Manila Journalist jailed for libel

I just heard from the news about a Manila newspaper journalist jailed after having been convicted of libel by a regional trial court judge.
The judge who convicted him is Judge Silvino T. Pampilo Jr.
This is somewhat unusual, for many reasons.
First, He was supposed to be convicted only of a jail term of six months to two years. This is probationable. So why was he sent to jail?
If he appealed, he can be free while his case is on appeal. So why was he immediately sent to jail? The only way he could go to jail is for him to let his conviction become final and executory, by not filing a motion for reconsideration or filing an appeal, or not applying for probation.
But it is really unusual for a journalist to be sent to jail after conviction in the RTC.
Most usually appeal the case.
By the way, the private complainant was PAGCOR Chair Ephraim Genuino, according to ABS-CBN news.
Genuino is touted to be "one of the boys" of the First Gentleman.
The First Gentleman himself is filing a string of libel cases, which are now pending in the Mnaila Regional Trial Court.
In the libel case against the Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet, filed by the First Gentleman, it is also under the sala of Judge Pampilo.
By the way, there are some newsmen who say nobody is ever convicted of libel by the Supreme Court.
That is not accurate.
There are cases involving journalists, broadcasters who are held liable for libel by the Supreme Court.

High number of road mishaps validated

The Philippine Daily Inquirer today published a story confirming the dangers posed by our roads and highways to the lives of pedestrians.
The story Metro streets for deadly for pedestrians just portrays how dangerous and risky Manila roads are.
This echoes my serious concerns about how our streets threaten the lives of many on a daily basis.

Road mishaps

Roads are one of the most dangerous places to be in.
Everytime I am on the road, specially the freeways, I always pray to God for protection because, frankly speaking, anything can just happen.
What worries me are the frequency of road mishaps that happen, i.e. car collissions, pedestrians run over by vehicles, road rage.
When I am on the road and bringing a camera, many times I get to encounter other vehicles that figure in road accidents.
I was even able to take pictures of these road collissions.
Let me post some of those photos of road accidents which I have taken, because I happened to be in the area myself at those times.
First, while on our way to Bataan we met a bumping incident involving an Isuzu cargo truck and an owner-type jeep.
For a while, we couldn't figure out how the incident could have happened, but it seemed the jeep was trying to cross an intersection, but was bumped by the truck running on the intersecting direction.
I was also driving from the southern town of Siaton in Negros Oriental not long ago, on my way to Dumaguete City.
We encountered a Ceres passenger bus lying sideways on the road shoulder.
When we arrived, the injured passengers had just been taken into another Ceres bus and brought to a hospital in Dumaguete City.
According to the witnesses, the ill-fated Ceres bus was racing with another vehicle, and when they met another vehicle coming from the opposite direction, it was too late, so the Ceres bus had to swerve towards the left shoulder of the road.
What a dangerous maneuver.
Then, another road incident we were able to capture was amusing. It involved a hearse (porlon) along a major road in Manila.
Coffin-carrying vehicles usually do not figure in road accidents because they always travel at very slow speed for obvious reasons.
But this hearse was different, most probably as it wasn't "on-duty". But on the few times that it was speeding "conffin-less", it met a road accident.
Also, while I was in Houston, years ago, I was also able to take photo shots of a vehicle that had just turned-turtle on the road.

Just recently, I was riding a taxi late at night in Cebu City. We stalled when we saw many people on the road.

We learned that a motorcycle had just met a collision with another vehicle.

It happened just minutes before we arrived. I got out of the taxi and took pictures of the motorcycle driver who was bloodied and still lying on the road unconscious, while his wife, was screaming for help.

Fortunately, the motorcycle driver became conscious a little later, and was brought to the hospital.
Because of these road accidents, I always remind myself not to be complacent while on the road, and try to be always on alert.
What worries me is that many of the drivers don't drive defensively, specially here in Metro Manila.
One needs to learn the "driving culture" here in Manila because of the "suicidal" behavior of many drivers, particuarly those driving jeepneys and the public utility buses.

Missing radio

I sometimes feel I miss my radio days.

I was exposed to broadcasting at a young age.

I remember I started out as a cleaner of 45 rpm's and long playing records,before they are played by disc jockeys / spinners on board.

