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SC allows UN expert to act as friend of the court in Maria Ressa s cyber libel plea
Irene Khan, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion, has been allowed by the Supreme Court (SC) to sit as an "amicus curiae" to the court in the appeal for the cyber libel case of Rappler.com chief executive officer Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos......»»
SC affirms ruling granting bail to ex-Masbate lawmaker, Napoles
The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed a ruling of the Sandiganbayan that allowed businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and former Masbate congresswoman Rizalina Seachone-Laneta to post bail in the plunder charges filed against them in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork scam......»»
SC upholds decision granting Napoles bail in one PDAF case
Pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles and former Masbate Rep. Rizalina Seachon-Lanete have been allowed to post bail after the Supreme Court dismissed a case related to the Priority Development Assistance Fund......»»
A mandatory duty
With dynasty-building reaching shameless proportions, the Supreme Court has finally been asked to step in and mandate Congress to carry out a task set out in the Constitution: to define and prohibit political dynasties......»»
Prosecutors reject Trump claim of ‘absolute immunity’
Federal prosecutors on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's attempt to have election conspiracy charges dismissed on the grounds that he enjoys immunity for actions he took while in the White House. "No one in this country, not even the president, is above the law," special counsel Jack Smith's team wrote in a 54-page motion filed with the judge presiding over the landmark case. Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is to go on trial in Washington in March of next year for allegedly conspiring to subvert the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden. The former president's lawyers, in a motion two weeks ago to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, argued that the charges should be thrown out because Trump is "absolutely immune from criminal prosecution." Prosecutors in the special counsel's office dismissed that argument and urged Chutkan to deny Trump's request. "He is subject to the federal criminal laws like more than 330 million other Americans," they said. "No court has ever alluded to the existence of absolute criminal immunity for former presidents. "The implications of the defendant's unbounded immunity theory are startling," they added. "It would grant absolute immunity from criminal prosecution to a president who accepts a bribe in exchange for a lucrative government contract for a family member," they said, or "a president who sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary." Trump's bid to invoke the presidential immunity defense is seen as a long shot by legal observers but it could result in a delay to the start of the trial as the argument potentially winds its way up to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Trump's attempts to use the "absolute immunity" defense in other cases have been rebuffed by judges, but the nation's highest court has never ruled directly on whether a former chief executive is immune from criminal prosecution. Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges. 'Unsettled question' Trump's attorneys, citing a Supreme Court case involving former president Richard Nixon, said the law provides "absolute immunity" to the president "for acts within the 'outer perimeter' of his official responsibility." As chief executive, they argued, Trump had a responsibility to "ensure election integrity" and was within his rights to challenge the results of the 2020 vote. "As President Trump is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for such acts, the Court should dismiss the indictment," they said. While making the argument that Trump cannot be prosecuted, his lawyers acknowledged the Nixon case they cited involved the civil liability of a former president and not alleged criminal conduct. "The question remains a 'serious and unsettled question' of law," they said. The case before Chutkan accuses Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding -- the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress that was attacked by a mob of Trump supporters. Other criminal cases against Trump include racketeering charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in the southern state and a trial in Florida in May 2024 on charges of mishandling top-secret government documents. Trump and his two eldest sons are also currently involved in a civil fraud trial in New York for allegedly inflating the value of their real estate assets to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms. The post Prosecutors reject Trump claim of ‘absolute immunity’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
AI of the tiger: Tiny camera ‘protects’ predator — and people
Tiger populations are on the rise in the jungles of India and Nepal and the predators are roaming ever closer to villages, sparking a race among conservationists to find ways of avoiding conflict. They are increasingly finding solutions with artificial intelligence, a bunch of technologies designed to reason and make decisions like humans. Experts from Clemson University in South Carolina and several NGOs published research last month on their work using AI-enabled cameras that they say could help revolutionize tiger conservation. They placed tiny devices around enclosures in the two South Asian nations, both to protect villagers from the predators -- and the predators from poachers. According to their research, published in the BioScience journal, the camera system called TrailGuard can distinguish between tigers and other species and relay images to park rangers or villagers within seconds. "We have to find ways for people and tigers and other wildlife to coexist," Eric Dinerstein, one of the authors of the report, told AFP. "Technology can offer us a tremendous opportunity to achieve that goal very cheaply." Elephants and Amazon loggers The research claims the cameras were immediately effective, picking up a tiger just 300 meters from a village, and on another occasion identifying a team of poachers. They say their system was the first AI camera to identify and transmit a picture of a tiger, and it has almost wiped out false alarms -- when traps are tripped by passing boars or falling leaves. The scheme is one of several putting an AI spin on the established ideas of wildlife surveillance. Researchers in Gabon are using AI to sift their camera trap images and are now trying a warning system for elephants. Teams in the Amazon are piloting equipment that can detect the sounds of chainsaws, tractors and other machinery associated with deforestation. And US tech titan Google teamed up with researchers and NGOs four years ago to collect millions of images from camera traps. The project, called Wildlife Insights, automates the process of identifying species and labelling images, saving many hours of laborious work for researchers. Conservationists like Dinerstein, who also leads the tech team at the Resolve NGO, are sure that technology is helping their cause. 