A Legal Opinion of a Tech Support Guy

All public officials and employees, whether regular or under temporary status, are required to file a SALN. [i]Art. XI Sec. 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution [/i] “A public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. “In the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law.” [i]Administrative Code of 1987, Book 1, Chapter 9, Sec. 34[/i] “A public officer or employee shall upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth.” [i]RA 6713, Sec. 8[/i] [b]What should be found in the SALN?[/b] RA 6713, Sec. 8 A. “real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value and current fair market value; “personal property and acquisition cost; “all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds, and the like; “liabilities, and; “all business interests and financial connections.” B. “including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their households.” C. “Identification and disclosure of relatives. — It shall be the duty of every public official or employee to identify and disclose, to the best of his knowledge and information, his relatives in the Government in the form, manner and frequency prescribed by the Civil Service Commission.” ---- RA 6713 is the supporting, operational law of Article 11 Section 17 of the Constitution which is about SALN which is about transparency, not the Foreign Currency Act which is about secrecy and has nothing to do with SALN(unless you want to interpret it such). The Chief Justice in his wisdom chose the latter. He chose secrecy over transparency.

CJ Impeachment: Comingled Account

This will set a bad precedent if CJ Corona is acquitted. Imagine, a public official with P1 billion pesos of ill-gotten cash can CO-MINGLE his family's P10 pesos and then he doesn't have to declare it in his SALN. There should be a law that will address this.

It's Not Fun In the Philippines When...

1. Your neighbors are always Karaoke-ing. Karaoke is one of Philippines' biggest inventions (aside from virgin coconut oil). If the United States invented the Internet, we invented the Karaoke. If every house in the United States has a computer, every house in the Philippines has a Karaoke. A house is not a home without a Karaoke in the Philippines. This fact doesn't mean that Filipinos do not go to Karaoke bars, Karaoke booths and KTV's which are Karaoke bars for adults (if you know what I mean) to satisfy their craving for more Karaoke. The problem starts when you have neighbors who are so passionate about Karaoke that they forget they have neighbors who do not share the same passion. Most probably, the victim neighbors are burning your house in their minds. What makes it worst, the "Karaokers" do not sound like anything they are trying to emulate. Not even half of it. Worst of all, they do it starting Friday night up to Sunday night, every week! They even sing "Happy Birthday" to whoever just to legitimize their cavorting. Now I know why Japan had their economic meltdown in the past, from the time Karaoke was invented. They had been spending too much time on it! They are even contesting our claim on who really invented it. I would give it to them. Karaoke may be Philippines' greatest invention but it is not the light bulb or the personal computer. It is more like the billiard table. It doesn't make a civilization.

Corona Impeachment: Connect The Dots Part 1

ATTY. SERAFIN CUEVAS (Source: Raissa Robles, http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/insights/02/29/12/justice-cuevas-took-part-coup-attempt-against-pres-cory-aquino) Shortly after being ejected from the Marcos-appointed Supreme Court in the wake of the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising, Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas played a key role in a coup attempt against then President Corazon Aquino. Cuevas defied the Rule of Law by swearing in Arturo Tolentino as the “Acting President”. The game plan was for Tolentino to pave the way for the return of the ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos to Manila. The ceremony led by Cuevas on the Manila Hotel driveway was a fiasco: It was one of the more comical coup attempts staged by Marcos loyalists, who took over the hotel and occupied it for a few days. In the process they ate most of the food and trashed the establishment. Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas (lower left in white suit) swears in Arturo Tolentino as "Acting President" during a failed coup attempt against then President Corazon Aquino A year later in August 1987, Cuevas came to the rescue of then Senator Juan Ponce Enrile who was accused of instigating another coup attempt against Cory Aquino. Enrile was arrested for the crime of “rebellion complexed with murder”. Cuevas was one of the lawyers who forcefully argued for the dropping of this charge against the former defense secretary. While the Manila Hotel coup attempt was a farce, the August 27 to 28, 1987 coup attempt that implicated Enrile was tragic – resulting in the deaths of 53 mostly unarmed civilians and the wounding of over 200. Among those seriously wounded in the August coup was President Aquino’s son, Benigno III.

The Corona Impeachment: I Love This Game!

