Write simply

In our mandatory continuing legal education, the importance of writing good, correct English was highlighted.
The correct way to write and communicate effectively is to write in very simple English (emphasis on "very").
The legal profession is not insulated from people who fail to communicate effectively.
I am not even referring to lawyers.
There are even judges who cannot communicate their decisions effectively.
As a result, their decisions cannot be understood.
One example discussed in the continuing legal education, is that judge whom the court took to task for his manner of writing a decision.
The Supreme Court was apparently pissed of with the judge's writing style, to the extent that the high court quoted verbatim a significant portion of the judge's decision.
It was indeed, horrific.
In the case of Leonor versus Court of Appeals [256 SCRA 69 (1996)], a horrified Supreme Court noted the following portion of a lower court decision:

"This is an action for 'Cancellation of Entry in the Civil Registry' particularly on the marriage contract of one Mauricio Leonor, Jr. and Virginia Amor supposedly to have taken place in a long distance past on March 13, 1960 and after a Rip Van Winkle sleep and dormancy liken to a Mt. Pinatubo explosion that rocked the peace and quiet in the lives of the supposedly participants to this drama in Calatrava and San Carlos City, Negros Occidental when out of the blue one party in the person of an aggrieved left-behind spouse revived and revealed an ancient piece of marital bond between her and a reluctant spouse."

The high court did not mince words in describing the decision.
It described the lower court decision as a "crude attempt at literary sophistication."
The high court criticized its "jarring syntax and grammatical inconsistencies."
It decried the use of "convoluted language."
Need I say more?
Its nice to go back to the basic advice in writing well: K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple...Stupid.

Change v status quo

The cat is now out of the bag.
Loose talks that Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manny Villar is the secret candidate of Malacanang have gradually been confirmed.
The governor of Cebu Gwendolyn Garcia, an administration ally, has confided that first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo had called up other members of the Garcia clan to back Villar over the official administration standard bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro.
Contrary to perceptions that the political landscape has been muddled, actually it has become clearer.
Leading to next months elections, it now turns out to be a one-on-one contest between Manny Villar, the candidate backed by the Arroyo administration, against Noynoy Aquino, of the Liberal party, who personifies the opposition.
What happens to Gibo Teodoro?
Sorry to say, he will end up bigo.
He will be junked by his own administration partners in favor of Villar.
Politics is cruel. But that is politics.
The people now have a clearer choice.
If you are for the status quo, then vote for Villar.
If you want change , because you do not like how this country is run, vote for Noynoy.
If you want to go back to the past, vote for Erap.
By the way, I really find funny Villar’s posturing that he swam in a sea of garbage.
For me, anybody who swims in a sea of garbage has some psychiatric issues.
Who is in right mind will even wade in a sea of garbage?
If you think that the Arroyo administration policies should be continued in the next six years, then vote for Villar.
If you want these policies to be recalled and rejected, then vote for Noynoy.
So as we head nearer to the elections, our choice as voters have become simpler and clearer.
Manny Villar for status quo.
Noynoy Aquino for change.
Pick your choice.

Who is this?

Are we looking at the face of a president after June 30?
"God forbid," said one friend.
Is this who Mar Roxas described as "Villarroyo"?

Meaning of M.U.

I just learned the meaning of M.U.
I attended an action group session with brothers and sisters of the BCBP last night.
I am not actually in the same age bracket with my brods and sis.
I was amused at how my brods and sis, couples, shared their anxities as they deal with raising their teen-age children.
Their young children come home so early already---early in the morning.
Chlidren don;t respond to their text messages.
It keeps them (parents) awake all night, waiting for son or daughter to come home.
Sometimes, they just fall asleep while waiting for eternity.
In the morning, their favorite question would be "What time did Mike come home last night?"
Another teen age child of another couple is known to have a girlfried.
But in an elevator, a sis saw the teen age son having a lips-to-lips session with another girl in the elevator.
Then for the first time I learned the meaning of M.U.
Another teen age child was teased about having a relationship.
The teen ager said she is not in a relationship.
They are just "M.U."
What is M.U.?
"Mag-Un".

Hiatus in presiential succession?

The Constitutions provides a temporary succession to the Presidency in the event that no president-elect and vice-president elect shall have been chosen and qualified.
From my vantage point, no hold-over President is allowed after noon of June 30.
But, judging the kind of decisions coming from the Supreme Court these days, you’ll never know.
There are loose talks from several quarters of a “failure of elections.”
The Commission on Elections has debunked such failed election scenarios.
But the Constitution is clear that when no President and vice president shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the president of the Senate is next in line as acting president.
In case of the senate president’s inability, the house speaker acts as president.
In case of the inability of the senate president and the house speaker to act as president, the congress shall enact a law providing the manner which one is to act as president.
The problem is that the current senate president, Juan Ponce Enrile, is one whose term will expire also on June 30.
Enrile is running for re-election.
Nonetheless, by noon of June 30, Enrile will no longer be Senate President.
Enrile’s current term of office ends at noon on June 30.
With it ends his being Senate president.
There are suggestions that the Senate should already replace senator Enrile with a senate president whose term won’t end on June 30, but in 2013.
Unfortunately, the senate cannot just meet by itself, because it needs the lower house to convene also.
The constitution established a congress that is bicameral.
These days however, the house cannot muster a quorum because congressmen are busy for the elections.
There is one time where the constitution requires the congress to convene after the May elections.
The constitution requires congress to convene not later than thirty day after the May 10 elections to canvass the votes for president and vice president.
I see this as an opportunity for the senate to place in its agenda, the election of a new senate president whose term will not end on June 30.
If this will not happen, there can be a potential problem on temporary succession in case no president and vice president shall have been chosen and qualified, by June 30.
Let us assume there is no senate president because Enrile’s term also ends on June 30, and the senate hasn’t elected a new senate president.
The house also cannot elect a new speaker by July 1 because under the constitution, congress convenes only on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session.
Since congress convenes only on the fourth Monday of July (July 26), it cannot set up a manner of choosing an acting president.
Under such a scenario, who will be acting president from noon of June 30 to July 25?