SERENO AS CJ

The President's choice of former Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has been very widely expected -- in fact, ever since she wrote her dissenting view against  the high court's decision approving the P40T-per hectare compensation for the Hacienda Luisita, as against her own view recommending several billions.

At any rate, it is not only Sereno that will be put on challenge, it would also be the other Justices who, whether one admits it or not, have been extremely demoralized by Sereno's appointment. 
Whether or not Sereno would be able to get the other fourteen Justices to her side, not only with respect to the Hacienda Luisita case but with respect to many other issues pending in the high court, is going to be a big challenge for Sereno and for the other Justices himself.

One recalls that during Corona's impeachment trial, the emerging impression was that Corona had been behind several previous SJ decisions not favorable to the administration.  Meaning Corona had been dictating his very own thinking on such court rulings.  Now, the big questions cannot but curiously come out to the fore:  1) Suppose Sereno fails to convince the other Justices to toe in what she thinks is right, as reflected by her dissenting views, does she succeed or fail in her job as SC.  or 2) the other way around happened, meaning she was able to get the high court to flip-flop on certain previous decision in favor of the administration, does that mean the President was right in choosing her as CJ?

In fairness to the President, the fact that, as he says, he only has a very small share remaining Hacienda Luisita, may not be enough reason -- well, as yet --to accuse him of being personally biased in naming Sereno the next CJ.

At any rate, it is too early to judge Sereno's and the President's good or bad faith in this regard.
And so, Abangan!

EVEN THE DEAD MAY BELIE A LIE

Noong purmero -- I mean early Saturday evening when it first came in the news that DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo's plane crashed off Masbate -- ang sabi sa TV ay nakaligtas daw ang aide-de-camp ni Robredo, si PNP Abrazado na kababayan niya sa Naga,  nang sa pagbulusok ng eroplano sa dagat ay natanggal diumano, sinadya niya o hindi ay di maliwanag, ang kanyang seat belt at siya ay tumilapon sa tubig, kung saan siya nasagip ng ilang fishermen.  Nasabi ko noon sa sarili na talagang pag oras mo na ay oras mo na, at pag hindi pa ay hndi pa.  I am sure that that initial story had come from none else but Abrazado; medyo mahirap naman sigurong paniwalaan na iyon ay kathang-isip lamang ng kung sino mang reporter.

This morning, I read from the Inquirer Abrazado's own written statement, telling the real story in more detail.  Among the relevant parts of his story are: (1) He momentarily lost consciousness after the plane crashed into the waters.  (2) As he regained consciousness, he looked around but could not see Robledo. (3) He remembered that he and Robledo were seated beside each other before the crash (obviously at the passengers' seat, which most probably was near the door). (4) He tried to unfasten his seat belt but he failed. (5) When he finally unfastened it, he squeezed himself out of the plane.

Then, at 7:45 AM of Tuesday, the divers finally found the plane's fuselage.  They said that 3 bodies were inside, one near the door (very probanly Robledo) and two inside the cockpit (most certainly none else but the pilot and the co-pilot.  As of now, Wednesday afternoon, only Robredo's body had been retrieved, the two others are still there.  But that is another story.

According to Abrazado in his written statement, when he woke up from a temporary loss of consciousness after the plane had crashed, he looked around and did not see Robledo at his side.
How can that be?  Abrazado had himself related that he was wearing his seat belt when he gained consciousness, and found a hard time unfastening it.  It is unthinkable that Robredo had been able to unfasten his own seat belt while Abrazado was unconscious.  As a matter of fact, the divers found Robredo still on his seat, obviously locked in his seat belt.

It seems to me Abrazado has not been telling the whole truth in this particular regard?  As to why, I really do not know.  Maybe, just maybe, he was trying to put across the impression that even if he had wished to at least try to save Robredo, being his aide de camp, he was unable to  because his boss was nowhere to be seen before he managed to squeeze himself out of the plane.  Maybe, again just maybe, deep within him he was afraid or a bit bothered that Robredo's family might feel somewhat frustrated that as their father's aide de camp, he did not do anything to save him.  Pero, hindi ba't sinabi naman, as flashed in TB, ng mga anak ni Robredo that they had no ill feeling against Abrazado for what happened.   After all, I think they fully understand that in matter-of-life-and-death situations like that, one's first and foremost priority is self-preservation. Hindi ba, even Jesus did not blame St. Peter when the latter denied knowing Him three times before the Jews?