'Early warning system' Their goal is to ensure that 30 percent of the Earth's land and oceans are designated protected zones by 2030, as agreed by dozens of governments last year, with that number eventually going up to 50 percent. Those zones will need to be monitored, and animals will need to move safely between protected areas. "That's what we're shooting for, and the critical element of that is an early warning system," he said. The plight of tigers underscores the size of the challenge. Their habitats have been devastated across Asia and their numbers in India fell to an all-time low of 1,411 in 2006, before steadily rising to current levels of around 3,500. In the mid-20th century, India was home to an estimated 40,000. 'Jury still out' Jonathan Palmer, head of conservation technology at the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who was not involved in the study, said TrailGuard had exciting potential. But Palmer, who helped found Wildlife Insights with Google, said the broader uses of AI in conservation were not yet settled. "In most cases, AI species identification is still in its infancy," he said. His NGO recommends outside verification of any species identification done by AI. And Palmer said the "jury was out" on whether AI was better deployed in cameras at the scene or afterwards on servers or laptops. Those uncertainties aside, Dinerstein is widening the rollout of TrailGuard -- this time with even bigger animals in his sights. "Elephants wander outside parks all the time and it leads to a massive amount of conflict," he said. They destroy crops, cause chaos in villages and can even cause train crashes, with dozens of deaths every year, he added. "There's an immense opportunity here to prevent that." The post AI of the tiger: Tiny camera ‘protects’ predator — and people appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Former OTS chief lambasts cultural decay at airports
The former Office for Transportation Security chief lambasted the cultural decay in the airport security teams that allows negligent screeners to continue working there, this before he could begin an internal purge. Ma. O Ranada Aplasca, who resigned from his post over the airport screener caught on closed-circuit television swallowing $300 bills taken from an outbound Chinese national, said the problem with airport security is “more than systemic, it is cultural.” “There was the problem with ‘tanim-bala.’ Maybe the problems were not highlighted in the past because no one was caught. Based on our records, for the past several years, no one was dismissed in the OTS for violations of our disciplinary policies,” he said. Aplasca said when he was the director of the PNP Aviation Security Group, his initial task was to clear the country’s airports of the “tanim-bala” scheme, in which airport inspectors hid bullets in travelers’ luggage to extort money. “That tanim-bala was the first marching order to me by former President Duterte, and that’s where I felt his 100-percent support; that’s why, in less than one month, we were able to solve the problem,” he said. Aplasca said that before his resignation Tuesday, the OTS had initiated 68 cases against erring personnel, with at least 11 people dismissed. Found guilty Meanwhile, DoTr Secretary Jaime Bautista said the female Security Screening Officer and three other OTS screeners involved in the cash swallowing incident last 8 September were “found guilty of stealing.” Bautista said the guilty verdict was included in the investigation report handed to him by the OTS group of investigators, which included the CCTV footage that showed the lady scanner stuffing the money into her mouth at Terminal 1’s final security checkpoint at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The four SSO screeners face administrative and criminal cases. “The investigation showed that she was guilty and swallowed the money. However, what she said in an affidavit was that it was chocolates. But the investigators saw that she was guilty,” Bautista said in Filipino in an interview with the media after a Senate hearing on Tuesday. The CCTV footage showed that at around 8:20 p.m. on 8 September, a Chinese passenger, identified only as Mr. Cai, placed his shoulder bag on the inspection tray at the final security checkpoint. After trying to promote the gateway to potential foreign investors who may want to operate the NAIA, Bautista expressed frustration and dismay at the incident. He authorized the imposition of the maximum penalty on those found guilty to demonstrate the Department of Transportation’s determined push to rid the NAIA and attached agencies of scalawags. Aplasca submitted his courtesy resignation last Tuesday, 26 September, to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. through DoTr Secretary Bautista after House Speaker Martin Romualdez told him to resign or the Speaker would personally block the budgets of the DoTr and OTS. Not enough Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe said Wednesday the resignation of Aplasca would not be enough to stop the criminal activities at the country’s airports. “A resignation at the top does not clean up the ranks,” said Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services. “More than ever, the Office of Transportation Security needs steady leadership to implement much-needed reforms,” she said. “There should be zero tolerance for criminal acts and unprofessional behavior,” she added. “While a witch hunt might put a syndicate on pause, the OTS urgently needs to review and tighten its security program,” she said. She continued: “Our airports should improve the physical layout of the security screening stations and provide proactive measures to prevent further incidents.” She also noted that the challenge now is to appoint someone with “immense political will to overhaul the agency and stop these incidents once and for all.” The senator stressed that the OTS must improve its hiring system and enforce ethics training. “Employees must undergo extensive background checks,” she said. “In the long-term, we should also look into providing better compensation and benefits to these employees so they would not be enticed to do this nonsense,” she added. The post Former OTS chief lambasts cultural decay at airports appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Clampdown and grief as Iranians remember Mahsa Amini
Iranians at home and abroad marked the first anniversary Saturday of the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, with activists speaking of a renewed crackdown to prevent any resurgence of the protests which rocked major cities last year. Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died a few days after her arrest by religious police for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women in force since shortly after the 1979 revolution. Her family says she died from a blow to the head but this is disputed by Iranian authorities. Anger over her death rapidly expanded into weeks of taboo-breaking protests which saw women tearing off their mandatory headscarves in an open challenge to the Islamic republic's system of government under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But after several months, they lost momentum in the face of a crackdown that saw security forces kill 551 protesters, according to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), and arrest more than 22,000, according to Amnesty International. Iranian authorities say dozens of security personnel were also killed in what they describe as "riots" incited by foreign governments and hostile media. Seven men have been executed after being convicted in protest-related cases. Campaigners say the authorities have renewed their crackdown in the runup to the anniversary, putting pressure on relatives of those killed in the protests in a bid to stop them speaking out. New York-based Human Rights Watch said family members of at least 36 people killed or executed in the crackdown had been interrogated, arrested, prosecuted or sentenced to prison over the past month. "Iranian authorities are trying to impose a chokehold on dissent to prevent public commemoration of Mahsa Jina Amini's death in custody, which has become the symbol of the government's systematic oppression of women, injustice and impunity," said HRW's senior Iran researcher, Tara Sepehri Far. 