous statements all the more require Arroyo’s lawyers to be probed.

Arroyo should consider Erap wisdom

Cartoon images of Ex-Presidents Joseph "Erap" Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

I never was a big fan of Joseph “Erap” Estrada – not in his acting career and more so not in his presidency.

He may have been successful as an actor, but the fact that he was booted out of the presidential palace and convicted of plunder speaks volume of what and how he was as president.

Outside of the presidency, however, Erap has turned into a new leaf. Whether it is because of advancing age or having been humbled by a shameful past, what have changed are his demeanor and his perception of things right.

Had he carried and exercise this good conduct and intelligent insights when he was president, instead of showing mediocrity, he could have moved this country forward to progress. Alas, his stint was another disastrous experience for the nation and its people.

But, that is neither here nor there now for history has spoken.

What is admirable about Erap now is that he has grown wiser. Is he a late bloomer? Well, who knows, but at any rate, I am beginning to admire him, without necessarily being a big fan.

Lately, Erap has been giving unsolicited advises to President Benigno Aquino and they all make sense. There seems to be wisdom in his pronouncements.

But, what really caught my attention and made me duff my hat to him is his advice to the embattled ex-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), who, ironically, took over from Erap the presidency and has not mince words in how corrupt he was, and who now finds herself in the same league with her predecessor, with the state accusing her of plunder and, worst, for electoral sabotage.

So, look who is talking now!

While the issue is being debated on whether or not GMA be allowed to seek treatment abroad for a condition which doctors says is not life threatening and which, in fact, showed progress after her post-operative consultation, Erap, on the other hand, is giving her an unsought for advice on what she ought to do.

“My unsolicited advice to her (Arroyo) is for her to face the charges first. Then when she is put behind bars, then that’s the only time she can request for medical treatment abroad,” Estrada intimated.

Aren’t those words of wisdom? Erap knows whereof he speaks because he, too, needed medical treatment for his osteoporotic knees that needed replacement.

The good thing about Erap is that he listened and knew a doctor who was so credible that when he appeared before the Sandiganbayan special division to seek permission for Erap to be allowed to undergo knee surgery in Hong Kong, it was immediately granted.

“I requested only one country and that is Hong Kong because my doctor said his equipment were all in Hong Kong. He was suggesting that I undergo medical treatment in the US, but I decided to undergo knee surgery in Hong Kong,” Erap said.

Note that when he sought medical treatment abroad there was no specialist that could handle the kind of surgery he had to have at that time.

The same could not be said, however, of Arroyo. Naming so many countries she intends to go and not mentioning any specific hospital she wants to be confined at nor knowing who the medical specialist is going to be to operate on her not only leave doubts about her true intentions but creates apprehensions, especially that she insists on traveling with an entourage of about 14 people.

According to Erap, when he left for medical treatment abroad, he only had his wife and three policemen.

So, could you blame President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima if they are circumspect in their actions towards Arroyo, especially knowing how sly she could be?

Election fraud charges backfires on Abalos

 

Former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos

Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos finds himself in a frustrating situation facing a paradoxical problem on whether or not he is innocent or guilty, credible or unbelievable, accuser or the accused.

Abalos’ dashing move to submit himself as a prosecution witness, after former South Cotabato election supervisor Lilian Radam and former North Cotabato poll supervisor Yogie Martirizar tagged him as the alleged instigator in the 2007 senatorial poll fraud by ordering them to rig poll operations in their respective provinces, smacks of a man trying desperately to cleanse himself of guilt and pin the blame on the innocent and unsung heroes of the electoral event.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) opposed the bid of Abalos to become a state witness, even as Senator Aquilino Pimentel III belittled Abalos’ move saying, “Abalos is too late the hero. He wants to be a witness after he was named as mastermind (of poll fraud).”

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, on her part, believes the move could just be a ploy to “escape possible indictment,” adding that Abalos is still considered a “probable respondent” in the joint DOJ and Comelec investigation into the 2007 poll anomalies.

“Their (Radam’s and Martirizar’s) pointing to former chairman Abalos, a big fish at that, as the instigator of the rigging of the 2007 senatorial results, is a serious and crucial allegation that deserves utmost consideration,” De Lima added. .

While Abalos insists that it was during his incumbency as chairman of the Comelec that Radam was charged for election sabotage and relieved of her post, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes, however, emphasized that the action of Abalos might have already been overtaken by events as the Comelec is considering the withdrawal of the charges against Radam, who is being considered as a state witness in the election sabotage cases.

Radam and Martirizar have since been placed in protective custody under the Witness Protection Program (WPP).

 

 

Zaldy Ampatuan wants out, accuses GMA of cheating

 

Former ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan

Zaldy Ampatuan, the former governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), is no longer the arrogant and feared member of the triumvirate of Ampatuans accused in orchestrating and carrying the gruesome Maguindanao massacre involving 58 people, including journalists, on November 23, 2009. The two others are his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr. and younger brother, Andal Jr (Unsay)

He has become a wimp by trying hard to ingratiate himself with the administration, by denouncing the monstrous killing and disparaging at and putting all the blame on his father and brother.

He has become a whistleblower of sort, too, for claiming now that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband had ordered the rigging of the 2007 senatorial election.

Zaldy says he was there when Arroyo needed badly his help, but now that he is the one needing comfort and relief and hoping that Arroyo would come to his rescue, she has abandoned him.

