Tag Archives: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

[In the Web] Impeachment is a Purging Process

Posted on by dars0357

Impeachment of CJ Corona: Act of Tyranny or Democracy? Photo from philippinenewsdaily.com.

By Jose Ma. Montelibano

Philippine Daily Inquirer

Published on December 15, 2011

 

Impeachment is a process provided by the Constitution to remove Presidents and Chief Justices. When an impeachment happens, there is disruption, the kind that triggers dramatic and unexpected change. I am happy that the situation is bringing us towards drastic change. Nothing less can reverse the endemic corruption and massive poverty afflicting the Philippines.

The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is a welcome development. It affirms that co-equal heads can both be vulnerable to impeachment. Even the bid to impeach P-Noy by a lawyer known to be a Marcos loyalist can remind us that there are crucial unresolved issues concerning that dictatorship and the effort to extract justice for its victims. Corona is seen as a puppet of Gloria Arroyo just as Lozano is to the Marcoses. It is good to see where lines are drawn, where Filipinos can choose to be with or against.

Even more welcome is the first show of support by judges and court employees for Corona. We have paid so much attention to the corruption in the executive and the Legislative over the decades that the corruption in the Judiciary has been put in the back burner. Yet, the view of many Filipinos, if not most, is that the justice system, meaning judges and justices, including the Supreme Court, are themselves badly tainted.

Change can now be focused on the Judiciary as well. That makes all three branches truly co-equal when change can target all of them – especially on the issue of corruption or its promotion and protection. I can remember from my boyhood the accusations and allegations against presidents and senators and congressmen. Well, today offers an opening for change that is rare.

Constitutions do not determine what is right and wrong, human conscience does. Laws cater to what people believe is right and deter what people believe is wrong. Constitutions spring from the aspirations of citizens for security, for justice, for a bright future. What is constitutional cannot veer away from the common good as expressed by the people themselves.

The weakness of the Constitution of the Philippines, all versions of it, is that the majority of Filipinos have never read it, were not party to its formation, and cannot possibly understand the letter of its provisions. The strength of a democracy, however, is not in its Constitution. It is in the value system that is most acceptable or inspiring to the people if such is reflected in the Constitution.

More than laws, it is values that are most relevant to members of a society. It is values that determine daily behavior, and values that dictate collective standards.  From these values are formed the ethics of work, the ethics of business, the ethics of professions.

What is beautiful about impeachment is that it is a political process as much, or even more, as it is a legal one as well. Being political gives Filipinos a chance to participate. If it were just legal, how can citizens get involved? I remember that an impeachment trail was going on and affected Filipinos so much that they took to the streets when they thought that numbers would be more important than what was true, what was fair. Impeachment can lead to people power if it is abused.

There is no Constitutional crisis, only a moral and ethical one. Impeachment is a purging process, and there is so much need for it. Most nations became one and strong because they went through and survived great conflict. This may be our moment.

 

Please read full article at http://opinion.inquirer.net/19203/impeachment-is-a-purging-process

Related articles

[In the Web] Chief justice impeached for ‘supporting Arroyo’

Posted on by dars0357

Titanic clash looms in the impeachment of CJ Corona. Photo from http://globalbalita.com.

Raissa Robles in Manilla
Dec 13, 2011

Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached yesterday by the House of Representatives for allegedly issuing decisions favouring former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo‘s government.

Corona will become the first Philippine chief justice to face an impeachment trial before the Senate. It will start next year, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said late yesterday.
Only 95 signatures were needed.Corona’s impeachment came suddenly when 188 lawmakers in the 287-member House signed the Articles of Impeachment that the house leadership drafted this weekend.

Edcel Lagman, the House minority leader and a loyal ally of Arroyo, branded the move “the mother of all blackmails”. He claimed congressmen were told they would miss out on “pork-barrel” funding for pet projects if they did not back the move.

Arroyo is under guard at a military hospital after her arrest on charges of electoral sabotage. She denies the charges.

Other lawmakers denied Lagman’s claim. Congressman Teodoro Casino said that his militant bloc signed up to the impeachment because “this is an important step in holding [Arroyo] accountable for her crimes against the people”.

Last month, the Corona-led Supreme Court ruled that Arroyo could leave the country despite a travel ban issued by the Department of Justice. But immigration authorities blocked Arroyo from boarding a plane on the orders of the justice department.

Corona warned court employees yesterday of “a secret plot to oust me from office, by any means fair or foul” and promised a fight.

Corona is the third highest official to be impeached, after former president Joseph Estrada in 2000 and ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez earlier this year.