Ala eh, just to make a long story short, minsan pang napatunayan ang kasabihang even the dead may belie a lie and unearth the real truth.   
 
 

JESSE ROBREDO, A TRULY GREAT LOSS TO THE NATION

Tunay na dapat ipagluksa ng buong sambayanang Pilipino and maagang pagkawala ni DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo.  Sa gulang niyang 54, tunay na napaka-aga pa upang siya ay mawala.  Siya, sa tingin ko, ay isa sa iilan lamang na matitinong tao ng gobyerno sa kasalukuyan.  Ang totoo, kung hindi magbabago ang kanyang rekord ng serbisyo sa gobyerno, by 2016, kung sakaling siya ay tatakbong Pangulo, baka siya ang iboto ko, kahit pa nga against Binay na kababayan ko.  Noong Sabado ng gabi na hinahanap ang ill-fated plain -- sumpain ako ng Diyos sa pagkakaupo ko habang sinusulat ko ang blog na ito kung hindi ito totoo -- isa ako sa nagdasal na sana'y matagpuan siyang buhay, bagama't the following day, Sunday, noong nahihirapan pa rin ang search and rescue operations na matagpuan ang eroplanong bumagsak, I had to be realistic while hoping for the best.

Habang ang eroplano'y hinahanap, maraming balita ang naglabasan. Lumabas ang balitaang, bilang pagsunod sa isang matandang pamahiin, ay ilaglag daw ang personal na unan, or pillow, sa binagsakan ng eroplano, at si Robredo ay matatagpuan.  Nakatutuwang nang ibagsak nga sa Masbate waters ang pillow ni Robredo na galing pa sa Naga City, ay natagpuan rin siya, bagama't nakalulumbay ring malaman na siya ay isa nang bangkay.  Ako, sa kagurangan ko ngayon, ay isa lang sa iilang naniniwala sa ganintong pamahiin ng matatanda.  And look, di ba nagkatotoo nga?

Lumabas din ang balitang si Rebredo ay sadyang naka-book nang hapong iyon sa Cebu Pacific flight to Manila, not to Naga where, apparently, there was to passenger plane scheduled from Naga to Cebu on that day.  But then, he changed his mind.  He suddenly decided to fly home to Naga, it being a weekend, and because he wanted to give a blowout, or something like that, for his youngest daughter who just won a bronze medal, in Singapore yata, in a mathematics contest.  Talagang gayon yata ang isang ama, sa bawa't sandali'y walang iniisip kundi ang kaligayahan ng kanyang pamilya.  And so, he cancelled his Ceb-Pacific booking to Manila, and decited to get a chartered plane for Naga.  Unfortunately, the plane ended up ill-fated.

Ayoko sanang banggitin ito sa panahong ito ng pagluluksa ng buong bansa for Robredo's untimely death, pero di ko naiwasa. Alam kong di ko man masabi ito ngayon ay sasabihin ko rin balang araw.  Aniko sa sarili'y kakaunti naman siguro, baka nga wala pa, ang makababasa ng blog kong ito, kaya ninasa ko na ring palayain sa aking kalooban.  Hindi ko alam how much it costs to hire a chartered plane, but I am sure it is probably a hundred times more expensive than a passenger plane ticket.  Naisip ko rin, 'yong trip ni Robredo to Naga ay masasabing outside of his truly official functions, since he simply wanted to be home with his family for a very personal reason, and that is to give a surprise treat to his daughter.  Ang tanong:  pinagka-gastos ba ni Robredo ang pamahalaan by the extra amount equivalent to the cost of a plane ticket and a chartered plane?  Sinabi kong tanong, because the answer is either YES or NO.  Yes, if the extra cost will be for the account of the government.  And No, if Robredo intended to have it charged to his personal account.  At any rate, I my hopes run high the eventual answer will be NO. 