'Repressive forces' deployed The two journalists who did the most to publicize the Amini case –- Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi who respectively reported from her hospital and funeral –- have been held in prison for almost a year. Another reporter, Nazila Maroufian who interviewed Amini's father Amjad, has been arrested repeatedly. Amjad Amini has told Persian media based outside Iran that he plans to hold a commemoration for his daughter in their hometown of Saqez in Kurdish-populated western Iran later Saturday. Outlets, including Prague-based Radio Farda, said he was summoned by intelligence officials after his announcement. He was not arrested but one of Amini's uncles, Safa Aeli, was detained in Saqez on 5 September. According to Kurdish-focused news outlet Hengaw, the government has sent additional security forces to Saqez and other towns in western Iran that could become flashpoints. On Saturday, Hengaw said, "repressive forces" were deployed around the Amini family residence in Saqez. It posted photos on X, formerly Twitter, showing armed men in fatigues on the streets of Saqez, as well as video of shops shuttered and on strike to mark the anniversary in Saqez, Sanandaj and other cities of Kurdistan province. 'Doubling down' While some women are still seen walking in public without headscarves, particularly in wealthy, traditionally liberal areas of north Tehran, the conservative-dominated parliament is currently considering a draft law that would impose far stiffer penalties for non-compliance. "The Islamic republic is doubling down on repression and reprisals against its citizens and seeking to introduce new and more draconian laws that severely restrict further the rights of women and girls," said Sara Hossain, the chair of the UN fact-finding mission set up to investigate the crackdown. Under the slogan "Say her name!", Iranian emigres are expected to hold commemorative rallies, with large demonstrations expected in Paris and Toronto. Amnesty International accused Iran's authorities of committing a "litany of crimes under international law to eradicate any challenge to their iron grip on power" and lamented that not a single official had been even investigated over Amini's death or the crackdown. "The anniversary offers a stark reminder for countries around the world of the need to initiate criminal investigations into the heinous crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction," said Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director, Diana Eltahawy. On the eve of the anniversary, Iran's arch-foe the United States and its Western allies including Britain and the European Union imposed new sanctions on the Islamic republic over its protest crackdown. Announcing the measures, US President Joe Biden led international calls in solidarity with Iranians on the anniversary of Amini's death. "Iranians alone will determine the fate of their country, but the United States remains committed to standing with them," he said. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani slammed the Western countries' "illegal and undiplomatic actions" in a statement late Friday. The post Clampdown and grief as Iranians remember Mahsa Amini appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Padilla files bill to push stronger CHR functions
Senator Robinhood Padilla filed a bill that will effectively expand the structural, organizational, and functional independence of the Commission on Human Rights. On Wednesday, Padilla pushed the Senate Bill 2440 that guarantees full fiscal autonomy to the CHR "to ensure prompt, immediate, and unrestricted discharge of its functions.” “Regarded as a toothless tiger, the Commission has endured its limitations in rightfully carrying out its mandate within its jurisdiction,” Padilla said. He emphasized the need to further strengthen the CHR’s mandates, powers, and functions that are imperative to its “cardinal role in cultivating a culture of human rights culture in the country.” "A just and democratic country cannot be attained without a truly independent national human rights institution, said Padilla. “Today, more than ever, we need a more active CHR, one that is not strapped to the task of investigation or cannot recognize violations of human rights other than those involving civil and political rights.” SB 2440 provides the CHR with full authority to act on a complaint or motu proprio, in all cases of human rights violations; and vests it with the power to issue injunctive reliefs and legal measures. Padilla said the CHR’s independence “shall be respected and upheld, even as appropriations for it shall not be reduced and shall be automatically and regularly released.” “We need a CHR that can address the challenge of protecting and promoting the human rights of all, especially the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, and the marginalized sectors of society," he added. The measure will make CHR to be regarded as a national human rights institution, in accordance with the Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions (Paris Principles) and other United Nations resolutions and instruments. Padilla said the SB 2440 will allow CHR to provide safety to witnesses and human rights defenders under threat as well as to implement and manage a witness protection service. Further, the CHR shall develop and implement a human rights information campaign program for the public; and establish a Human Rights Institute for the promotion and education of human rights and related fields. The HRI shall serve as a training institute for investigators, prosecutors, justices, judges, lawyers, and other human rights workers. Meanwhile, CHR is tasked to maintain a legal assistance program for underprivileged victims of human rights violations and prepare and make public an annual report on the findings of its monitoring activities. It shall also undertake measures for the protection and promotion of the human rights of Filipinos abroad, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Migrant Workers, or deputized Philippine embassy or consulate officers. The post Padilla files bill to push stronger CHR functions appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Senate approves bill on school-based mental health program