Animosity between Corona and President Benigno Aquino came to a head last week after Aquino delivered a stinging conference speech moments after shaking Corona’s hand.

Aquino told Corona he was a “midnight appointee”, because the latter assumed office only a week after Aquino’s sweeping electoral victory last year, then detailed a number of decisions Corona made favouring Arroyo.

Corona served as her presidential chief of staff and spokesman before she appointed him to the Supreme Court.

Please read original article posted at http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=037a9249b2334310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=asia%20world&s=news

Related articles

[Videos] Human Rights Violations in the Philippines | **EXPLICIT – youtube

Posted on by dars0357

 

A mock News Report Video for UW (University of Washington) Students for a Research project based on the Human Rights Violations in the Philippines.

Related articles

[In the Web] Trillanes lawyer: Treat Gloria Arroyo the way her government treated my client

Posted on by dars0357

Will CGMA be prosecuted like Sen. Trillanes? Photo from http://innaga.blogspot.com.

by Raissa Robles

When Senator Antonio Trillanes was in detention for a capital crime, he was banned from using the Internet and mobile phone by a regional trial court judge.

Trillanes appealed the ban but the government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo successfully blocked this, as well as his request to physically attend Senate sessions.

That was four years ago. Now the shoe is on the other foot.

Today Congresswoman Arroyo (CGMA) is the one in detention for a capital crime and a regional trial court judge recently barred her mobile and Internet access.

This prohibition prompted her husband-lawyer Mike to send my former Philippine Star colleague Jess Diaz the following text message:

Why is the government trying to isolate and cut off CGMA’s communication line with the outside world as if she’s a convicted criminal already?

This is another assault on her constitutional rights, much more an unlawful obstruction of her right to perform her function as an elected representative of her district in Pampanga.

When will this oppression stop?

Mike Arroyo’s rant seems to have ignored what his wife did to Trillanes and how that might have set a precedent on how courts should treat detained lawmakers facing non-bailable charges.

Trillanes’ lawyer Reynaldo Robles told me in an interview:

When the senator was in jail we made a (court) request for him to use the Internet and a cellphone. He was not allowed. Now, if they change the rules just because of former President Arroyo, obviously they are not being objective anymore.

This (request for Internet and phone access) is the ultimate test of (the court’s) objectivity.

Please read full article at http://raissarobles.com/2011/12/05/trillanes-lawyer-treat-gloria-arroyo-the-way-her-government-treated-my-client/

Related articles

[In the Web] Tougher action needed to end impunity in journalist killings

Posted on by dars0357

Tougher action needed to end impunity in journalist killings. Photo from nationmultimedia.com

By Gayathry Venkiteswaran

Southeast Asia has unfortunately earned a reputation for not being a safe place for journalists.

 

The threats? Take any number. They range from imprisonment for crimes under outdated libel and slander laws, detention without trial, violence against media personnel, and impunity in the killing of journalists.

It is no coincidence that journalists who face risks are those whose stories have exposed weaknesses in governance structures, lopsided distribution of resources, and the absence of accountability and transparency. These weaknesses affect the ability of citizens to enjoy all other fundamental rights, such as rights to life, housing, public health, education and livelihood, among others.

Typical advice given to journalists is that there is no story worth risking one’s life for. But lives have been lost in the course of journalists doing their jobs. Only a small portion of murder cases have seen the light of day in the courts because of the extent to which the culture of impunity has taken root.

Impunity is when the perpetrators of killings – be they of journalists or human rights activists or lawyers – are not investigated or brought to justice. That violence and impunity are staking a claim in peaceful democracies should make us jump out of our seats and stop them in their tracks here and now. It’s a zero-sum game: every unpunished crime means a win for the killer, often representing powerful individuals or the state or businesses; and zero for the public, which is deprived of its right to information.

The cold-blooded murder of Marlene Esperat in the Philippines in 2005 is a case in point. As a member of the local Ombudsman’s Office and then as a journalist, Esperat was persistent in her fight against corruption, and obviously came too close to the truth. Esperat, who had worked with the Department of Agriculture in Central Mindanao, the Philippines, went into journalism and wrote for the local Midland’s Review, and had exposed a fertiliser scam and other wrongdoings involving the Agriculture Department. She was killed in front of her children while having dinner at home on March 24, 2005. The suspects in the murder admitted that they were hired to kill her. The price for the kill was US$3,000.

After six years and back-and-forth courtroom haggling, finally the masterminds in Esperat’s case will face trial. It’s still a long way away from closure for her family, but a step in the right direction nevertheless.

