At the End of the Day

SECTION 13 of the New Code of Philippine Judicial Conduct (27 April 2004) stated: Judges and members of their families shall neither ask for nor receive any gift, bequest, loan, or favor in relation to anything done or to be done or omitted to be done by him or her in connection with the performance of judicial duties. Its annotation explains that: Public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of money value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office." The key phrase here is--"in the course of their official duties." It means that as long as a judge remains a judge of Philippine courts, this Code applies, prohibiting any receipt, directly or indirectly, from any person. The question then is: Is a discount a gift? On 3

INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER John Maxwell was in full logic when he said in one of his public presentations when he came to the Philippines. He said that a leader who is a two in competency range of 1 to 10 will not be able to get or develop leaders who are nines. Nines attrack nines. And there is no cutting short that law of nature. The dismal performance of public school principals in the recently results of the 2011 National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) tells us in bleak terms a good part on the reason while public education in the country is a disgrace. If the third-richest person in the world Warren Buffett insisted that his children get their education from public schools, I wonder if he would change that policy had he been staying in the country. Of the 11,778 head teachers around the country, only 1,024 passed? I used the question mark at the end of an obvious statement in order to emphasize that something must be wrong in the figure. If the testakers wil

IF YOU CANNOT prevent the truth from getting out into the open court, move instead to eliminate judges that may likely vote for the truth. Despite the official rationale that the defense broadcasted in its move to oust Senator Franklin Drinlon as a senator-judge in the CJ Corona Impeachment Trial, it is obvious that the hidden motive is to bring down the percentage of potential votes towards the truth that may be adverse to the interest of their client, Chief Justice Renato Corona. It is a number's game. The required minimum voters to affirm the Article 2, which is 16, will not be met. And their chance increases with one judge out. The defensive move once again telegraphs their fear to get the truth of the complaint out into the open. If the fear among the defense team advocates exist, then truth may not be on their side. And the Filipino people know exactly what they are up to. And yet again they have to realize that the rules of judicial court does not apply in the

RECENT EVENTS brought by the nature of things in this life tend to favor certain direction in overall events. Is it grace? Or, is it simply a painful joke that decides fortune and misfortune? Yesterday, Negros Occidental Representative Ignacio Arroyo sufferred a heart attack while in his home in London. He had been there for his regular checkup on his liver ailments. But this time the cardiac event proved fatal as he cruised to coma, declared clinically dead, and then finally remove any life support as the medical team handling his case pronounced him dead. He died at age 61. This event has huge and unprecedented impact on the legal battles of his brother former First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo (FG) who is facing a criminal rap in connection to the purchase of three used helicopters by the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the time of his wife's presidential term. Iggy, as Congressman Arroyo is known to his friends, had been a valuable shield of FG in various lega

DAY SIX in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona showed confusion in the court. And it centers on a tax reporting document that even Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile was not familiar of--the Alpha List. It is a list of single-income employees that their company submit to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in lieu of an employee's individual filing of her annual income tax return (ITR). Prosecution private lawyer Arthur Lim knew the Alpha List well enough; he got serious problem cross-examining the witness, BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, without touching on the issue of ill-gotten wealth that the Senate, acting as the Impeachment Court, ruled as inadmissible for presentation of evidence. He attempted to continue at least three time, stumbled into the non-issue again and again. Defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas was in his elements. He obviously knew what is an Alpha list is. But nevertheless strategically tried to throw the prosecution off the tr

IT IS NO accident that we refer to God as the Truth with the capital "T." Truth has a way of getting through no matter the obstacles that those who want to deny it will put up on its way as long as people of good will do something actively to uphold it. In fact, even in the denial of truth, truth itself can be revealed. At this early point of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the truth made itself unsuppressable despite the attempts of the defense team headed by former associate justice Serafin Cuevas. It is understandable that the defense lawyers are doing what they think their job is in preventing their client from getting convicted for the Second Article of Impeachment. It is understandable, and in fact expected, of them to do what they usually do in criminal courts, going to technical objections on every turn in the hope that objections can suppress the truth with so much adversarial hullabaloo. But what the defense failed to see is the fact

A RECENT INCIDENT in Davao City revealed the sneaky tactic that Muslim separatists use in claiming more and more lands in Mindanao as "their ancestral" land. Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered on November 17 members of the Moro National Liberation Front-National Elite Security Unit to vacate areas in Sitio Agdao, Talomo and Mintal, which they claim as a land of their ancestors. True to form they have started harrassing those who are living there in order to have the place for themselves. This was not the first time in Mindanao. (By God, even nations around the world had similar problems with creeping Muslim communities amidst them that can become breeding nests for terrorist operatives.) Provinces like the Zamboangas also noted this kind of creeping dominion; although in certain areas families and relatives of separatists did the subtle presence in certain areas where they later would show no plan to leave. Good that in Davao City they  have a Duterte who cannot be bul