The Senate on Monday approved on the third and final reading a bill institutionalizing the promotion of mental health and well-being in basic education. The Senate Bill 2200 or the Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act, was approved with 22 affirmatives, zero negative votes, and zero abstentions during the chamber’s plenary session. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the chamber’s committee on basic education, said the school-based mental health program will cover out-of-school children in special cases that include learners with disabilities or conditions, indigenous peoples, children in conflict with the law, learners in emergency situations, and other marginalized sectors. SB 220 mandates the Department of Education to establish and maintain care centers in every public basic education institution. “Care Centers will be mandated to equip learners with skills and information for prevention, identification, and proper response and referral for their own and others’ mental health needs,” said Gatchalian, who also sponsored and authored the bill. Gatchalian said the bill also provides for the creation of the new plantilla positions of Mental Health Associates I to V, and Mental Health Specialists I to V “to address the need for sufficient personnel” running the School-Based Mental Health Program. The bill also seeks the conversion of existing plantilla positions of Guidance Counselors and Psychologists in the DepEd to Mental Health Specialists, he added. There were only 1,192 filled positions for both guidance counselors and coordinators within the DepEd as of July 2022. For School Year 2023-2024, the DepEd said that more than 26 million learners are enrolled, with 404 learners from public schools having died due to suicide for School Year 2021-2022. In a manifestation, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the newly approved bill would further strengthen Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Act. Hontiveros said accelerating the mainstreaming of a school-based mental health program would contribute not only to ensuring the physical but also the psychological safety of the learning environment. “I do hope that our education authorities will be up to the challenge of institutionalizing and sustaining mental health programs in our schools,” she said. The post Senate approves bill on school-based mental health program appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cacdac to continue Ople’s projects
Newly appointed officer-in-charge of the Department of Migrant Workers, Hans Leo J. Cacdac, on Saturday said he will continue the programs that the late secretary Susan “Toots” Ople spearheaded in their department, and make sure that her vision for the DMW would be achieved. “Malaking gap… big shoes to fill ang kanyang iniwan,” Cacdac said in a radio interview. "She (Ople) set the direction that we will stand by and strengthen," Cacdac added. Cacdac was the department’s undersecretary for welfare and foreign employment before he was appointed DMW OIC. He also served as administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administrator (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Cacdac said the first task at hand is to defend the DMW’s proposed P15-billion budget at the Senate next week. He also plans to strengthen the P1.2-billion action fund for legal assistance to OFWs. “One of her (Ople) last public statements was that OFWs whose rights are violated will now be able to file cases and get justice," Cacdac said. Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople who died on 22 August 2023 also wanted a cancer fund established for migrant workers and for the digitalization within the agency to continue. In July, the DMW launched an app for OFW meant to streamline the processing of labor and overseas documents. Cacdac said the Saudi government has already formed a technical committee that would implement Saudi King Salman’s orders regarding OFWs with unpaid wages. The DMW has said that at least 10,000 OFWs who had worked for nine Saudi companies that declared bankruptcy following the economic crisis in 2015 would receive “full payment” of their pending wages. So far, Cacdac said, the Saudi government has assured them there is funding and resources for the payout. He added, though, that processing is still ongoing and that the Saudi government has not given a definite timeline on when the money will be released. “There is a challenge in determining who the claimants are and how the distribution will be done in coordination with the Philippine side,” he said. "Ople said last November that the Saudi government would “set aside two billion Riyals (or) about more than P30.2 billion to help our displaced workers,” Cacdac recalled. The funds will cover workers from Saudi OGer, MMG, the Bin Laden group, and other construction companies that declared bankruptcy in 2015 and in 2016, she said then. Ople, Cacdac said, wanted the DMW to feel like the home of overseas Filipino workers. The post Cacdac to continue Ople’s projects appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Hong Kong’s top court to rule on same-sex marriage
Hong Kong's top court will decide Tuesday whether to recognize same-sex marriages, rendering a verdict in one of the most consequential cases on the subject in the city's history. Over the past decade, LGBTQ activists in the former British colony have won piecemeal victories in court, striking down discriminatory government policies on visas, taxes, and housing benefits. But the case brought by jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham -- set to be decided at 2:30 pm local time (0630 GMT) Tuesday -- will be the first time Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal has directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriage. Since launching his challenge in 2018, Sham, 36, has twice failed to convince the courts that Hong Kong should legally recognize his marriage to a same-sex partner, which was registered in New York nearly a decade ago. In his most recent setback, in August 2022, appeal judges wrote that Hong Kong's constitutional text "only provides access to the institution of marriage to heterosexual couples". Sham has argued the city's ban on same-sex marriage violates his right to equality, while the lack of a policy alternative -- such as civil unions -- does the same, in addition to breaching his right to privacy. British rights lawyer Karon Monaghan, representing Sham, told the court in June the ban disadvantages same-sex couples in areas such as inheritance and housing rentals. A poll this year found that 60 percent of Hong Kongers supported same-sex marriage, compared to just 38 percent a decade ago. Some international businesses in the city have also backed marriage equality campaigns, crediting it as a way to attract talent. But the city's Beijing-approved leadership has shown little appetite for passing laws that advance LGBTQ equality. Rights advocacy has partly gone underground after Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub. Sham, a prominent democracy campaigner, is one of dozens of activists behind bars awaiting prosecution under the security law on charges unrelated to LGBTQ rights. In July, a radio show promoting gay rights aired by Hong Kong's public broadcaster was canceled after a 17-year run. The post Hong Kong’s top court to rule on same-sex marriage appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump arrested in Georgia racketeering case