I then learned to become a spinner, a disc jockey and a newscaster.

That was back in the 1980's in Dumaguete City.

My father opened the first FM station in 1979, DYEM-FM at 96.7.

Up to this day, it has continued to serve as a bridge of its listeners in Dumaguete city on current affairs and music.

Lately I came accross some of the old pictures during those radio days.

I thought I have to preserve it, lest it would be lost forever. (Blogs are used to store files, photos too).

My radio days were some of the fun and ejoyable times of my boyhood and adolescent life.

If you would notice the pictures, it was during the time of the turn-tables and tape decks, and cassettes.

The LPs (long playing records) and 45's were called "plaka".

Then it became CDs. Now I think its the age of MP3's and MP4's.

Radio stations these days are all computerized and computer generated.

After the turntables came the compact discs. But today, the music pieces are stored in the computer.

How technology has leaped.

I only knew how to operate the turn-table and tape decks.

Now when I get inside a radio booth, I know I won't even know what buttons to press.

I can still remember the Dumaguete radio guys during those days.

They were Henry Villalba, with his magic voice, the first official voice of the radio station, Bong Tano, Agnes Apalisok, Jose Mari Umbac, Boy Panahon, Jojo Sedigo, Eddie Lantaca, Mitchell Duran, Mario Opena, Ken, Cathy Tale, and many others.

Sometimes, even as I am concentating on the legal field, I still long for an opportunity to be back in active broadcast.

If that opportunity comes, I think it would be something hard to pass.

Justice in the countryside

Justice is dispensed quite differently in the countryside.

I appeared in a municipal trial court in one remote town in Cebu.

I immediately found the stark differences between law practice in the municipalities and the metropolis.

Contrary to popular perception, justice is dispensed speedier in the countryside courts.

The reason is that disputes sometimes are resolved right there and then.

For instance, there was a case of slander between two women.

The accused sought forgiveness beofre the judge.

The complainant was asked whether she accepted the apology.

When the complainant accepted, she desisted from pursuing the case, and that's the end of it.

The judge was immeidately able to dispose of one case. No lawyers involved.

There are very very few lawyers in the towns.

In the town court where I appeared, the police officer acted as the public prosecutor or fiscal.

He is a better court room practitioner than many lawyers who tremble when inside a courtroom.

If this is the prevailing situation in many rural areas, I think there ought to be more trainings on public prosecution for policemen, because they are doing more than just police work.

They are acting as prosecutors of felonies---at least less grave felonies..

In that far away town, obviously there was no public prosecutor assigned.

I am very appreciative of my court appearances in the municipal courts.

It has been a good reality check.

What happens in the metropolitan courts is not necessarily reflective of the situation in other places, specially in remote areas.

Everytime I appear, the policeman-prosecutor would sit beside me and inquire little things about court procedures.

Wrong "turn"?

Could it be that one of the reasons why traffic in Manila is always a mess is because of these wrong "turns"?

I took this picture while on a brief stop at the intersection of V. Mapa in Manila.

If a driver indeed makes a left turn here, he can escape the traffic ticket by invoking the "wrong spelling" defense.

Scooter patrol

I was at the Manila city hall for a hearing and I saw a multitude of scooter bikes paraded at the mini quadrangle.

The gray mini-bikes are to be used for Manila traffic enforcers.

Because of the perrenial traffic jams, any other vehicle bigger than those scooters would have serious problems maneuvering Manila's streets.

The city government, thus thought of these scooters which could pass through traffic in between vehicles lined up in traffic in Manila streets.

Also, the scooter bikes can bring law enforcers faster from one point to another, specially in running after the criminals like snatchers and petty thieves.

With this law enforcement strategy, the mobile cars will concentrate on the larger thoroughfares were vehicles traverse faster, thus needing four-wheeled patrols, rather than the mini scooters.

Scooters have become a fad these days, even in the metropolis.

The motorcycles have become smaller and smaller than the ones that used to ply the streets of Dumaguete before.

I noticed that there was a sudden surge in motorcycles that roam the streets of Metro Manila.

There were not that many motorcycles in the 1990's.

Motorcycles are a danger to safety, specially on the main highways like EDSA.