Just when I thought that the Corona Impeachment was getting to be boring aside from the fact that my team, the soaped up and shampooed House-ton Rockets (I suppose some of the members wish they were on the way to the Mars now. Moon is so 60’s) is losing against the Corona Cavaliers (riding on the back of Serafin "Magic" Cuevas), the House-ton Pockets', err, Rockets’ 6th man, Vitaliano Aguirre (a distant cousin of NBA great Mark Aguirre) snapped on and had a shouting match with one of the referees, Miriam Santiago, leading to his being thrown out of the court. Okay, I just made that up. What really happened was Atty. Aguirre of the prosecution team made a seemingly, no, it was really and completely tactless, gesture of covering his ears against Sen. Miriam Santiago's berating of them(again!) which did not go unnoticed, by Sen. Jinggoy (and 20 million others) who were watching the whole procedure. Naturally, the lady senator went berserk (which is her natural reaction to anything that goes her way) which led to a shouting match which led to a bench-clearing of both the Senators and the Rockets, I mean, the prosecution, which led to Aguirre being thrown out of the court(this is what really happened, promise). Why on earth would a lawyer do that to his or her judge? Fact of the matter is, there could be a thousand reasons why. Maybe he just plainly snapped. Maybe he is really tactless (a trait so fashionable nowadays). Maybe he wanted to be on the frontpage tomorrow. Maybe he wants some airtime. He could be having a bad day. Perhaps he was planted by Corona in the prosecution team for sabotage. (This would make a fine Grisham plot, wouldn't it?) He doesn't like Miriam's face? Maybe he wants to be a hero. Maybe he regrets doing this pro-bono and wants out. Maybe he was a former admirer of Miriam back in high school but was ignored as if non-existent and now he wants revenge (hey, who knows?). On the other hand, Sen. Miriam, like her or not, is someone you would like to be on your side, on your team, because she kicks ass. She is someone who, if you dunk on her, would dunk on you plus a foul. If you fire a three on her, she would fire a three on you and one. She could break your ankle just by staring at you. I am starting to believe that she is really Chuck Norris disguised as Miriam Santiago. She was ready to roundhouse Aguirre and inadvertently reveal her true identity if not for the timely intercession of her teammates. The point is, just as the NBA needed a Jeremy Lin to pump up the league, the Corona impeachment needs a Vitaliano Aguirre. For now, let’s just wait for Mayweather’s tweet about this matter.

Why Congress Shouldn't, Wouldn't and Won't Lose

First, Congress should not lose because they have an easy task. They do not have the burden of a criminal lawyer to prove beyond reasonable doubt. They just have to make a convincing point. This is more like a debate than a trial. Yes, Neal Tupas is no Joker Arroyo, not just yet, but should Congress win, he will be up there with JA. Second, Congress should not lose because removing Corona as Chief Justice has deeper implications. Since time immemorial, we have lost "delicadeza". Maybe if they win, public officials will think twice before clinging on to their position like a mollusk to a sea rock. Third, Congress wouldn't lose because they have history on their side. History would show that once public opinion is overwhelmingly against you, you lose. The score is 3-0 in favor of Congress; Marcos went away, Erap lost and Ombudsman Gutierrez didn't even put up a fight. This is not to mention the so-called Arab Spring in the Middle East where one by one, dictators are being overthrown left and right by people power. It is an uphill climb to fight against history. You can't stop the tide. Fourth, it's election year next year. The public hates Corona and the timing couldn't be better. We all know the survey. The Senators know this and if they acquit Corona, they will get a score even lower than him and won't be a senator next year and ever again. Fifth, Congress won't lose because life imitates art. The good guys always win in the end and in this real-life movie, we all know who the bad guy is. Like a climactic twist in the plot, worthy of Hitchcock, the judge turns out to be the murderer and together with his sins falls into the cliff.

On Disaster Management and Lawmakers with Disaster of a Hairstyle (not to mention Bills)

On the frontpage of newspapers today is a certain Congressman from Quezon City named Winnie Castelo "urging the President of the Philippines to hold the post of 'Disaster Management Czar'". For a while, I thought he was a 'she' because the two Winnie's that I know, Winnie Monsod and Winnie Santos (Ate Vi's younger sister, in case you don't know) are both she's, but upon googling (is it officially a word now?), I confirmed that he is a 'he'. Anyway, I'm digressing. Uhmmm, pwede pong mag-Tagalog muna ako? Mas maganda kasi ang Tagalog kapag asar ka eh. I marvel at the logic of this man (mahirap tagalugin ito, so sorry). Ito ang balita sa Inquirer:

"The President can synchronize all moves to restore normalcy in emergency situations, and prevent infighting among public officials on search and rescue, relief and post-disaster rehabilitation operations, Castelo told reporters on Saturday.

The proposal was made following reports that officials of the two cities could not agree with initiatives undertaken by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Although Republic Act 10121, or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, names the defense secretary as NDRRMC chair, the key player is ultimately the President, Castelo said."

Teka muna, hindi ba ang Secretary of Defense eh tao lang ng Presidente? Ang Presidente ba eh walang power "synchronize all moves to restore normalcy in emergency situations, etc., etc.? So bakit kailangan pang gawing opisyal na 'Disaster Management Czar' ang Presidente? So paano kapag nagkaroon ng rice crisis, gagawing syang 'Rice Crisis Czar'? Paano kung nagkaroon ng 'Common Sense Crisis' sa Pilipinas (o sa Quezon City, for that matter), gagawing syang 'Common Sense Management Czar'? And so on and so forth.

This is the same lawmaker who filed a bill called 'The Anti-Planking Act', basically a bill that will incarcerate people who are lying face down, and another bill that would require a lotto winner to give up 20% of his winnings to charity(?). The only thing I know that can beat this in terms of magnanimity is the Anti-Farting Bill of Malawi. I don't know if he has other bills or jokes but I am interested in exploring. I'm a sucker for good jokes.

It is one thing to say something wrong or tactless candidly and later regret about it but is another thing to have all the time to think about it and yet still say the wrong things, or worse, propose a law.

In case you are wondering who this stand-up lawmaker is, here is a mugshot of him:

If there is one law this country needs, it's a law outlawing bangs for all men.

If I remember it right, Herbert Bautista, now Mayor, used to sport such hairstyle, but he has moved on. So has Justin Bieber.

And if you happen to live in Quezon City, be careful about sleeping in public places in prone position; you might wake up inside the city jail.