Before people get me wrong, I repeat: Si Robredo ay isang mabuting tao, at alam kong laging tumutugaygay sa "tuwid na daan" ni PNoy in government.  Hindi ko nais na pulaan siya sa malungkot na mga sandaling ito.  I hope Robredo -- wherever he is now -- his family and my readers will forgive me for giving out this comment at this rather not-too-opportune moment, even as I believe someone else will articulate it in due course.  May Jesse Robredo rest in peace!  

DOLPHY AS NATIONAL ARTIST

"President Aquino conferred yesterday the National Artist for Cinema distinction on the late action king, Fernando Poe Jr" -- (The Philippine Star, August 17, 2012).

In the aftermath of national sympathy on the death last month of Rodolfo Vera Quizon or Dolphy, the acknowledged King of Philippine Comedy, news was in the air that the National Artist Award would be posthumously confirmed on Dolphy in due course by President Aquino.    

As far as I know, under the official guidelines of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the government agency that accepts, evaluates and recommends nominees for the National Artist Awards -- in turn for the President's final choice and  awarding --  "the Order of National Artist shall not be conferred more frequently than every three years."

Given the foregoing, the question cannot now be helped but come to fore::  Can Dolphy indeed be conferred this highly coveted award this year, or next year or the year after next, without violating the NCCA mandate?

To be sure, this matter will soon be another hotly debated issue in our midst and times. 

THE CHIEF JUSTICE MUST HAVE BEEN A JUSTICE FIRST

This year's choice of the new Chief Justice will go down in this country's history as the most beset by hassles and apparent, though debatable, inconsistencies.  Let me analyze the relevant situations one by one.

First off, the Constitution provides that three members of the of the Judicial and Bar Council must be ex-officio in their respective capacities,  being members of the Judicial (the Chief Justice), Legislative (the representative of Congress) and Executive (the DOJ Secretary) branches of government.  With former Chief Justice Corona out, it was but appropriate that the most senior member of the SC, Justice Antonio Carpio, must chair the JBC.  But Carpio inhibited, being himself a nominee for CJ, so the next senior Justice after him temporarily assumes the post of JBC Chair.  Then DOJ De Lima, another CJ nominee, also inhibited from membership in the JBC, and was replaced by Michael Musngi, a Palace undersecretary  It is needless to say that the purpose behind the ex-officio membership in the JBC was to ensure an equal participation of the Judicial, the Legislative and the Executive branches of government.  But then that equal participation was suddenly distorted when the Supreme Court allowed the simultaneous participation of Cong. Tupas, representing Congress, and Sen Chiz Escudero, representing the Senate -- in clear violation of the Constitutional provision for only one representative from the Legislature.  That there are now two lawmakers in the JBC could not have been debatable had the Supreme Court provided that each of the two should only be entitled to one-half vote.  And worse, even as the Supreme Court stood by its original position that there should indeed be only one representative from Congress, it said that allowing for two was only for this particular case, and that in the future only one representation from Congress will be allowed.  What an unthinkable Solomonic decision!  

De Lima's Dilemma.  DOJ Sec. Leila de Lima may really have a valid axe to grind for having been, in her opinion, singled out in the JBC's CJ-nominee disqualification process.  Truth is, it was not only De Lima who has a pending administrative case, there were three of them, one of whom being SolGen Jardeleza.  I mean, those cases have not been filed with the JBC, but in other judicial bodies, i.e. the Supreme Court and the IBP.  Therefore, it is only the SC and the IBP that has the sole discretion to evaluate or determine the merits of the cases against these three nominees, definitely not the JBC.  In the interest of optimum fairness, then, methinks the JBC could have simply disqualified the three rather than, indeed, singling out De Lima. This is to me one other unthinkable Solomonic decision, this time by the JBC that is downright unnecessary.

As things are, De Lima says the JBC rules are favorable to insiders in the Judiciary, meaning Justices, and unfavorable to outsiders.  Maybe right.  But in my opinion, not only tradition but practical wisdom indeed dictates that the next Chief Justice must always come from among the incumbent Justices.  There was only one occasion when that tradition was broken: when Cong. Jose Yulo became CJ, but that was an exceptionally different matter, being solely at the behest of the Japanese government in the Philippines then.. Methinks practical wisdom dictates that a Chief Justice must be a Justice first.