But it has been the most efficient mode of transport for many offices.

These are used by delivery services of fast food chains and pizza parlors.

Offices in Makati invest in motorcycles for their messengers, to make them more productive.

Office messengers achieve more as they no longer get stuck in the traffic, by commuting on jeepneys.

Kung Hei Fat Choi

Today is the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

There is quite a large Filipino-Chinese community here in the Philippines.

That is why the Chinese New Year here is celebrated with some pomp and noise, as it should properly be.

The noise began with uninterrupted fireworks explosion at the strike of midnight.

In the morning, we visited a mall that elaborately projected the Chinese New Year with huge versions of round fruits like orages, and even apples.

We saw extraordinarily large, round-shaped apples, something we've never seen before.

In the first place we don;t get to see a lot of apples here in the Philippines. They aren't grown here. They're picked somewhere else.

The malls were decorated with red ornaments, round hanging decors.

There were the traditional dragon dances which visited---or raided- each stall or establishment.

I really can't figure how the Chinese thought of having dragon dances, as if dragons actually danced.

The dragonsin these dragon dances tried to "swallow" hanging red envelopes that contained money.

They were followed by the beat of deafening drums and clanging cymbals, which provided the needed noise to drive away "bad spirits" or "bad luck," if superstition is to be believed.

We took ocassion to shoot some pictures of the Chinese tradition with our mobile phones, as we were not able to bring our camera.

I understand this is the year of the pig.

And we join in wishing everyone a happy chinese new year.

Kung Hei Fat choi!

Congressman Manny Pacquiao?

The biggest story in this mid-term Philippine elections could perhaps be the sudden entry of Manny Pacquiao, the world's most exciting boxer, into the political ring.
Manny Pacquiao has announced he will run for a seat in congress in the first district of South Cotabato.
He will run against the petite re-electionist Darlene Custodio, a staunch opposition figure in the House of Representatives.
Not a few are dismayed over the decision of Manny Pacquiao to prematurely enter politics.
And rightly so.
These disappointed Filipinos, are the same Filipinos who have backed, cheered, routed for Pacquiao in all his most difficult boxing bouts abroad, specially against the legendary Mexican puglists.
These Filipinos mean well for Manny.
In their opposition to Manny's decision to join politics, they do not intend to belittle his capabilities, although there is suffiicent reason to do so considering his educational background and lack of preparation to be a maker of laws.
On the other hand, Manny means well, too.
I myself can see genuiness in his desire to help his people who, like him not long ago, are wallowing in poverty.
There are those who prophesy that Manny's entry into Philippine politics will spell his doom in boxing.
But Manny is unfazed over this.
He has indicated that he is willing to hang his gloves in the name of public service to his poor countrymen.
I can understand why Manny wants to shift careers.
Boxing is a brutally dangerous and deadly profession.
Try to imagine yourself having your face exposed to the killer punches of the likes of Erik Morales.
Who can endure having a risky career which requires facing physicial pain and destruction, even death?
Manny feels he has earned enough.
I don't see greed in him, even as he is aware he is still in his prime as a boxer which could enable him to even double his present financial worth.
At the end of the day, Manny is a Filipino who has every right to be given that opportunity to enter politics.
My one and only problem with Manny, is timing.
If I have a message for our hero, it is this: There is a time for everything.
If I were to give him an unsolicited advice, I will tell him that he has every right to run for public office. But it should be at the right time.
Now, he is still at the prime of his boxing career.
There are still many battles to be won in the ring.
It is better that he seize these golden, yet fleeting opportunities.
For these opportunities will never pass his way again.
It is true that he can use his boxing achievements as his springboard for political prominence.
Many have done this.
BIll Bradley a former New York Knicks superstar in the 1970's became a U.S. Senator.
Even our own basketball "living legend" Sonny Jaworski also became a Philippine senator.
But there is a proper time for everything.
For Manny, I believe strongly that this is the time for him to continue his reign as the world's most exciting boxer.
This is his contribution not only to this country, but to the entire boxing world.
Then, when the dusk sets in, and his body tires, as every body does, Manny can move on to other things like running for public office.
I hope that before the day of the elections, he will come to his senses and realize that politics can wait.

Paper-based courts

Sadly, Philippine courts are still highly paper-based.

