THE WORSENING RULE OF LAW UNDER DUTERTE
A selection of articles showing the worsening rule of law under five broad categories:
1. Weaponizing the Rule of Law against the Legitimate Political Opposition
“Free Sen. Leila de Lima”
By: Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:10 AM August 17, 2019
“Weaponizing
the Rule of Law”
By:
Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:50 AM November 02, 2019
“Senator De Lima: 1,000 Days of Incarceration”
By:
Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:50 AM November 16, 2019
“1,000 Days of Injustice”
By:
Gideon Lasco - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer /
05:05 AM November 21, 2019
2. Extrajudicial Killings, Political Assassinations
“Philippines
Deadliest Place for Environmental Defenders”
By
H. Marcos C. Mordeno
Philippine
Daily Inquirer
“Campaign of Annihilation,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:12 AM August 01, 2019:
3. Politically Motivated State Manufactured Blacklists, Red-Tagging
“Schizophrenia and Reality,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:35 AM August 16, 2019:
“2 Mindanao Journalists, IFI Priest Bewail Red-Tagging”
By: Bong S. Sarmiento - @inquirerdotnet
Inquirer Mindanao / 03:10 AM August 30, 2019
“‘Rubbish’
Documents,” Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:08 AM September 29, 2019:
The
editorial exclaims: “What is the Duterte administration so desperate to hide
about its pet project [drug war]?”
“Stop criminalizing development work and harassing activists”
Bishop
Dindo Ranojo, Diocese of Tarlac, Iglesia Filipina Independiente
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:01 AM November 13, 2019
4.
Abuse of Power
“Freedom does not come cheap and easy”
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:08 AM August 26, 2019
“Fault in Dismissal of Marcos Wealth Cases”
By:
Artemio V. Panganiban - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:04 AM November 24, 2019
If we want to stop the oligarchs then we need to strengthen independent regulatory agencies and go after all oligarchs instead of merely replacing them with a new set of Southern players. The real solution to oligarchy is competition—and competition thrives on rule of law.
Ronald U. Mendoza
@ProfRUM
Philippine Daily Inquirer (December 13, 2019)
5. Culture of Impunity
“Culture of Impunity as State Policy”
By:
Joel Ruiz Butuyan - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 4:03 AM | Monday, November 25th, 2019
***
Also: A Corrupted Judiciary
“Corrupted” is used here in a generic sense, “damaged” or “degraded.”
“Corrupted” is used here in a generic sense, “damaged” or “degraded.”
SUPREME
COURT DISREGARDS CHARTER IN MAKING DECISIONS
By:
Artemio V. Panganiban - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 05:06 AM September 29, 2019
WEAPONIZING THE RULE OF LAW
By:
Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:50 AM November 02, 2019
The
(PET) Rule #65 is quite simple. The protestant (Marcos), gets to choose at most
three provinces which best exemplify
the frauds or irregularities he alleges. These provinces constitute the “test
cases” by which the PET will make a determination as to whether it would
proceed with the protest— that is, revise (recount) the ballots for all the
remaining protested clustered precincts—or simply dismiss the protest for
failure of the protestant to make out his case. This concept of test cases or
pilot provinces is used in ALL election protests, whether it is before the
lower courts, or the Commission on Elections, or the House or Senate Electoral
Tribunals.
…What
was the result? We all know it, Reader. Instead of the revised ballots giving
Marcos a substantial number of additional votes, thus proving his allegations,
the results ADDED 15,000 to Robredo’s votes. Marcos clearly did not make out
his case. These provinces gave no basis for the PET to go on with other areas.
The
majority of the PET/Supreme Court, instead of dismissing this case outright, in
its Oct. 15 decision, “directs the parties to comment on the results, and to
submit their respective memoranda on the effect of the results on protestant’s second
and third causes of action, the Tribunal’s jurisdiction over the third cause of
action, and assuming it has jurisdiction, the threshold of evidence for the
third cause of action, and other issues on how the Tribunal should act on the
third cause of action.”
The
majority puts forward questions the answers to which are already obvious.
But
in so doing, it ignores another PET rule, that “[t]he Rules shall be liberally
construed to achieve a just, expeditious and inexpensive determination and
disposition of every contest before the Tribunal.” Just? Expeditious?
Inexpensive? Completely ignored.
THE PRESIDENT’S MYRMIDON IN THE COURT
By:
Oscar P. Lagman Jr. - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:04 AM November 06, 2019
Public domain photo, cropped
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rodrigo_Duterte_Benigno_Aquino_III_01.jpg
Gonzalinho
TURNING THE LAW INTO A WEAPON
ReplyDeleteBy: John Nery - @jnery_newsstand
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:07 AM February 18, 2020
The best definition of “rule of law” I know is a living concept. Since 2018, I have heard the magisterial Bill Neukom, founder of the World Justice Project (WJP), define rule of law many times, and while the fundamental insight remains the same, each time I hear him I find that he has teased a new nuance, or stressed an unsung element.
WJP defines rule of law as a durable system — consisting of laws, institutions, and community commitment — that gives life to four universal principles: accountability, just laws, open government, and impartial dispute resolution. The last time I heard Bill talk on the rule of law was last November; that time, he emphasized the “cultural” cast of the commitment that the community must offer, put in practice. He meant, if I understood him correctly, that a community’s norms help shape that particular community’s responsiveness to the four principles, and help determine whether rule of law in that community would endure (or not). Bill quoted the great South African jurist Arthur Chaskalson: “Unless it’s cultural, it’s not rule of law.”
(Disclosure: It is my privilege to serve on the WJP board.)
In the Philippines, the rule of law, precisely as a system, has been under systematic attack from the Duterte administration since Rodrigo Duterte was elected president… The same surveys that show President Duterte enjoying record high ratings or solid support for his signature campaign, the misleadingly labeled “war on drugs,” also show that overwhelming majorities of voting-age Filipinos want suspects to be arrested, not killed; fear they or someone they know will become the next victim of extrajudicial killings; disbelieve the police when the police say they killed a suspected drug personality because he fought back.
…it wasn’t just the corruption of the police; it was also the capture of the judiciary, starting with the Supreme Court. The incumbent chief justice was the ponente of the cursed, incoherent decision to allow the burial of the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the National Heroes’ Cemetery in 2016; on hindsight, we can understand that decision as an audition piece, for the high honor of chief justiceship. But the Duterte Court disgraced itself in many other ways: the illogical decisions to allow martial law in all of Mindanao, even though the government’s chief lawyer could not definitively state what additional legal effects martial rule would allow; the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, an impeachable official, not through impeachment but through an absurd quo warranto proceeding; and so on, ad nauseam.
But it wasn’t just the courts; it was also the reshaping of the culture that permeates the administration of justice in the Philippines.
…From a nation of martyrs, we are turning into a country of killers.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/127455/turning-the-law-into-a-weapon#ixzz6kpwJbiLG
Yes, rule of law is also cultural. It also consists in the values and attitudes of the people. And they are very much influenced by the words and conduct of their leaders.
Gonzalinho
Justice feels impossible in the Philippines.
ReplyDeletePhil Dy,
@philbertdy
Philippine Daily Inquirer (September 9, 2020)
Weak rule of law…under the Duterte administration, intentionally getting weaker…
Gonzalinho