Former US president Donald Trump was arrested at a Georgia jail on Thursday on racketeering and conspiracy charges for trying to overturn the 2020 election results in the southern state. During a brief session lasting less than 30 minutes, the 77-year-old Trump was booked on 13 charges at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, according to records published by the sheriff's office. Trump's height was listed by the jail as six foot three inches (1.9 meters), his weight as 215 pounds (97 kilograms) and his hair color as "Blond or Strawberry." Other defendants in the racketeering case who have surrendered to the Georgia authorities in recent days have had a mugshot taken. The billionaire has been criminally indicted four times since April, setting the stage for a year of unprecedented drama as he tries to juggle multiple court appearances and another White House campaign. In posts on his Truth Social platform shortly before leaving his New Jersey golf club for the flight to Atlanta, Trump said he was being arrested for "having the audacity to challenge a RIGGED & STOLLEN (sic) ELECTION." "This is yet another SAD DAY IN AMERICA!" he added. Trump was able to dodge having a mugshot taken during his previous arrests this year: in New York on charges of paying hush money to a porn star, in Florida for mishandling top secret government documents, and in Washington on charges of conspiring to upend his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. But Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat said standard procedure in Georgia is to take a defendant's photograph before they are released on bond -- set at $200,000 in Trump's case. The arrest comes one day after Trump spurned a televised debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, featuring eight of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination -- all of whom lag well behind him in the polls. He still stole the spotlight, though, with all but two of the candidates saying they would support him as the party's nominee even if he were a convicted felon. During a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson -- which aired on social media at the same time as the debate -- Trump dismissed the criminal cases filed against him as "nonsense." Trump said the Justice Department had been "weaponized" under Biden to hamstring his White House bid. Court dates in election race A tight security perimeter was set up for Trump's booking at the Fulton County Jail, which is under investigation for a slew of inmate deaths and deplorable conditions. Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who filed the sweeping racketeering case, had set a deadline of noon (1600 GMT) on Friday for Trump and the other 18 defendants to surrender. Trump and 11 others have turned themselves in so far. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows surrendered on Thursday and was released on $100,000 bond. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump's personal lawyer when he was in the White House and vigorously pushed the false claims that Trump had won the 2020 election, was booked and released on Wednesday. John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who is accused of drawing up a scheme to submit a false slate of Trump electors to Congress from Georgia instead of the legitimate Biden ones, has also been booked and released. A few dozen supporters of the former Republican president gathered outside the jail, including Sharon Anderson who spent the night in her car. "I think this is a political persecution and now that's turned into a political prosecution," Anderson told AFP. Trump is the first US president in history to face criminal charges. His various trials, if they take place next year, may coincide with the Republican presidential primary season, which begins in January, and the campaign for the November 2024 White House election. Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed a January 2024 start date for Trump's trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the last election with a lie-fueled campaign that culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. Trump's attorneys have countered with a suggested start date well after the election -- April 2026. Willis, the Georgia district attorney, initially proposed that the racketeering case begin in March next year, the same month Trump is scheduled to go on trial in New York on charges of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. On Thursday, after one of the defendants asked for a speedy trial, she proposed that it begin for all 19 in October of this year, a move met with an immediate objection from Trump's lawyers. The Florida case, in which Trump is accused of taking secret government documents as he left the White House and refusing to return them, is scheduled to begin in May. The post Trump arrested in Georgia racketeering case appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Short-circuited reforms
Judicial intervention in business transactions never had a stronger impact on Filipinos than the effect of the Court of Appeals stopping the Energy Regulatory Commission, or ERC, from compelling San Miguel Corp. power units to honor their contracts with Manila Electric Co. About a month ago, the CA handed down a permanent injunction on the consolidated cases of SMC units South Premiere Power Corp. and San Miguel Energy Corp. to overturn the ERC’s rejection of petitions to suspend their straight-price contracts. Energy Secretary Raphael “Popo” Lotilla said in a recent interview with Daily Tribune’s Straight Talk the Solicitor General will continue to challenge the injunction order up to the Supreme Court. “We don’t want the courts to be second-guessing the decisions of administrative bodies like the Energy Regulatory Commission,” according to Lotilla. The straight pricing regime in the power sector should have complemented the policy of the Department of Energy to move away from subsidies in the cost of electricity. Consumer groups had also filed a motion for reconsideration before the CA against the injunction. In July, the CA overturned the ERC to honor the SMC units’ straight-priced power contracts. The decision, consumer groups fear will open the floodgates to higher electricity costs, as SMC and other fossil fuel power generators will be emboldened to ask for more rate increases as they can apply for and possibly secure price adjustments during their contracts’ lifetime through the courts. The consumer groups consider the CA’s move a big blow to consumers since it negates the straight-pricing contracts. All straight-price contracts, 23 based on ERC records, are now at risk of price adjustments. In his recent State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. indicated the goal of achieving competitive pricing for electricity, which will be negated by the CA’s injunction order. Consumer groups said the injunction order allowed SMC to ultimately hijack bidding systems for power supply agreements that are in place to protect consumers. SolGen Menardo Guevarra will submit the challenge based on the position that the injunction order interferes with administrative functions. “We will not see an immediate impact of the decision but it will affect prices because they involve fix-rate contacts between SMC and Meralco,” according to the energy chief. “The Solicitor General’s Office has made clear that the government opposed the issuance of injunction orders and therefore would be ready to appeal, I’m sure,” he indicated. Lotilla said the list of rules that the DoE issued was meant to address the problems in the industry and bring down rates to reasonable levels. “We have made the policy decision not to subsidize electricity, so we cannot think of telling the distributor or telling our people that prices are going to be drastically reduced,” Lotilla said. The initiative of the electricity distributor to bid out fixed price contracts would have offset the DoE plan to remove all forms of subsidies on electricity prices and thus make the monthly bills truly equitable. The market reforms have been thrown off course by the court injunction which has had the effect of usurping the authority of a quasi-judicial body while clearly favoring SMC. The post Short-circuited reforms appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