Most of the courts are already using computers. They have been so doing for years.

But, court records are still in thick folders which occupy a lot of court-room space.

This morning I was in aninferior court, a Metropolitan Trial Court to inquire about a pending case.

What greeted me were folders of court records scattered on the floor.

The Metropolitan Trial Court is the lowest level court and so many cases are filed here.

I was amazed at how a court personnel was able to locate the court case record I was looking for, considering the volumes of court records spread on the floor.

I guess they have a way of locating their own respecive files.

Yes, the reliable, rickety typewriters are still used in our courts, even in Metro Manila courts.

They support the computers that are used in orders and notices that are issued for the parties.

To the worried Saudi dad

Here was my email response to the worried dad:

PAY Mercado
K.S.A.

Sir:

It is certainly not legal for a police officer to take the personal belongings of any apprehended person, unless such belongings were used in the commission of a crime in connection with the incident for which such person was apprehended.

But first, I think it would be more prudent if you establish first that those who apprehended your son's friend on February 6, 2007, were indeed legitimate policemen, and that it was a legitimate police operation.

You can do this by inquiring directly, in writing, from the Chief of Police of Dumaguete, P/Supt. Dionardo Carlos with address at the Dumaguete Police Station along Cervantes St.

To conlcude that it was a case of "hulidap," in my opinion, is premature at this time.

If it is confirmed that it was a legitimate checkpoint on that evening, you can ask for the list of police personnel on duty to narrow your search.

My advice to you, is to write the Chief of Police about the incident, specially about your son's cellphone, so he can look into the matter.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Jay Dejaresco

Pa writes about Dumaguete City police

I received an email from a Dumagueteno currently working in Saudi Arabia. It's about an incident involving allegedly a random police checkpoint that resulted in the loss of his son's cellphone:

Attn: Atty. Jay I. Dejaresco

Dear Sir,

A very pleasant day.
I am a resident of Dumaguete City working here in the Middle East.
I would like to highlight a situation in our city which I think your office could be a help.
At about 9 to 10 pm last night (February 06, 2007) at Locsin Street (near ACSAT) my son’s friend riding on his motorbike was stopped by Policemen (random check point).
When he was not able to present a driver’s license, the Police Officer took the cellphone (Motorola RAZR V3) he was carrying.
The cellphone that the policeman apprehended belongs to my son which was borrowed by his friend for whatever reason.
The following day my son went to the police department but they were not able to see or identify the officer. In connection with the incident I would like to ask an advise from your end.
Is the police officer’s action legal.
What action do we have to take on this matter. (I was thinking HULI-DAP only happens in Manila).

Sincerely,

PAY Mercado
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

What's this word: "HULIDAP"?

The word "HULIDAP" is not an English word, but a concoction, or combination of two words, one Filipino "HULI", meaning catch or arrest, and the English word "HOLD-UP",
As a result you have a word: "HULIDAP"
"HULIDAP" became a popular word in Filipino newspapers due to the rising incidents of law enforcers, policemen, military men, or pseudu-law enforcers trying to stage mock check-points or arrests, and "catching" law violators or criminals on the streets, but actually extort money from these civilians so they can later be freed.
For instance, some policemen on the streets, flag down cargo trucks, and try to inspect what is being loaded.
For the slightest infraction, like the truck being overloaded, the policeman will perhaps impound the vehicle, or make an arrest.
The arresting policemen will then extort money so that the driver will be allowed to leave without the infraction being recorded.
In this way, the policemen make money, the cargo truck goes free.
This can be one form of "HULIDAP" ("HULI" and "HOLD-UP").
Another form is when a vehicle is flagged down on the highway by supposedly law enforcers.
When the driver stops, the "law enforcers" are not really policemen or men of the law, but notorious hold-uppers (but some of them are ex-policemen or ex-military men).
This is another form of "HULIDAP."
This is not an uncommon occurrence in the metropolis like Metro Manila.
In connection with this, a father from Saudi Arabia wrote me through email and asked whether incidents of "HULIDAP" is only limited in big cities like Metro Manila, or whether it is also happening in Dumaguete.
He was inquiring because he insinuated that his son, or his son's friend, was a victim of "HULIDAP", right in the city of gentle people.
I'll publish his letter in my next blog, as I am on my way to a hearing....