Yet one of the darkest days in the history of the media was the brutal massacre of 58 people, including 32 media workers, in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines – who were on their way to register a candidacy for an election – by the paramilitary thugs of the politically entrenched Ampatuan clan. To date, close to two years after the worst incident of extrajudicial killing in the Philippines’ history, 196 people have been charged. Out of these, only 93, including several members of the Ampatuan family, are currently detained, and 64 on trial. The court case has been marred by delays, the deaths of witnesses, alleged bribes and threats to the plaintiffs in a bid to have them drop their charges.

That incident, on November 23, 2009, has forced not only Filipinos, but the international community, to see the extent to which we have collectively sanctioned crimes against the media. The affects on families and societies linger for years after the crimes have occurred, and serve to entrench the culture of fear.

But the Philippines is not the only country with the problem of impunity. The conditions that lead to impunity – widespread corruption, a weak judiciary, poorly developed enforcement agencies, and weak legal frameworks – exist throughout the region.

 

Read full article at http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Tougher-action-needed-to-end-impunity-in-journalis-30170427.html

Related articles

[In the Web] Senate declares November 23 as National Day to End Impunity

Posted on by dars0357

November 23 is a day of action on the unsolved murders of journalists, and to raise awareness to end impunity. Photo from http://www.i-m-s.dk/

Written by Cocoy*

The Philippine Senate passed resolution 642 declaring every 23rd of November as a National Day to End Impunity.

November 23 is the anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre that saw 58 people being killed. The resolution recognizes that two years since the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre where 58 lives, including that of 32 media workers, were lost in what was the worst single instance of electoral violence in the country’s recent history and the deadliest single attack on the press ever and the worst manifestation of the plague of extrajudicial killings, has claimed the lives of hundreds of people – media workers, judges, lawyers, religious activists – whose only involvement was to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to free expression.

The resolution also recognizes the failure to solve all but a pitiful handful of these murder cases and to enforce existing laws intended to protect and promote human rights has bred a culture of impunity that has emboldened those who would curtail free expression and tehrefore the government should vow to bring justice and ensure good governance by taking measures to facilitate the expeditious disposal of unsolved cases of extrajudicial killings;

Acccording to Senator Kiko Pangilinan who issued a statement upon filing of the resolution, “It’s been two years since the gruesome event and still our countrymen cry out for justice for the victims of the Maguindanao massacre. It was the worst single instance of electoral violence in our country’s history and the deadliest affront against freedom of the press. It gave us international notoriety as one of the most dangerous places for journalists. We must never forget that day when the culture of impunity showed us its worst manifestation.“

 

Read full article at http://propinoy.net/2011/11/23/senate-declares-november-23-as-national-day-to-end-impunity/

 

*Cocoy is an Internet entrepreneur, technologyenthusiast, political junkie and social observer who enjoys a good cup of coffee, comic books, and tweets as @cocoy on twitter. He publishesThe Multiverse, a weblog that covers pop culture, as well as Lab Rats that talks about Apple, Social Media and Technology. Cocoy is also theManaging Director and Editor-in-Chief of the ProPinoy Project. He regularly contributes political commentary at BlogWatch.ph, and writes about the technology sector for the Philippine Online Chronicles.

Related articles

[In the Web] Glacial pace of Maguindanao Massacre trial

Posted on by dars0357

Justice for Victims of Ampatuan Massacre. Image from http://newscoreonline.blogspot.com.

Big Deal

by Dan Mariano

Up until the last three years of her presidency, Gloria M. Arroyo was able to “manage” her relations with the media. Some journalists were perhaps impressed with her administration’s economic performance and genuinely wished it success; others were placated with the usual accommodations and sinecures that government officials have long plied press-card holders in this country.
The relations began to sour, however, following the 2005 “Hello, Garci” scandal and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege when dozens of journalists were flex-cuffed by police just because they were covering the incident.

In addition, the flurry of libel suits filed by GMA administration figures—including then-first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and then-GSIS boss Winston Garcia—against reporters, editors, publishers, commentators and columnists further convinced the Fourth Estate that Mrs. Arroyo and her underlings despised the free media and would like nothing better than to silence critics in newspapers, TV, radio and the Internet.

Few, however, suspected that some quarters close to her had planned to silence pesky journalists literally, permanently and in such devastating fashion.

As hostile and contemptuous as GMA was toward the news media, even her most rabid detractors could not imagine that the massacre of 58 people—mostly media workers—in Maguindanao could ever take place in this country. But the alleged butchers were led by a political warlord whom she had relied on to manipulate election results.