That said, there is reason to believe Pres. Aquino's final choice would be either Justice Carptio or Justice Serreno.  Gor, practicality again suggests that the President choose a sitting Justice than an outsider.  With that, he would also be be choosing a new Justice -- of course this time from the outside -- to replace either Serreno or Carpio and thus increase his nominees in the high court.  Meanwhile, there is now an aching need to cure the highly demoralized other Justices following what happened to Corona.  Between Serreno and Carpio, I think Carpio is in a better position to do that.  As a matter of fact, that demoralization inside the Supreme Court will all the more worsen with Serreno, the least senior of the Justices, suddenly elevated to the highest tribunal's helm.  For one thing, one of the incumbent Justices could then never expect to be CJ in his lifetime because at 52 Serreno will be be serving as CJ until 2030, when, alas, all the existing Justices have all either been dead or had retired.   At any rate, everything of course depends upon the President's unquestionable prerogative in this regard. .  And so, as I often say at the end of my blog, ABANGAN!  

NATURE'S VIRTUALLY SELECTIVE CURSE

It seems to me Mother Nature has been kind of selective in sending us its virtual curse.. 

During the last two weeks there was practically no letup in media reports about how Metro Manila and Luzon have been transformed by Gener's monsoon rains into something not unlike  Kevin Costners "Water World."  Heavy floods never before witnessed in these parts since Ondoy and Pedring are all over the place, especially in the metropolis.  In particular, no one, indeed, cannot but lament, as shown on on-the-sport TV footage, how residents of every wee district of Medro Manila lose lives and properties to the floods.

But haven't you wondered that there appears to be one district to be so uniquely immune from the ravages of these enormous floods?  The district of Tondo!  I don't know if it has ever come to others' observation that never has Tondo been covered by recent media reports on floods. For me, there seems to be a mystery.  For one thing, Tondo is comparatively as low a place and as near to the sea as Malabon and Navotas, where the least of rains tend to create  floods.  For another, if garbage-clogged esteros and sewers have always been the principal cause of flooding in the metropolis, can any other district match Tondo in that respect?

I have somehow shared this personal observation with some neighbors, some of whom saying that perhaps the media are afraid to visit Tondo, in turn tending to put it reatively on the sidelines.  I don't think so. At any rate, maybe -- well, just maybe -- people from government should find sometime looking deeper into this apparent miracle.  I mean, what is true in Tondo that is not true in any other district of Metro Manila.  Sino'ng mag-aakala?  Baka makapulot tayo ng kaunting aral sa mga taga Tondo na puwedeng gayahin ng iba pang distrito,  towards more or less taming down the unfortunate aftermaths of future floods.

Havubg saud the above, and going into relatively broader perspective, there are two other places in this country that have not been as horrendously ravaged by Nature's wrath as most others have been. I am proud to say that one is my very own hometown, Batangas City.  Sometime ago, I tried to count, but vainly, how many times Pagasa have included Batangas City in its typhoon signals  -- practically the whole province, for that matter, although I am not quite privy with the storm implications suffered by other Batanguenos for me to also speak for them in this regard.  The other place which methinks has been virtually exempt from Nature's might, as far as related news reports are concerned, is Cebu City.  I think most others will agree with me in this observation.

Well, in the absence of any possible logical explanation behind this seemingly mysterious fact, I could only manage to ask myself:  What is clearly in common among Tondo, Batangas City and Cebu City?    My ready  answer is: the patron saint of each one of them is the Sto. Nino,  annually venerated in January. 

I will certainly appreciate comments not only with respect to this particular blog, but to all others.  My  E-mail: rudycoronel2004@yahoo.com   

WHAT'S UNCLEAR ABOUT PAGASA'S ADVISORY?