ABS-CBN review petition vs Willie dismissed
Issues actually and directly resolved in a former suit cannot again be raised in any future case between the same parties involving a different cause of action. This was the ruling of the Supreme Court’s Third Division, in a 22-page decision penned by Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh, dismissing the Petitions for Review filed by ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation and partly granting the Petition for Review filed by Willie B. Revillame. The petitions challenge various rulings of the Court of Appeals thus on 23 August 2010, Revillame filed a civil action before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court seeking to cancel, terminate, and rescind his three-year contract with ABS-CBN (Civil Case No. Q-10-67770). Revilla under the contract, was to host the show “Wowowee” on the ABS-CBN network until 10 September 2011 “or upon cancellation or earlier termination of the program.” The suit prompted Revillame to withdraw from “Wowowee” on 5 May 2010, which was followed by ABS-CBN’s refusal to release Revillame as its talent and the network’s subsequent replacement of “Wowowee” with a different program. The television company on 15 September 2010, filed its Answer with Compulsory Counterclaim, praying for liquidated damages in the amount of over P700 million, plus over P400 million for each further violation by Revillame, or for each week of violation of their contract. Later on, ABS-CBN applied for a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction to restrain Revillame from performing with TV5, owned by ABC Development Corporation (ABC Corporation) on a similar show, titled “Willing Willie.” The RTC denied the TRO application but ordered Revillame to post a bond in the amount of P426,917,646.96 as security for any damage that may be incurred by ABSCBN. The company then proceeded to file a complaint with the Makati RTC for copyright infringement against Revillame, ABC Corporation, Wilproductions Inc., and one Ray Espinosa. This prompted ABC Corporation and Espinosa to go to the CA to restrain the Makati RTC from proceeding with the copyright infringement case. The CA ruled in favor of ABC Corporation and Espinosa, finding that ABS-CBN engaged in forum shopping for filing two suits: (1) its Compulsory Counterclaim in Civil Case No. Q-10-67770 pending before the Quezon City RTC and (2) the Complaint for Copyright Infringement pending before the Makati RTC. The CA found that both cases are based on one cause of action: Revillame’s alleged breach of its contract with ABS-CBN. The Supreme Court would later affirm the CA’s ruling in a separate case (G.R. No. 201664). The post ABS-CBN review petition vs Willie dismissed appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Trump indicted for racketeering over 2020 election interference
Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday on charges of racketeering and a string of election crimes after a sprawling, two-year probe into his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden in the US state of Georgia. The case -- relying on laws typically used to bring down mobsters -- is the fourth targeting the 77-year-old Republican this year and could lead to a watershed moment, the first televised trial of a former president in US history. Prosecutors in Atlanta charged the Republican leader with 13 felony counts -- compounding the legal threats he is facing in multiple jurisdictions as a firestorm of investigations imperils his bid for a second White House term. Eighteen co-defendants were indicted in the probe, including Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who pressured local legislators over the result after the election, and Trump's White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. "Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," the indictment read. "That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the state of Georgia, and in other states." With Trump already due to go on trial in New York, south Florida and Washington, the latest charges herald the unprecedented scenario of the 2024 presidential election being litigated as much from the courtroom as the ballot box. The Trump campaign released a statement as the charges were being processed calling Fulton County's chief prosecutor Fani Willis, who is a Democrat, a "rabid partisan" who was "persecuting" the former president with "bogus indictments." The twice-impeached Trump was charged with violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as six conspiracy counts over alleged efforts to commit forgery, impersonate a public official and submit false statements and documents. He is also accused of lying in statements and filing fake documents, as well as soliciting public officials to break their oaths. - Most serious threat - Georgia, which Biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes, presents perhaps the most serious threat to Trump's liberty as he leads the field comfortably for his party's nomination to bid for reelection. Even if he is returned to the Oval Office, he would have none of the powers that presidents arguably enjoy in the federal system to pardon themselves or have prosecutors drop cases. The harsh penalties associated with RICO cases can be an incentive for co-defendants to seek cooperation deals, and the statutes are usually used to target organized crime. Under federal law, anyone who can be connected to a criminal "enterprise" through which offenses were committed can be convicted under RICO. The broader Georgia law doesn't even require the existence of the enterprise. Atlanta-area authorities launched the probe after Trump called Georgia officials weeks before he was due to leave the White House, pressuring them to "find" the 11,780 votes that would reverse Biden's victory in the Peach State. Meadows, who is accused of trying to get a public official to violate his oath, was on the call. Willis empaneled a special grand jury that heard from around 75 witnesses before recommending a raft of felony counts in a secret report in February. She alleges that Trump's team worked with local Republicans on a scheme to replace legitimate slates of "electors" -- the officials who certify a state's results and send them to the US Congress -- with fake pro-Trump stand-ins. - Criminal intent? - Giuliani, who faces 13 felony counts, was being investigated over accusations of harassment of two Fulton County poll workers while other Trump allies were charged over the accessing of sensitive data from an election office in a rural county south of Atlanta, one day after the 2021 Capitol riot. Trump is already facing dozens of felony charges after being federally indicted over the alleged plot to subvert the election, and further prosecutions over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and keeping allegedly fraudulent business records. Authorities in Atlanta installed security barricades outside the downtown courthouse in anticipation of a potential influx of Trump supporters and counter-protesters in the latest case. Lawmakers investigating Trump's efforts to cling to power heard evidence in a series of congressional hearings last summer that would challenge his potential defense that he genuinely believed he had been cheated of the election. ft/sst © Agence France-Presse The post Trump indicted for racketeering over 2020 election interference appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Appeal of the CSC (2)