Were it not for their political partnership with GMA, would the Ampatuans have been so emboldened as to even contemplate such an atrocity—and believe that they could get away with?

There were signs that soon after word of the November 23, 2009 killings reached Manila the then-president had tried to shield the Ampatuans. When it became obvious that a cover-up had become impossible, the GMA administration dragged its feet in prosecuting the alleged killers—so much so that to this day the case is still pending.

The case is being heard by a supposedly special court that continues to operate in the usual snail’s pace of ordinary tribunals. The Supreme Court is still under the sway of GMA appointees who apparently regard her with fondness—or more.

No wonder then that the leadership of the judiciary seems perfectly willing to let the so-called special court to just muddle along in the face of the widespread outrage, both here and abroad, that the Maguindanao massacre drew.

Court rules
The cadence of the court case has been so glacial that legal experts, like former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., see the trial dragging on for another year or two—“unless a miracle happens.”

In a recent statement coursed through the Pimentel Center for Local Governance, Nene noted: “As of last week, the prosecution and the defense panels were reportedly squabbling over the number of days every week that should be set aside for the trial of the case.”

The trial judge had reportedly set two days a week for the hearing of the case. A defense lawyer suggested that one more day be added to the weekly trial dates. “Surprisingly, a prosecutor reportedly retorted that another day would be unacceptable because she had other cases to attend to,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel observed that “the speedy justice that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution guarantees to litigants, especially, in criminal cases is being cast aside for the comfort and convenience of the legal panels.”

He clarified, however: “By no means is the judge handling the case being blamed for the delays in the trial of the case. From afar, it looks like the judge, who is a lady, is evenhanded.”

The traditionally laidback dispensation of justice in this country has marked even the Ampatuan trial, giving rise to suggestions for the adoption of a jury system.

Read more at http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/columnist1/11851-glacial-pace-of-maguindanao-massacre-trial
Related articles

[In the Web] Gloria Arroyo’s downfall actually started in July

Posted on by dars0357

GMA with Ampatuans. Photo courtesy of Asiancorrespondent.com

 

By Raissa Robles

The Arroyo camp is complaining that the Commission on Elections and the Department of Justice “railroaded” and “rushed” the electoral sabotage case against her. The truth is the opposite of that. The “evidence” of Arroyo’s crime first came to light on July 11 this year and quickly unfolded from there.

It all began when Zaldy Ampatuan –  a suspected mass murderer whom Arroyo  handpicked to be  Governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) – suddenly told ABS-CBN TV that his family helped rig the 2007 polls for Arroyo in their home province of Maguindanao.

He claimed that as a result, Arroyo’s candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri won a seat in the Senate.

During the Comelec counting at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Zubiri emerged No. 1 in Maguindanao province and won over 195,000 votes there. Gloria Arroyo’s senatorial bets won all the votes there while the opposition – that then included Benigno Aquino III – all got zero.

Arroyo’s spokesman Raul Lambino said the accusation was self-serving. Ampatuan merely wanted to save his own skin. By offering to testify against Arroyo, he might evade being charged for the 2009 massacre of 58 people, including 34 journalists, in Maguindanao, southern Philippines.

At that time, Ampatuan had already been in a maximum security cell for two years trying to avoid arraignment for the mass murder.

Ampatuan’s claim would probably have fallen by the wayside if another controversial personality had not surfaced three days later on July 13 and sang the same tune. Lintang Bedol, an election supervisor for the southern province of Sultan Kudarat and long wanted by the Comelec for cheating, suddenly gave an interview to ABS-CBN saying Arroyo cheated in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Two weeks later, the man whom Zaldy Ampatuan claimed was the main beneficiary of cheating suddenly resigned from the Senate. Juan Miguel Zubiri vacated his Senate seat on August 3 tearfully saying:

“Without admitting any fault and with my vehement denial of the alleged electoral fraud hurled against me, I am submitting my resignation as a duly elected Senator of the Republic of the Philippines in the election for which I am falsely accused without mercy and compassion.

Kung may nandaya po sa 2007 elections, wala po tayong kinalaman diyan…[If anyone cheated in the 2007 elections, we did not know anything about it."

The candidate who had accused Zubiri of stealing the votes assumed Zubiri’s vacated seat and vowed to go after the “mastermind” of the cheating.

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III had actually fought a lonely four-year battle to unseat Zubiri from the Senate and claim it as his. Way back in 2007, he had accused two provincial election officials, Lilian Radam and Yogie Martirizar, of cheating for Zubiri.