President Aquino is recently reported in the news as wanting Pagasa to simplify their typhoon advisory to be more understandable to the public. Well, as far as I am concerned, except for some Pagasa weather forecasters once in a while saying something about rain gauge level -- which, indeed, not only the common tao but even the better educated sectors of society will ever understand -- ano pa ba ang gusto ni Pinoy na kasimplihan sa kasalukuyang sinasabi ng Pagasa?  Hindi ba't kung medyo malabo ay isa-isa namang nililiwanag ng mga news caster sa bayan, both in Tagalog and English.  For example, ITC or Intertropical Convergence ay maaari ngang medyo technical, pero over time natutuhan nang maintindihan ito ng bayan.  Gagawin daw ito ngayong "wind convergence."  Pero di ba kasing technical rin ito ng ITC.    Baka naman ang gusto ng Presidente ay tagalugin o bisayain o ilokanuhin ang salitang English na ito -- ewan ko kung merong katumbas ito sa ating wika o ibang dialect na kagaya ng "salipawpaw" meaning airplane, at "salumpuwit" meaning chair.  Aba'y baka lalo tayong hndi magkaintindihan?

O, baka naman this is just the President's discreet way of hiding or sidelining the failure of government to render timely assistance to the masses during typhoons -- sa totoo lang, di ba lagi silang nauunahan ng ABS-CBN at GMA-Channel 7 sa pagdadala ng relief goods sa mga sinalanta ng bagyo.  Come to think of it, hindi pa it is a well known fact that after each typhoon disaster in these parts, financial aids from all parts of the world do cone?  What happens to these millions of pesos from foreign aid.  Well, it may be a little bit late for one disaster, of course, but what about to the next incoming ones, in a country like ours where once the rains start to fall, typhoons do weekly come?    O kaya'y hindi kaya nagbibingihan lang ang gobyerno sa matagal nang panawagan ng Pagasa na dagdagan ng konti ang kanilang budget para makabili sila ng a little bit more modern and sophisticated equipment?  I hate to say this, but I believe that for as long as Pagasa's facilities remain as backward as they are now, its
weather "forecasters" are indeed bound to remain "poorcasters.

Those of us who are old enough to remember know that in decades past super-typhoons as turbulent as we experience now had also visited us: remember Typhoon "Yoling" in the seventies.  But floods then had not been as widely spread as they are now: --remember Ondoy, Pedring and this current one, Gener.  True, the truly low-lying areas like Malabon and Navotas, being below sea level, had been flooded even for a small but continuous rain.  But today, even the relatively much highly situated communities like Quezon City, Marikina or Pasig, are always flooded even after the less turbulent rains. Why?  Environmentalist will hasten to say everything is due to "climate change."  No, they are rather due to government failure in many counts: garbage disposal, subdivisions near lakes and rivers, inefficient spill ways for floods, the national government's habitual passing of responsibility from the national to local government, and many other reasons.  In a recent TV interview, MMDA chief Atty Tolentino has mentioned that there are more than 500 manholes in the Metropolis.  Let us just try to inspect those manholes, and surely all of them are clogged with garbage, even as some of which may have somehow escaped to Manila Bay at the height of Gener's might.  Of course, the national government will always pass the responsibility for the clean of these clogged manholes and esteros to the mayors.  Pero, ganyan nga ang laging nangyayari since time immemorial,  di ba?  Why can't the national government have some relatively more serious political will and whip these local officials into doing what they must.  Tolentino was also thinking of garbage incineration to ease up our garbage problem.  But then again our environmentalists kuno will surely object, citing "global warming" daw.
But why is incineration practiced in Japan, are the Japanese not also concerned about global warming?
Perhaps, these environmentalists should confer with NASA, and ask it if it is possible that our garbage could be sent upwards to outer space.

Having said the above, maybe climate change may really be the culprit, as in fact which when I was in the grade school was known to be lying below the typhoon is now being visited by typhoons.  If that is so, our government should then also deserve to institute an attitudinal change.  It is unfortunate that whether he likes it or not, si Pinoy ang tila pinag-abutan ng lahat ng problemang ito. .

MORAL LAWS VERSUS MORAL VALUES

The manifest confusion, the hems and haws, shown by NEDA Director Balisacan when recently grilled by Sen. President Juan Ponce Enrile (PDI) on the relevance of population and economy may indeed be typical of an economist, as head-scratching Sen Francis Drilon has observed.

