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Tag: Supreme Court

Sereno ouster jolts a complacent public

Published by Ellen on May 13, 2018

Democracy in the Philippines did not die last Friday.

It was beaten up and trampled upon by President Rodrigo Duterte through his Solicitor General Jose Calida and executed by the eight justices of the Supreme Court (remember the names: Noel Tijam, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Samuel Martires, Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander Gesmundo, Lucas Bersamin, Diosdado Peralta and Francis Jardeleza) but we deeply value democratic values we will not let them kill it just like that.

What happened last Friday when the eight justices blatantly violated the Constitution they were sworn to uphold and ousted Supreme Court Justice Lourdes Sereno, whom Duterte publicly tagged as “enemy’” last April and declared that she be “out of the Supreme Court” was not a surprise but it was still traumatic.

Photo from Mae Paner’s Facebook

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Ang hamon kay Sereno: panatiliing independent ang Supreme Court

Published by Ellen on August 25, 2012

The first female Chief Justice in the Philippines
Sa edad na 52, kung manatiling malusog ang bagong hirang na Chief Justice na si Ma. Lourdes Sereno, siya manatili sa makapangyarihan na posisyun nay an hanggang 2030.

Labing-walong taon siya sa posisyun na yan.

Siyempre marami ang nag-aalala sa hindi magandang epekto ng sobrang tagal sa kapangyarihan ng isang opisyal. Na kahit anong galing ng isang tao, kapag masyadong matagal sa pusisyun, kung hindi naging abusado, ganun-na ganun na lang sa mahabang panahon.

Ngunit matalino si Sereno. Valedictorian at cum laude siya ng siya at nag-graduate sa University of the Philippines College of Law noong 1984. Pang-14 siya sa bar exams.

“My leadership is to be exercised to uphold the truth. It is to be exercised in favor of those who are weak, in order that justice in its true sense may be rendered.” -Sereno

http://verafiles.org/front/sereno-vision-courage-and-accountability/

Continue readingAng hamon kay Sereno: panatiliing independent ang Supreme Court

JBC partly to blame for problems in judiciary

Published by Ellen on June 14, 2012

This is a three-part series by VERA Files which we hope you will find useful as we monitor the selection of the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The High Tribunal

JBC partly to blame for problems in judiciary

(First of three parts)

The Judicial and Bar Council is now the focus of national attention as it begins the process of recommending a replacement for ousted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. The process, if done right, is expected to help restore public confidence in the High Tribunal.

Yet many in the legal profession and in the judiciary, as well as in civil society, say the JBC needs reforming, because it is partly responsible for the problems in the judiciary, exemplified by the rise and fall of Corona, a “midnight appointee” who was eventually impeached and convicted for violating the Constitution and betraying public trust.

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Ex-SolGen tags ‘The Firm’ in drive vs new CJ

Published by Ellen on May 18, 2010

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Is The Firm making a comeback?

Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez Monday assailed what he said were attempts by members of The Firm, a law office formerly associated with the First Couple, to return to the corridors of power with the impending inauguration of the Aquino presidency.

Chavez said that former Defense Secretary Avelino “Nonong” Cruz Jr. was eyeing the post of justice secretary while former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo wanted to become a member of the Judicial and Bar Council.

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Puti at itim

Published by Ellen on May 17, 2010

Ngayon na sila na ang mga nasa-kapangyarihan ang isang dapat pag-ingatan ng mga nagsuporta kay Noynoy Aquino ay ang makitid na paningin . Na ang tingin sa mundo ay puti lang at itim.

Na kapag kasama ka nila, ikaw ay puti, walang kasalanan at pupunta ka sa langit. Kung ikaw naman ay hindi sa kanila, sumuporta ka kay Manny Villar, Joseph Estrada, Gilbert Teodoro at iba pang kandidato ikaw ay alagad ng kadiliman at pupunta ka sa impyerno.

Sana hindi nila uulitin ang ginawa ni Cory Aquino noong 1986 na lahat na nasilayan nina Marcos ay masama at pinagtatangal sa trabaho kahit ang magagaling. Nasa Department of Foreign Affairs ako na-assign noon at nakita ko ang mga magagaling na katulad nina Amb. Rodolfo Severino ay tinuligsa nina Heherzon Alvarez dahil yun daw ang nagdedepensa kay Marcos sa embassy ng nagpu-portesta sila sa Washingon D.C.

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A brewing crisis

Published by Ellen on May 16, 2010

It looks like there would be no boring moments in the Noynoy Aquino presidency.

This early, fireworks are starting to be lighted in the controversy of Gloria Arroyo’s appointment of Renato Corona as Supreme Court chief justice succeeding Reynato Puno who retired today.

Aquino’s adviser, Avelino “Nonong” Cruz, who was also Arroyo’s chief legal adviser until he fell out of grace when he disagreed with her attempts to change the Constitution for her to stay in power forever, told the president-in-waiting to void the Corona’s appointment just what Arroyo’s father , President Diosdado Macapagal, did to the midnight appointments of his predecessor, Carlos Garcia.

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Arroyo appoints Corona as new chief justice

Published by Ellen on May 12, 2010

by Tetch Torres
Inquirer.net

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice Renato Corona as the incoming chief justice upon the retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno on May 17.

Corona was appointed associate justice by Arroyo on April 9, 2002. He graduated law from the Ateneo Law School in 1974. While studying, he also worked full time in the Office of the Executive Secretary. He ranked 25th in the 1974 Bar examination out of 1,965 candidates.

After law school, he studied Master of Business Administration at the Ateneo Professional Schools and in 1981, he was accepted to the Master of Laws program in Harvard Law School, where he focused on foreign investment policies and the regulation of corporate and financial institutions.

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Legalizing the illegal

Published by Ellen on March 18, 2010

This is what is disturbing about the Supreme Court decision allowing Gloria Arroyo to make a midnight appointment to succeed Chief Justice Reynato Puno: Arroyo can do anything illegal to stay in power beyond June 2010 and the Supreme Court will give it a mantle of legality.

Supreme court rally2
Photo by Mario Ignacio for VERA Files

This is the scenario that we are looking: There will be partial failure of election. Only in the national level. That means no president, vice president and senators would be proclaimed by June 30, 2010.

Since the term of incumbent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will end on June 30, there will be no Senate President, who is third in the Constitutional order of succession. (There have been calls for Enrile to do the patriotic act of resigning as senate president so that someone whose term will end in 2013 could be elected senate president but he has refused.)
Meanwhile, there would be proclamation of winners in the local posts including members of the House of Representatives.

There have been reports of Gloria Arroyo subsidizing the campaign of a huge number of congressmen to make sure that she gets elected as speaker.

The speaker of the House is fourth in the line of succession.

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