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No executive privilege to hide crime

Published by Ellen on March 27, 2008

This part of Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s dissenting opinion is the whole point of the issue whether Romulo Neri’s invocation of executive privilege upholds or hampers the search for truth and rule of law:

“Executive privilege must be exercised by the President in pursuance of official powers and functions. Executive privilege cannot be invoked to hide a crime because the President is neither empowered nor tasked to conceal a crime. On the contrary, the President has the constitutional duty to enforce criminal laws and cause the prosecution of crimes.

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UNCLOS’ regime of islands

Published by Ellen on March 25, 2008

In the beginning, the bills delineating the country’s archipelagic baselines, filed in the House of Representatives by Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco and in the Senate by detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV were the same.

Both bills included the Scarborough Shoal in the vicinity of Zambales as part of the baseline and the Kalayaan Island Group in the Spratlys as “regime of islands.” While Cuenco’s bill has evolved into something else and has passed second reading, Trillanes’ bill has remained unacted on.

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It’s 9 vs 6: SC favors Neri’s plea vs ZTE probe

Published by Ellen on March 25, 2008

The true color of the Supreme Court now

by Evangeline de Vera

Voting 9-6, the Supreme Court yesterday ruled that acting Higher Education chair Romulo Neri correctly invoked executive privilege in refusing to answer three questions asked by the Senate in connection with its inquiry into the allegedly corrupt $329 million national broadband network project awarded to the China’s ZTE Corp.

The tribunal thus granted the petition of Neri that the Senate be stopped from compelling him to testify on what he said were confidential matters, saying doing so would be detrimental to the country’s diplomatic relations with China.

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Arroyo neglect, government infighting jeopardize RP’s territorial claim

Published by Ellen on March 23, 2008

By VERA Files*

(First of two parts)
map1_rpterritory.JPG map4_projectedregimes.JPG

Neglect by President Arroyo and squabbles over turf and money have derailed government efforts to establish the country’s new archipelagic baseline, and may jeopardize the Philippines’ claim over resource-rich Spratlys that fall within its extended continental shelf.

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Murder in the making

Published by Ellen on March 23, 2008

AFP Hermogenes Esperon has failed to break the spirit of the 28 officers he has charged with various offenses in connection with the military unrest in February 2006 following the leak of the “Hello Garci” tapes the illegitimacy of the Arroyo presidency.

Now, he is trying to kill them by depriving them of adequate air.

Dawn of Tuesday last week, Medal of valor awardee, Col. Ariel Querubin, complained of shortness of breath and chest pains. It was only after four hours, at about 7 a.m., that he was brought to the Camp Aguinaldo hospital, where the X-ray machine was out of order and no medicine available. Querubin had to send his security escort out to buy his medicine. He was later transferred to V. Luna Medical Hospital where he was confined at the Intensive care Unit. He will be brought to the Philippine Heart Center today for angioplasty.

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