Customs Commissioner Alberto LinaThey are well- deserved beatings that Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina is getting this week.
After being slammed by the OFW community (that means the estimated 2.3 million overseas Filipino workers plus their relatives at the average of six per OFW) for his order to impose tighter inspection of balikbayan boxes, a regional trial court Monday ordered him to stop his highly questionable act of cancelling the P650 million contract to modernize Customs operation that benefitted his company.
The day after President Aquino stopped Lina’s order for stricter control of balikbayan boxes, the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 47 released the order of Judge Paulino Gallegos for Lina also stopping his cancellation of the BOC contract with Omni Prime-Intrasoft JV.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-MoralesOmbudsman Conchita Carpio Morales didn’t mince words in asking the Makati Regional Trial Court to dismiss the suit filed by Vice President Jejomar Binay against her and 12 other persons including senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“Considering that the Complaint appears to be patently bereft of the merit, the only inescapable conclusion is that plaintiff Binay’s suit is a sham,” she said.
Morales reply also dismissed Binay’s complaint as “an obvious publicity stunt calculated to harass and intimidate” her knowing that she will be the final approving authority in the event that the recommendation of the 2nd Special Panel handling the preliminary investigations is adverse to him.
Metro Manila traffic. Thanks to Canadian Inquirer.
No wonder there was no urgency for the Aquino government to find solution to the horrendous traffic that Metro Manilans have to survive daily: they continue to think it’s an affirmation of their “good work.”
Aquino always brags that under his term, the Philippines experienced economic boom.
And proof of that economic boom, he said, is the traffic gridlock. Last year, he told the Filipino community in Spain: “When you come home and you’re caught in traffic, just remember that people are running errands, not just loitering around. That is a sign of economic growth.”
Last week, his anointed, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas echoed that line at the annual national convention of the Philippine Sugar Technologists Association Inc. (Philsutech) in Cebu.
The Supreme Court has been presented the golden opportunity to right a wrong that has spawned corruption and a culture of impunity by elected officials.
In the hearing of the case on the suspension by the Ombudsman of Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay, Jr. before the Supreme Court, lawyers of Binay invoked the “”doctrine of condonation” also known as the “Aguinaldo doctrine” that immunizes an elected official from being removed for administrative misconduct once re-elected.
The doctrine does not apply to criminal cases.
The condonation doctrine over-stretched the proverb, “The will of the people is the will of God.”
Makati Mayor Junjun BinayMakati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr. has invoked the “condonation doctrine” for the dismissal of his cases in connection with the allegedly overpriced (P2.3 billion) Makati City Hall Parking building before the Ombudsman.
The condonation doctrine has no legal bases. It is a legal principle established by the Supreme Court in the 1959 case of Pascual vs Provincial Board.
Arturo B. Pascual was elected mayor of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, in November 1951 and reelected in 1955. In October 6, 1956, the Acting Provincial Governor of that province filed with the Provincial Board three administrative charges -Maladministrative, Abuse of Authority, and Usurpation of Judicial Functions – against Pascual committed during his first term.
In dismissing the case against Pascual, Supreme Court Justice David J. Gutierrez said, “When the people have elected a man to office, it must be assumed that they did this with knowledge of his life and character, and that they disregarded or forgave his faults or misconduct, if he had been guilty of any. It is not for the court, by reason of such faults or misconduct to practically overrule the will of the people. against the said appellant.”
The condonation doctrine had been used in several Supreme Court cases including the one the public is more familiar with: Aguinaldo vs Santos.
Back to the streets Tibigar family after six days in a Batangas resort. Photo from ABS-CBN.President Aquino has not yet spoken on reports, confirmed by Social Services Secretary Dinky Soliman, about the government banishing 490 homeless persons to a Batangas resort during the five-day visit of Pope Francis.
But his deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said, “Wala naman hong ganoon. Parang insulto din sa bisita kapag sinabi mong ‘pag tinago niyo, hindi na niya malalaman’.Hindi naman natin din tinatago ang estado… Makikita naman ‘yan sa official statistics.”
Insulto talaga.
A journalist friend thinks it was not for Pope Francis that the government removed the destitute from Metro Manila’s streets. It was the foreign press that were coming to cover the Papal visit that they were more concerned about.
Bid Notice Abstract
This will either make you laugh or cry.
Last Monday over dinner, lawyer Ven Canta shared with us something that intrigued him when he visited the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System or PhilGeps website.
It was inspired by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. ALS is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, an incurable degenerative disease. Conceived by two Americans afflicted with ALS, the Ice Bucket Challenge asks someone to have a photo or video of him being drenched or he can drench himself with ice water or else donate $100 dollars to an ALS organization. He will then issue a challenge to more people daring to do the same or donate.
Or they can do both. The drenching and the challenge to other people should be posted in social media.
Never mind if many of those who had themselves on video being dumped with ice water on the head just wanted the publicity and didn’t bother to know what ALS is all about. It’s for a good cause anyway.
Take note that the Social Weather Stations survey showing a 16- point plunge in net satisfaction for the Aquino administration was conducted on June 27 – 30, 2014.
From 45 percent last March, satisfaction for general performance of the Aquino administration dropped to 29 percent in the June survey.
This was before the July 1 Supreme Court unanimous decision declaring the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP unconstitutional.
This was before Aquino went ballistic against the Supreme Court insisting on his own interpretation of the Constitution deliberately ignoring that under our system of government the final arbiter when it comes to legal issues is the Supreme Court.
Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad submits 2015 budget to Congress.The P2.6 trillion 2015 budget submitted by Malacanang to Congress will institutionalize the practices in the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.
In the 2015 budget proposal, “savings” is now defined as portions of allocations that “have not been released or obligated” due to “discontinuance or abandonment of a program, activity or project for justifiable causes, at any time during the validity of the appropriations.”
With this definition, President Aquino and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad can hijack funds allocated to projects under the 2015 General Appropriations Act as what they did with DAP the past three years.