A triumph for press freedom

Amidst constant attacks against Philippine press freedom, little gains should not come unnoticed.
At the Philippine Senate there has been a victory of sorts for press freedom.
Under deliberations is the Senate bill on anti-terrorism, called the "anti-terror bill".
This is part of this so-called world wide war on terror waged and led by that cowboy in the West.
Senator Aquilino Nene Pimentel Jr., has successfully convinced the prinicpal author, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, to remove a provision that would have forced journalists to reveal the sources of their news stories involving terrorism.
This is an affront to the constitutionally guaranteed press freedom, Senator Pimentel said.
The Senate has approved an amendment in the proposedAnti-Terrorism Act that will exempt journalists,lawyers and doctors from being compelled to reveal tolaw enforcement authorities their communications withtheir sources of information, as well as with theirclients and patients.
This is one of the 89 amendments to the controversialmeasure (Senate Bill 2137) proposed by Minority LeaderAquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban).
About 95 percent of these amendments were accepted by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, sponsor of the administration-initiated bill.
Explaining why media practitioners should not berequired to reveal their sources of information, Pimentel invoked section 4 of Article III (Bill of Rights) of the Constitution which provides: “No lawshall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, ofexpression, or of the press, or the right of thepeople to peaceably assemble and petition thegovernment for redress of grievances.
He said the amendment means that information furnishedto journalists about the whereabouts of terrorists inconnection with stories they have written could not bea subject to compulsory disclosure.“
In fact, there is more reason to exempt thecorrespondences, messages and records of journalistsfrom being monitored, bugged and recorded orsubpoenaed for use under legal compunction ininvestigation or terrorist trials that thecommunications between doctors and patients,” Pimentelsaid.
The minority leader also cited the concern of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that “if any journalist strongly and legitimatelysuspects that his or her communications with a source are being intercepted by a third party, that journalist simply cannot promise confidentiality in good faith to an international source when that sourcecould face torture or death if the communications isrevealed…”