The former ARMM governor has damning accusations against former President Arroyo and the question is: Are these believable?

Of course they are! Could you imagine senatorial candidates Benigno Aquino, Panfilo Lacson and Peter Cayetano getting zero votes in Maguindanao? It’s credible because Zaldy remembers who told his father what and where the meeting took place.

But, that is neither here nor there.

Zaldy is simply desperate in wanting out of the grisly mess he has gotten into and turning state witness against his closest blood relatives.

Zaldy said he was “willing to speak the truth, even if my testimony will involve my father and brother.”

If he foresaw this plan to be irrational and hideous, and there is no doubt that he was privy to this abominable plot, as this was a family affair, why didn’t he object and express vehemently his disapproval then of the conspiracy being hatched to commit the crime, especially that he was the ARMM governor?

Why confess only now of his innocence? Is Zaldy feeling the encumbrances of having his freedom and civil liberties curtailed?

What of those waylaid and brutally killed? What of the families who lost a breadwinner and whose children’s dreams and aspirations got suddenly shattered?

It is very consoling to know that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima immediately ignored Zaldy’s bait to turn state witness.

Zaldy is not admitting any guilt, participation or involvement in the massacre at all, De Lima said. “This goes against the very essence of being a state witness.”

It is hoped that President Aquino and other members of his cabinet will not meddle and will respect and support instead de Lima’s stand on this case.

 

Marcos burial and the Vizconde massacre

 

Imelda kissing husband's crypt

You might be surprised why these two irrelevant issues are lumped together.

Yes, they may be irrelevant and unconnected, but they have one thing in common: both are issues that should no longer be entertained as they have been dealt with accordingly. Suffice to say, they are now passé and people should be spared from being fed continuously with rehashed news that no longer matter in our lives.

Take the case of the Marcos burial issue. Long before Vice President Jejomar Binay recommended to President Benigno Aquino that the late dictator be buried in his native Ilocos Norte, with full military honors, then President Fidel Ramos, who allowed the return of Marcos’ remains from Hawaii, was reported to have made an agreement with the Marcoses to have the strongman buried in Batac, his hometown in Ilocos Norte.

Sometime after that, in one of his press releases, while visiting South Asia and the Middle East, Ramos rejected again the renewed request of the family of the late president Ferdinand Marcos for the burial of his remains at the Manila Heroes’ Cemetery, saying, that the Marcos family is free to bury the remains of the late strongman “anywhere in the Philippines, but not at the heroes’ cemetery.”

Besides saying that he would honor the Ramos administration’s agreement with the Marcoses to have the strongman buried in Batac, his hometown in Ilocos Norte, PNoy also was deadpan in declaring that he has ruled out burying former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Manila, at least not in his watch.

So why insist?

Hubert Webb with parents

The same question might be asked in the case of the Vizconde massacre.

Why would the public be bothered again with Justice Secretary de Lima opening another can of worms, when the first can of worms opened and used against alleged suspects Hubert Webb and company was inadequate enough to prove and convict them as the criminals who committed the gruesome slaying of female members of the Vizconde family at BF Homes in Parañaque City in 1991?

Thus, in December 2010, the Supreme Court (SC) acquitted Webb and six others accused in the Visconde massacre case, citing “the failure of the prosecution to rule their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

“There is no more motion for reconsideration can be filed. That would be tantamount to double jeopardy, Court Administrator and SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told a press conference, citing a rule in criminal procedures prohibiting a second prosecution against the same person under the same offense after acquittal or conviction by court.

With finality, the SC ruled, saying, “In our criminal justice system, what is important is, not whether the court entertains doubts about the innocence of the accused since an open mind is willing to explore all possibilities, but whether it entertains a reasonable, lingering doubt as to his guilt. For, it would be a serious mistake to send an innocent man to jail where such kind of doubt hangs on to one’s inner being, like a piece of meat lodged immovable between teeth.”

Who is de Lima to subvert the authority of the SC?

If she is not, then why insist?

 

Tale of savagery and gruesome death

 

What more do we have to hear?

How many more witnesses do we have to listen to, only to hear the same lurid account that happened on that fateful morning on November 23, 2009 in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province where the wife and followers of Esmael Mangudadatu, to include over 30 journalists, some lawyers and aides, were kidnapped and brutally killed while on their way to file the candidacy of Esmael, who was challenging Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. for the governorship.

The guilt of being privy to the carnage must have been gnawing Senior Police Officer Rainier Ebus’ conscience that instead of just bottling it up to save his skin, he decided to come out and expose everything for the prosecution for whatever comeuppance he and his family may be facing now and in the future.

The testimony of Ebus is so damning to the main suspect in the killings, former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., that this should propel Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to fast track this horrendous case for whatever it takes.

He told the court how he saw the former mayor, the scion of the clan that was in control of southern Maguindanao province, shoot about 40 of the 57 victims after stopping their vehicles.

“They were crying but they were gunned down by Unsay,” Ebus said, referring to Ampatuan by his nickname.

Ebus’ sacrifice and courage to testify and tell the tale on the witness stand, against all odds of the Ampatuan wrath, should be match by the speedy trial of this case.

What more do we have to hear?

Let us get this case over with as fast as it can be done.

The sooner justice can be had by the victims and their families, the easier peace and acceptance will come for those left behind.

The quicker we see the culprits unceremoniously brought behind bars to serve their sentences, the better it will be for the hearts and minds of those who suffered graving at the way they lost their loves ones.