But Balisacan's sudden turnaround, his change of position -- this time saying the country's rather high population growth really constrains its economic development -- during an ambush interview by reporters after Enrile left does not speak well of an economist who is a also Cabinet official.  That is plain double talk, a rather desperate effort towards damage control, given that one of the bases of President Aquino's leaning towards the passage of RH Bill is population control.

Enrile is known to be against the RH Bill.  His said grilling of Balisacan was thus a foretaste of what would happen in the Senate when Senators themselves eventually debate on this long-subsisting controversial legislation.

Even as in the House the administration congressmen may have succeeded towards ending the debates and proceeding with the bill amendments/correction stage, I still believe the bill will finally still end up kaput, if not in the House, surely in the Senate.  It is unfortunate that this issue seems to be creating a religious war -- we all know the most vocal proponents of the RH Bill are not Roman Catholics.  It is ironic that in this country, the most predominantly Catholic nation in the Far East, the State and the Church has been manifestly divided.

For me, the issue here is sheer moral "laws", not just moral "values".  Morale laws are absolute and objective, such as "Thou shalt" and Thou shalt not."  They are not relative and subjective, such that  "your" moral values, "my" moral values and/or "society's" moral values may indeed differ, depending upon the prevailing situations or circumstances. I mean, contraception is definitely anti-life -- imagine
preventing the very seed of life from germinating -- and is therefore against moral law, which is obligatory, not optional.  Suppose a teenage child has a boyfriend who dates her regularly without their parents' knowledge.  To get pregnant outside of wedlock is unquestionably wrong, being against morale law.  Can that wrong be righted with the girl taking contraceptive pills or the boy using condoms?  Definitely not. That, in a nutshell, is where the Roman Catholic Church firmly stands on this issue, which those on the other side cannot understand simply because they consider that moral laws and moral values are the same.  The situation is not far from a  millionaire who escapes from paying his income tax -- which is required by law -- and instead donates his money to charity or distributes the amount he should have paid to government as Income Tax as regular alms to the poor. 
He may have been exercising an excellent morale value, but he is violating a morale law and may be imprisoned if caught by the government.

The RH Bill proponents also keep saying all they want is to give  parents the freedom of choice between natural and artificial family planning.  That's a lot of hogwash.  Truth is, they are removing an already existing freedom of choice, as indeed, that's what a law always does, to tie people's hands into doing what the State wants.  An already existing freedom of choice, indeed! Consider this.  At present, when a couple plans to marry, they will first go to City Hall to get a license.  At City Hall they will be subjected to seminar that emphasizes the use of contraceptives.  At least in our place, bibigyan pa nga sila ng isa o dalawang kahong condoms.  Then, when they go to their parish to schedule the church wedding, they will also be put in a seminar that teaches them natural family planning.  O, di ba, ano pa ba namang freedom of choice we are talking about.

The RH Bill also wants to transfer the time-honored responsibility of the parents to educate their children on sex, or to put it bluntly, on the subject, "bata, bata, paano ka ba ginawa?"  to their teachers.  It is true that, probably because of other more prior family needs, such as looking for their daily bread, most mothers in our midst and times may not really be doing this responsibility.  So, the RH Bill want it taught in school.  Wrong!  Shouldn't the righter solution be to encourage, even compel -- I don't know how -- parents not to forget this duty of theirs to their children, NOT to transfer it to teachers.  Imagine what will happen.  We all know that in the privacy of their room, husband and wife do not even talk of anything about sexual intercourse --they just do it -- dahil parang nababastusan sila na pag-usapan ito.  Now, the government wants this discussed daily -- vocally at that like any other school subject -- by teachers and their pupils.  For one thing, since the mother tongue is now required to be the medium of instruction in the primary grades, paano nga ba ita-translate ng maestra from English to the mother tongue and salitang "coitus" and many other related words without feeling embarrassed or hindi pinagtatawanan ng kanyang mag-aaral?  Let's accept it, our traditional values as a nation are far different from those of the West where, for example, "Fuck you" is common place but in this country is downright taboo?

There are surely many other common-sense arguments I wish to cite against the RH Bill, but I do not wish to make this blog unduly long.  I would certainly appreciate feedback from my readers.