Pilgrimage to Mount Samat

I called my first trip to Mount Samat a pilgrimage, a visit to a sacred place.
I consider Mount Samat sacred for its rich history, and for the role it played in the shaping our nation.
I roughly had any idea about Mount Samat until my very first visit yesterday February 3, 2007 together with my family, uncles, aunts, and specially my grandmother.
For my grandmother, it was nostalgia.
During the second world war, she met my late grandfather in the Visayas and their romance and courtship were interrupted and complicated by the interference of war which kept them apart from each other for three years.
But that is another beautiful story.
Mount Samat is situated in the town of Pilar, province of Bataan, north of Metro Manila.
It is a two--and-a-half-hour road trip from Manila spanning one hundred forty kilometers.
Mount Samat is historically significant because it was the last stronghold of Filipino and American fighters against the Japanese Imperial Forces in World War II.
If you are Filipino, you must have heard of the "Fall of Bataan."
Well, Bataan fell only over the dead bodies of gallant Filipinos who stood their ground at Mount Samat.
Bataan Fell on April 9, 1942.
That is why every April 9 is a holiday, named "Araw ng Kagitingan."
It brings tribute to Filipino bravery who were willing to give up their lives in defense of freedom.
I learned a wealth about Philippine history during my first visit to Mount Samat yesterday.
Mount Samat is also about the friendship that Filipinos established with the United States.
In Mount Samat, you will fairly understand this bond between America and the Philippines, which is unique if you compare the bond that the United States has with other neighboring countries herein Asia.
Why is the Philippines a strong ally (some say puppet) of America?
Go to Mount Samat and you will see why.
At Mount Samat you get a better understanding of the ties that bind.
Mount Samat is a lonesome mountain that you can get to by car today.
You experience that well-paved zig-zag road going up the summit.
At the top of the mountain, there is what is known as the huge, and towering Memorial Cross, a cement and steel-re-inforced cross standing 92 meters high.
There is an elevator that will take visitors up, and that is the nearest you can ever get to the sky in that area.
At the top of the cross you can get a view of the plains of Luzon and the cloud of pollution that engulfs the metropolis far away.
But it is a sight to behold. This wind is so strong. It is chilliy up there.
There is also a museum at Mount Samat which unravels many of the untold stories that happened during world war II.
It is the best education you can ever get about Philippine history and Filipino-American friendship.
There are war artifacts, guns, uniforms, and other war paraphernalia and equipment that have been preserved.
They remain mute witnesses to the ravages and destruction that war brought to thousands of human lives..
It was only at my crash history -schooling at Mount Samat that I am now able to relay the chronology of events that led to world war II.
Here it is:
As you may know, the Philipines was ceded by Spain to the United States in 1898 after ruling for over four hundred years.
The Americans became our substitute colonizers, and introduced much of Western culture.
But the United States intended to grant full independence to the Philppines that is why in 1935, pursuant to the Tydings-Mc Duffie law a ten-year transition was accorded the Philippines in preaparation for full liberation.
But Japan at this time was ever expanding over the Pacific.
It wanted to conquer much of Asia and the Pacific enroute to its ambition to be a dominant military and economic power in the global arena.
It was because of the non-lifting of the economic and oil embargo against Japan by the west, particularly the United States, which triggered the sneaky attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 9, 1941.
Just hours after the Pearl harbor attack, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, striking in strategic locations in Davao, Baguio, Clark airfiled.
It was said that the Japanese attack in December 1941 reduced General Douglas Mc Artuhur's (commander of the United States Armed Forces of the Far East, USAFFE) airpower in the Philippines to less than half.
Japanese Imperial forces subdued Manila, that is why Filipino and American troops retreated to Bataan, and Mount Samat was the most strategic place to camp.
Bataan finally fell in April 1942.
Mc Arthur had earlier left for Australia in Mach 1942 leaving behind his famous promise "I shall return."
Meanwhile, President Manuel Quezon, his family and top Philippine officials stealthily left onboard a U.S. submarine for the United States to set up a government in exile.
For three years Japanese forces ruled the country, committing atrocities by killing innocent civilians and raping our women.
They tried to "Japanize" the Philippines, but failed because they never won the symphathy of Fililinos who raged silently against the reign of terror the Japanese wielded in the archipelago.
We have heard of the stories of now elderly females who became "comfort women" (sex slaves) of Japanese soldiers during the war.
Three years later, Mc Arthur fulfilled his promise by returning to the Philippines with an armada of battleships prepratory to wiping out the Japanese in this part of the world.
My grandfather, a war veteran, published a book where he narrated his life as a guerilla during the war and reviewing his book, the chronology of history became clearer.
We who did not live during those tumultuous times should take time out to relive those events with a visit to Mount Samat.
No amount of book-reading will ever match the wealth of history you can gain even with just a one-day visit to Mount Samat.
Everyday, buses of domestic and foreign tourists (even Japanese) visit Mount Samat.
It is not just a visit to a tourist attraction.
It is a pilgrimage to hallowed ground.

Tu Quoque

Today, I was reading numerous pleadings filed by opposing counsels in cases I am handling.
For a while I thought I would get cross-eyed in these readings.
But one pleading stood out.
The opposing counsel engaged in Tu Quoque.
Tu Quoque is one of many fallacious arguments engaged by lawyers.
I successfully asked the court to dismiss a case because the opposing party and counsel did not appear when it was their time to present their evidence.
Upon motion for reconsideration, the opposing counsel argued that I, too, asked for cancellation or postponements of hearings in the past.
This is a classic reliance of the Tu Quoque argument, a fallacy.
Translated, it means "you, too" or "you're another".
It is a diversionary tactic. It evades the issue at hand.
Tu quoque is a fallacious argument because it is really irrelevant whether I called for postponement of hearings in the past.
That I asked the court to postpone hearings in the past has no bearing on the issue at hand which is the failure of the opposing counsel to appear at the scheduled trial.
Tu quoque is also known as Red Herring. It also is part of that broader fallacy called argumentum ad hominem (argument against the person, instead of the issue).
Almost everyone engages in Tu Quoque arguments (even Osama Bin Laden).
It is a defense mechanism.
It is akin to the concept of "in pari delicto".
Here is a Tu quoque argument raised by Osama Bin Laden in an interview:http://www.fallacyfiles.org/tuquoque.html