For the concluding part of the article on the propriety of appeal by the Civil Service Commission or CSC, I will discuss another case that the Court revisited in Fuentes, and how the Supreme Court clarified the guidelines on the legal standing of the CSC to appeal a reversal of its decisions before the Supreme Court. The Case of Ombudsman vs Gutierrez, G.R. 189100, 21 June 2017 (Gutierrez) Gutierrez cited the previous cases of National Police Commission vs Mamauag (G.R. 149999, 12 August 2005) and Pleyto v. Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (G.R. 169982, 23 November 2007). Both cases specified that the government party appealing must not be the quasi-judicial body that meted out the administrative sanction but the prosecuting body in the administrative case. Unlike Dacoycoy and Mathay Jr. where the CSC was the appellant, it was the Ombudsman who filed the appeal in Gutierrez. Gutierrez clothed the Ombudsman with legal standing to intervene on appeal in administrative cases that it has resolved but disallowed other quasi-judicial bodies (such as CSC) the same privilege, contending that the difference in treatment is owing to the Ombudsman’s special dual role of being a disciplining authority and prosecuting agency. Such notwithstanding, the Court, in Fuentes, stated that it finds no real difference between the Ombudsman’s role of being both a disciplinary authority and an agency imbued with prosecutorial powers vis-à-vis the CSC’s role as disciplining authority when it comes to both quasi-judicial agencies’ exercise of administrative power. It echoed the opinion of Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo that the variance in legal effects and procedural framework in the Ombudsman’s roles in administrative and criminal proceedings warrant different treatments. While the Ombudsman’s prosecutorial powers have specific application to criminal cases, the legal standing of the Ombudsman and the CSC to challenge a reversal of their respective rulings in administrative cases comes from their status as disciplining authority. Resolution In view of the foregoing discussions, the Supreme Court, in Fuentes, clarified the rules on CSC’s legal standing to appeal a reversal of its decisions as follows: As a general rule, the CSC has standing to bring an appeal before the Supreme Court as an aggrieved party affected by the reversal or modification of its decisions; As an exception, the Supreme Court can dismiss the petition filed by the CSC if an opposing party clearly shows that the CSC has no standing to bring the appeal (i.e. when the decision will not seriously prejudice the civil service system, will not impair the effectiveness of government, does not have a deleterious effect on the government, or does not have an adverse impact on the integrity of the civil service); and In any event, the appointing authority, prosecuting agency, appointee, or private complainant in appropriate cases is not precluded from elevating a decision adverse to them for review. It must be noted that in Fuentes, the Court applied the general rule and held that CSC can bring an appeal to the Supreme Court as an aggrieved party due to the reversal of its decision by the Court of Appeals. **** For more of Dean Nilo Divina’s legal tidbits, please visit www.divinalaw.com. For comments and questions, please send an email to cabdo@divinalaw.com. The post Appeal of the CSC (2) appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
ICC keep out
The position of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to end any engagement with the International Criminal Court since it is a waste of time and government resources is appropriate since the same position was taken by two magistrates of the tribunal. Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, the presiding officer of the ICC pre-trial chamber, and Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze, who both voted against continuing an investigation into the war on drugs, opined that the Court could not exercise jurisdiction over the Philippines since the country had withdrawn from the Rome Statute before former Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested authorization to commence an investigation. “In the present situation, it would be counter-productive and a waste of the Court’s resources to allow an investigation to proceed, only to declare later in the proceedings, when a challenge is made with respect to a specific case arising from this very situation, that the Court has no jurisdiction,” the dissenting judges said. President Marcos put a period to the ICC debate on Friday, saying the government would no longer be in touch with the international tribunal after it rejected the Philippine government’s plea to suspend its investigation into former president Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drugs campaign. “We will no longer negotiate with the ICC. Just as we were saying from the start, we will not cooperate with them in any way, shape, or form,” Marcos stated firmly. “So, I suppose that puts an end to our dealings with the ICC.” Moreover, Marcos said his administration would “continue to question” the ICC’s jurisdiction in investigating the Philippines’ drug war. “Why would the issue be raised in The Hague? It should be discussed here. That’s it. We have no appeals pending. We have no more actions being taken,” the President said. Last March, the ICC denied the Philippines’ plea to suspend its investigation “in the absence of persuasive reasons in support of ordering suspensive effect.” Before the statement of Marcos, the government submitted a notice of appeal in February and an appeal brief in March to suspend the probe after the ICC authorized its prosecutor, Karim Khan, to investigate alleged crimes committed during the war on drugs of the previous administration. In March 2018, then-president Duterte ordered the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute that created the ICC after former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda continued with his preliminary examination. The Philippines formally cut ties with the ICC on 17 March 2019, exactly a year after the revocation of the Rome Statute. In September 2021, the ICC launched a formal inquiry into the drug war but suspended it two months later after the Philippine government vowed to re-examine the cases in question. The ICC prosecutor in June 2022 requested to reopen the inquiry as it was “not satisfied” with what the Philippines was doing. According to the two dissenting justices, the issue of jurisdiction was not properly addressed in the ICC proceedings. They said: “While the Pre-Trial Chamber had already made similar findings on jurisdiction in its previous Article 15 decision, which are referred to in the Impugned Decision, Article 15 of the Statute does not foresee the participation of the State concerned in the relevant proceedings, and the Statute does not provide for the possibility of a State to file an appeal against a pre-trial chamber’s ruling in the context of Article 15 proceedings.” The dissent indicated that “the Philippines was neither a party nor a participant in the Article 15 proceedings in this situation. It is only in the context of Article 18 proceedings that the Philippines had the opportunity to raise the issue of the Court’s jurisdiction.” The point raised by the magistrates was that the appeal was made on a different provision of the Rome Statute which was not properly addressed by the pre-trial chamber. “As such, we consider that the Philippines’ challenge regarding the Court’s jurisdiction is properly raised on appeal and the Appeals Chamber should have addressed it on the merits,” according to the dissenters. The ICC may have some deeper agenda in proceeding with the probe considering that even its judges believe that what will be undertaken is a waste of time. Closing the door on the prejudiced tribunal was the correct move in protecting the nation as a sovereign state. The post ICC keep out appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