This is the same Yogie Martirizar whom I wrote about as having almost the same calcium deficiency disorder as Arroyo in my piece entitled – Gloria Arroyo stopped a woman, with an illness and a case just like hers, from leaving the country for four years

Read more at http://raissarobles.com/2011/11/21/gloria-arroyos-downfall-actually-started-in-july/

Related articles

[In the Web] Philippine massacre victims’ kin sue ex-president

Posted on by dars0357

Families of the Victims of the Maguindanao Massacre still crying for justice. Photo from http://politicalwatchuntv.wordpress.com.

 

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Relatives of 57 people massacred in the Philippines’ worst political violence sued former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday, claiming she could have prevented the killings.

At least two Arroyo allies, including a former governor of an autonomous Muslim region, are among about 100 suspects being tried on murder charges in the massacre that occurred two years ago Wednesday. The dead included 32 media workers, making it the worst single killing of journalists in the world.

Arroyo was arrested last week on charges that she ordered the former governor, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and another official to commit election fraud two years before the massacre. Arroyo has condemned and denied any knowledge of the killings, but lawyer Harry Roque said she should have known that Ampatuan and his son were a danger.

Roque filed the lawsuit Tuesday, seeking 15 million pesos ($346,000) in damages. In court documents, he argued that Arroyo turned a blind eye to a decade of human rights abuses in the region and “instead she cultivated ties with the Ampatuans, who would prove indispensable to her continued hold on political power.”

Reporters, drivers and assistants were accompanying family and supporters of the Ampatuans’ political rival en route to file for candidacy in regional elections when gunmen allegedly led by former town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. stopped them and led them to a hilltop clearing where they were mowed down and hastily buried in mass graves.

Relatives and colleagues of the journalists who died visited the massacre site Tuesday, the eve of the killings’ second anniversary. They offered prayers and 58 white lilies and lighted candles. A Catholic priest celebrated Mass at the mound where concrete markers bearing the names of dead were erected.

Reynafe Momay-Castillo, daughter of journalist Reynaldo Momay — the 58th victim whose body has not yet been found — could not hold back tears as she spoke to reporters. “I have been waiting for two years. …I have also been denied justice for the two years that I’ve been searching for my father.”

Arroyo expelled the Ampatuans from her ruling party after the massacre and declared martial law in Maguindanao province, enabling the army and police to round up the suspects and attempt to restore order.

Roque said that although there is no evidence that Arroyo masterminded the massacre, “she not only funded and armed the Ampatuans but gave them the sense of influence. She could have prevented it. She knew about possible dangers.”

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Philippine-massacre-victims-kin-sue-ex-president-2281339.php#ixzz1eULYADDT

Related articles

[In the Web] Payback time

Posted on by dars0357

 

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo administers the oath to her newly appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Malacanang Palace in Manila. Corona is the 23rd chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court.. Photo from http://gulfnews.com

By Mr. Oldtowner

Former Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is now reaping of what she sow in her 9 ½ years in office. Mrs. Arroyo was charged before a lower court of election sabotage and was ordered arrested in her hospital bed in late afternoon of Nov. 18, 2011. The arrest warrant was immediately served before Mrs. Arroyo could take her move of going abroad. The ex-president is facing various lawsuits.

 

Mrs. Arroyo was accused of big time corruption, election cheating, human rights violations and other anomalies that muddled the whole process of governance. Impunity is associated to the then government of Mrs. Arroyo. Her trusted allies, minions and paid hacks made a killing in defrauding, looting and bleeding the country’s wealth. Allegedly, immoderate greed persisted even in the last days of the term of the Arroyo government.

 

It was like a bacchanalia of anomalies committed. The corrupt system of government affected the very foundation of moral authority usually associated in good governance. All institutions, both private and the public sectors, shamelessly connived with the Arroyo government in changing the outlook of managing the country. The military and police organizations were used in rigging the 2004 and 2007 elections.

 

Political clans and warlords around the country were ushered in to the seat of power to help the Arroyo government of committing more anomalies and human rights violations. The administration created a monster that stirred fear and anxiety. It was like that there’s no end to injustice. The Arroyo government even tried to stay in power by amending the constitution but met with angry opposition from the different sectors of society.

 

Nevertheless, Mrs. Gloria Arroyo finished her term but not without assuring herself of protection from lawsuits. The sly former leader appointed most of the justices of the Supreme Court and without a doubt her appointees’ loyalty were tested during the first few months of the new administration of President Noynoy Aquino.

 

Read full article at http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Payback-time_1/2942648

Related articles