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The debate
Of course, retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was glad to accept the debate challenge on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) hurled by President Duterte. He and his partners in this years-long WPS campaign have been waiting for the opportunity to make this the priority concern not only of the Duterte administration but of the entire nation as well. There was no better way to make it on top of the list than to goad (bait may be a better word) the Chief Executive no end to make that challenge. Having grown up at the same time and mixed with the same crowd in Davao for years, he must have known how to throw the bait and succeeded in worming his way. .....»»
Rody backs off from debate
President Rodrigo Duterte backed down from his own challenge to debate retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio on the West Philippine Sea after the former magistrate called his bluff and said he was ready to face the Chief Executive anytime of the day......»»
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......»»
EDITORIAL — Next, speedy justice
After a year of being on the run, Arnolfo Teves Jr. is finally being brought back to the country to face multiple indictments for serious offenses. Teves was arrested Thursday in East Timor’s capital Dili by local police. He had been hiding in plain sight in Timor-Leste, occasionally posting videos taunting Philippine authorities who wanted him for multiple murder cases......»»
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......»»
DILG, PNP preparing for Teves return
Both the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police are making preparations to secure the detention of expelled Negros Oriental congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. once he arrives from East Timor where he was arrested on Thursday after months in hiding......»»
‘Not war with China; don’t rely only on US’ – Marcos Jr.
In an interview on Bloomberg TV last Wednesday, as reported in another national daily, he made two related comments that could represent important government policy stands. First, regarding China’s increasing aggressive moves against Philippine vessels in the West Philippine Sea; second, about the United States’ repeated assurance of its “iron-clad” defense commitment under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. The post ‘Not war with China; don’t rely only on US’ – Marcos Jr. appeared first on Bulatlat......»»
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......»»
Retired SC Justice Carpio on ChaCha: “it’s a fraud … we have to oppose this”
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 26 February) – The aim of those who want to change the 1987 Constitution is political rather than economic and this “fraud” must be exposed in various fora and in campuses, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said on Sunday. “It’s a fraud. That’s why we have to oppose […].....»»
SC asked: Declare secret funds unconstitutional
Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio led other legal professionals yesterday in filing a petition asking the SC to declare the allocation, release and disbursement of confidential funds as unconstitutional......»»
‘Reed Bank issue first before environment case vs China’
The Philippine government should first resolve the situation on Reed Bank before it files its environmental case against China on the damage to marine resources, including coral reefs, former Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio has suggested......»»
SC justices join CACJ meet
Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines led a delegation from the Philippine Judiciary who took part in the Council of ASeAN Chief Justices Retreat Meeting 2023 and the 14th ASEAN Law Association General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With Gesmundo were Supreme Court Associate Justices Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Rodil V. Zalameda, Mario V. Lopez, Samuel H. Gaerlan, Jhosep Y. Lopez, Antonio T. Kho Jr. and Maria Filomena D. Singh. The CACJ traces its origins to the inaugural ASEAN Chief Justices Meeting held on 23 August 2013 where it provided a regular forum for the Chief Justices to discuss and exchange views on common issues facing the ASEAN Judiciaries. It also serves as a platform to promote close relations and build mutual understanding among the ASEAN Judiciaries. In addition, the CACJ facilitates judicial cooperation and collaboration to enhance economic growth and development of the ASEAN region. The ALA General Assembly, on the other hand, involves representatives from all 10 ASEAN countries — the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Held once every three years, the general assembly aims to promote regional cooperation among lawyers’ organizations, law faculties, legal research centers, and similar institutions within the ASEAN region. The CACJ Retreat Meeting 2023 and the 14th ALA General Assembly were held from 18 to 21 October 2023. At the Convening of the ALA 14th General Assembly on 19 October 2023, retired chief Justice and ALA Philippines President Artemio V. Panganiban announced that Gesmundo will be the incoming President of ALA Philippines in 2024 and conveyed that the Philippines is willing to host the 45th ALA Governing Council Meeting next year. During the CACJ Retreat Discussion on 20 October 2023, it was agreed among the ASEAN Chief Justices that the Philippines shall host the 11th CACJ Meeting in 2024. The post SC justices join CACJ meet appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Serve with dedication, integrity, gov’t workers told
Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo strongly reminded those in government that “public service is demanding but it is rewarding when done with utmost dedication and integrity.” “It is only through this that we will realize that all the long hours we put in, all the sacrifices that we and our family have endured, have all been for a higher meaning and purpose,” Gesmundo said. “No matter what our position, when we do our work well, we do something good for the public,” he added. Gesmundo and the other justices of the SC lauded CA Presiding Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando for exemplary work during her 70th birthday on 1 September, her retirement age. Gesmundo hailed Salazar-Fernando for her exemplary work in the various institutions she had served in her long and storied career in government. Joining Gesmundo on the occasion are Supreme Court Associate Justices Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Amy C. Lazaro-Javier, Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Samuel H. Gaerlan, Jhosep Y. Lopez, Japar B. Dimaampao, Jose Midas P. Marquez and Antonio T. Kho Jr. PJ Salazar-Fernando, or “PJ Mids” as she is fondly called, began her 50-year service to the public as a law clerk in the Supreme Court. She went on to serve as a supervising presidential staff in the Presidential Management Staff of the Office of the President. She then returned to the Judiciary with her appointment as Municipal Trial Court Judge of Sta. Rita, Pampanga in 1983 and served as Acting MTC Judge of Lubao the following year. President Corazon C. Aquino appointed her Chairperson of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in 1987 and served as an Assistant Secretary of the Land Transportation Office in a concurrent capacity in 1991. PJ Mids was appointed Commissioner of the Commission on Elections in 1992. She returned to the Judiciary again with her appointment as an Associate Justice of the CA on 25 May 1999. On 25 November 2020, she was appointed Presiding Justice by President Rodrigo R. Duterte. The post Serve with dedication, integrity, gov’t workers told appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Pork’s different strokes
Efforts have begun in the House of Representatives to raise the Motor Vehicle Road Users Charge or the Road Users Tax after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. identified the levy as a main source of precious funds. The eagerness of the members of the House to comply with the proposal to hike the tax makes people wary. Proceeds from the tax are the favorite source of legislative pork. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda’s bill indicates the MVUC which ranges from P120 to P4,000 will be raised to between P2,080 and P10,400 for cars, depending on their gross weight. Under the proposal, the MVUC will be increased by a fixed rate yearly until 2025, and by 5 percent from 2026 onwards. Salceda is looking at collecting P151 billion more in revenue from 2024 to 2027 through the higher MVUC. The higher collections should be earmarked for road improvements which is under the Department of Public Works and Highways after President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law abolishing the graft-tainted Road Board. The disposition of the MVUC sparked the feud between House members and the Department of Budget and Management during the initial years of the Duterte term after then Budget Secretary Ben Diokno refused to release the MUVC proceeds until the Road Board was dissolved. Moreover, the late former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III exploited the RUT funds using them as leverage to get House members to impeach former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and to obtain the legislators’ approval for his political agenda, such as a measure seeking to postpone the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao election to allow Noynoy to place his appointees in the Muslim region. The Road Board had an unusual collection setup that practically freed its state audit, making it a perfect “cash cow” as termed by some senators. Gutierrez was impeached overwhelmingly in the House after Noynoy first dangled the pork barrel, saying through his House allies that those who would vote against the impeachment would not receive their pork barrel while those who signed the measure would get a P20-million bonus taken from the Road Board.Later, Gutierrez, knowing that she was in a losing situation, resigned from her post despite her having a guaranteed term. She was replaced by Noynoy’s favorite associate justice, Conchita Carpio-Morales, who carried out the yellow brand of selective justice. Gutierrez had displeased Noynoy when she dismissed the case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the P729-million fertilizer fund scam. Former Chief Justice Renato Corona Jr. was also ousted through impeachment and the leverage used, in turn, were the DAP funds. It was ironic that Noynoy’s allies vowed to abolish the Road Board, which under the law that created it, had full discretion on its use. Its disposition was beyond the scope of the Commission on Audit since the RUT was not part of the budget. Former Sen. Franklin Drilon, for instance, said the body would be abolished by the Senate despite the House allies of former President Arroyo’s withdrawal and eventual rescinding of the bill that sought to terminate the anomalous 2001 creation. Congressmen turned the RUT proceeds into a source of fast money through collusion with Road Board officials. Since the DPWH is now the custodian of the funds, attention must also be directed at the agency in the proper disposition of the MUVC proceeds. Increasing the audit-free funds plus the recently discovered P215 billion in insertions in the budget through the generic flood mitigation projects exposed maneuvers to pilfer public funds. The post Pork’s different strokes appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
OSG special team formed to study legal options on WPS
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra yesterday said a special team was formed that will study and propose legal and diplomatic options over the disputed West Philippine Sea. He said the team is composed of solicitors with expertise in public international law, the law of the sea and other maritime laws, and international arbitration. The SolGen said they formed a special team of solicitors to study and propose legal and diplomatic options for handling WPS issues with China. Guevarra said that raising the matter to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly is also “one of the options.” However, when asked if the government is leaning towards this option, Guevarra said it would be premature to comment. In May, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said it is time for the government to submit a resolution to the UN General Assembly to have China comply with the 2016 arbitration ruling that rejected its claims in the West Philippine Sea. The retired SC associate justice is of the belief that the Philippines will “win there.” The Philippines in 2013, challenged China’s legal basis for its vast claim in the South China Sea before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands. The Philippines won the case in a landmark decision in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing’s assertions. China has stated that they do not recognize the ruling. As for President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. the Philippines will not give up an inch of its territory, including the West Philippine Sea, amid the aggression of China in the area. The post OSG special team formed to study legal options on WPS appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