AFP assures only well-trained professionals to handle mandatory ROTC
The Armed Forces of the Philippines will make sure that the Reserve Officers' Training Corps will be implemented accordingly and professionally by well-trained military handlers, especially should it becomes mandatory, newly-designated AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., said Friday. In a chance interview with reporters, Brawner cited the cases of hazing and physical and verbal abuse as well as other malpractices related to the ROTC in the past; hence, the AFP is preparing for proper and relevant conduct of the program in the future. “We are going to do away with that, by making sure that we have a professional core of soldiers and officers who will take care, take charge and manage the new program of the ROTC so ‘yun yung gusto nating gawin (that’s what we wanted to do), that is why right now, we are already training our core of professionals, officers, enlisted personnel who will handle the ROTC,” he said. “Ayaw na natin maulit ‘yung nangyari noong nakaraang programa ng ROTC (We don’t want the old practices to happen again in the ROTC program).” While the AFP is still waiting for the legislation of the ROTC bill, Brawner said there are ongoing preparations already in place. “The way that I understand it, it will not be the Department of National Defense who will be the lead agency rather it will be DepEd. So but the implementation will be done by the Department of National Defense, particularly the Armed Forces of the Philippines. So on our part, we are now preparing,” he noted. ‘ “Looking at the past experience that we have in ROTC, there are abuses in the past.” Expressing his full support for the revival of mandatory ROTC, Brawner said it will prepare every Filipino youth not only to become soldiers “but to become good citizens” that are ready to fight “any challenge or any threat —whether it is man-made or natural calamities.” ROTC in the Philippines is currently being taken optional by tertiary students, through the NSTP STP Act of 2001, following the death of the University of Santo Tomas sophomore cadet Mark Welson Chua, who had exposed corruption in the university’s ROTC program. The bill seeking mandatory ROTC is currently being discussed in the Senate plenary. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as well as vice-president and Education Secretary, Sara Duterte, earlier backed the revival of the program, making it mandatory for all Filipino students. The post AFP assures only well-trained professionals to handle mandatory ROTC appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Putting the quit on Quilter
Karl Quilter, a Chicago resident, was recently handed a sentence of 30 years in a United States federal prison for OSEC, or the online sexual exploitation of children based in the Philippines. The 58-year-old Quilter entered last year a guilty plea, claiming that the minors he spoke with on social media sites Facebook, Viber, and Skype from 2017 to 2020 were his “girlfriends.” His modus operandi, court records showed, involved dangling money transfers to persuade his victims to send the requested images. Quilter, in fact, visited the Philippines in 2017 and 2018, but he would not admit to actually having physical sex with minors, something that could have added to his sentence. He, nonetheless, admitted to having vowed to return to the Philippines in 2020 to act out his OSEC fantasies, yet more proof that OSEC oftentimes leads to actual physical abuse by moneyed, well-traveled monsters. The successful prosecution of Quilter and others like him, however, represents only one side of the coin as there’s also a pressing need to stop the abuse at the source, hundreds of miles away. Putting behind bars adults, frequently family members, who enable this heinous crime within the Philippines and other poor countries, is equally important. Unicef, the International Justice Mission, and Interpol have conducted extensive research that indicates that the Philippines, even before the start of the pandemic, had become a major global hub for live-streaming or the distribution of videos and photos of sex acts involving children as young as two years old. According to their estimates, the incidence of OSEC in the country had more than tripled in recent years, with the Philippines receiving more than eight times as many referrals as any other country, “making it the center of the global live-stream sex abuse trade.” The IJM, which started working closely with authorities in the Philippines in 2020 to close physical channels of sexual abuse of minors like bars and prostitution houses, had warned that Covid-19 lockdowns spanning two years had significantly contributed to a threefold rise in OSEC cases. With his department as the lead agency in the government’s efforts against human trafficking, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has gone, so far, as to warn telecom companies that they would be prosecuted if they did not provide checks and filters against OSEC materials being routed through their networks. The biggest telcos have been heeding Remulla’s call, but as technology moves fast, they have to contend not only with the traffickers but also with tech wizards, those who live off the Dark Web, and who provide the backend support to ram OSEC materials through governmental and corporate check valves. IJM has drawn a silver lining around the dark clouds, saying that significant progress has been made in reducing the availability of children for sale on the streets and for internet-based sex trafficking. The figures, the group claimed, have fallen by as much as 86 percent in the cities where they were present. The relationship between OSEC and money transfers has been made crystal clear by recent research by the Anti-Money Laundering Task Force. It said that to stop the cycle of exploitation and bring the offenders to justice, it is necessary to destroy the illegal financial networks and stop the use of legal ones for OSEC payments. Although Quilter’s sentencing represents an important development in the prosecution of foreign offenders, he is just one among the millions of pedophiles and other perverts who have fueled OSEC, a multi-faceted problem that requires creative solutions and cross-border cooperation among governments, non-governmental organizations, and communities. OSEC operations by families in far-flung barangays are an open secret in communities, betrayed by the sprouting of Wi-Fi antennas in homes that also suddenly had access to extra cash. Cracking down on them has been easier, but the additional challenge now is stopping OSEC coursed through smartphones with internet data access. OSEC has been and will always be a cat-and-mouse game. It’s a virtual one-upmanship in trying to put the quit on depravities perpetrated by the likes of Quilter. The post Putting the quit on Quilter appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»