U.S. must step up too
American analysts have been exploring the possible ways the West Philippine Sea conflict will play out primarily with the so-called “gray zone” maneuvers by China in the disputed waters in which non-military activities are employed for coercion. The United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, a federal body tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide, is reviewing ways that Washington can play a role in de-escalating the tension in the region. The review was sparked by an act of aggression last week when a Chinese Coast Guard vessel deployed a water cannon to redirect an unarmed Philippine Navy supply boat. China blamed the incident on the Philippine government’s continued defiance of an earlier understanding to ban the delivery of construction materials to the beached BRP Sierra Madre navy vessel at Ayungin Shoal. Tensions have been on the rise since last year on China’s perception that Manila was moving closer to Washington, prompting a more aggressive assertion of its claim over most of the West Philippine Sea. “Given that Washington and Manila have a mutual defense treaty, there is credible concern that an incident like this could trigger a wider US-China conflict,” according to the USIP. Under a new Philippine administration, the formerly conciliatory approach the country had taken in its dispute with China has shifted. Instead, Brian Harding, USIP senior expert for Southeast Asia and Pacific Islands, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has highlighted China’s efforts to swarm and intimidate fishing and coast guard vessels to take the bold move of deepening defense ties with the United States, bringing China-Philippines ties to a new low. Ayungin Shoal, the USIP expert said, has long been a likely candidate for the first showdown between the Philippines and China since Beijing took control of Scarborough Shoal in 2012. Former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio also identified the shoal, in a speech the other day, as one of five possible flashpoints that may lead to a deeper maritime conflict. In 1999, the Philippines intentionally beached a World War II naval vessel on a submerged reef, located within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, and has since maintained a small contingent of Marines on board in extremely austere conditions. As a practical matter, in recent years China has turned a blind eye to the Philippines replenishing supplies for the Marines but has blocked the delivery of materials that could be used to repair the ship. USIP’s Andrew Scobell, a China expert, said the recent aggressive actions of a large China Coast Guard vessel on a tiny Filipino Navy supply boat was merely the latest episode in a decades-long campaign of intimidation and coercion by Beijing. Based on its insisted-on nine-dash line boundaries, Beijing claims the right to restrict access to ships from other countries to the South China Sea. “Many of (China’s) white-hulled ships are far larger, much better equipped, and more intimidating than the gray hull naval vessels possessed by most Southeast Asian states,” USIP said. China has persisted in its well-orchestrated campaign of low-intensity conflict, what is widely called “gray zone” actions, to forcefully advance its claims and aggressively push back against rivals. Carla Freeman, a senior USIP expert on China, said that beyond the effort to persuade and deter China, the US should engage in diplomacy to encourage allies and partners in the region to make clear to Beijing their own concerns about the risks to peace posed by confrontation. Regional allies have already issued statements criticizing China’s behavior, with Tokyo using unusually strong language to condemn China’s conduct, the USIP said. Like the Philippines’ position, the USIP said that Washington’s efforts in support of a binding code of conduct, or CoC, would be key to preventing conflict. The USIP, nonetheless, sees as a major obstacle toward progress in the United States itself since it is limited in its diplomatic capabilities after it failed to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Taking the high road in the simmering conflict, thus, would need both the US and China to review their positions of leadership to keep the stability in the region. The post U.S. must step up too appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Mutual Defense Treaty sa US, pwedeng magamit ng Pinas sa China laser attack
MANILA, Philippines – Maaring hilingin na ng Pilipinas na magamit ang Mutual Defense Treaty nito sa Estados Unidos bunsod ng pinakahuling insidente ng paggamit ng China ng military-grade laser laban sa Philippine Coast Guard vessel habang nasa resupply mission para sa tropa sa Ayungin Shoal. Ayon kay dating Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio maituturing […] The post Mutual Defense Treaty sa US, pwedeng magamit ng Pinas sa China laser attack appeared first on REMATE ONLINE......»»
Carpio to Duterte: Ban Chinese fishers from West Philippine Sea
Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio dared yesterday President Duterte to ban China from fishing within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea during his last year in office......»»
Are Carpio and del Rosario hiding anything?
Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and ex-Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario are making a big political publicity gimmick over the on-going territorial dispute between the Philippines and Communist China over areas of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) which, under International Law, belong to the Philippines......»»
Carpio creates online petition urging Duterte to retract West Philippine Sea statements
President Rodrigo Duterte should retract his unconstitutional statements on the West Philippine Sea, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said as he urged Filipinos to demand the same. .....»»