On the Sacking of Mayor Jejomar Binay

Legal Analysis by Prof. Alan F. Paguia
(Special to Philippine Commentary on the Makati Crisis)

Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita’s preventive suspension order against Makati City Mayor Jejomar C Binay, dated October 16, 2006, is illegal and, therefore, void on its face.

Why?

First. Under Section 63 (a1) of the Local Government Code of 1991 (RA 7160), preventive suspension may be imposed “by the President”, not “by the Executive Secretary” and not “by the Office of the President”. The law is clear and specific. It confers the authority on the person of “the President”. In other words, the exercise of the authority requires the personal attention of “the President”. The Executive Secretary has no authority under the law to impose preventive suspension or issue the suspension order...

Read More -- > CLICK ME

———————

Mayor Binay of Makati is being booted out of office due to pressures from Malacanang.
His punishment for allegedly employing ghost employees, but until now no name whatsoever is being put to light by the prosecutors.

It is only known that Binay was and is a member of the opposition.

What do we do about it?

What the hell can we do about it?

One by one heads of oppositions are being arrested. I can still remember that there was a time that if somebody wears even a shirt denouncing the Government and the President he is prone to being jailed.

What the hell happened?

“Wala kasing matinong opposition” thats what we normally say.

But then i answer “Then why not be the Opposition?”
It doesnt take more than a brain to be an opposition, an opposition may be a person saving water, and by that act alone the person becomes an opposition to illegal loggers and polluters.

He may not march to the streets and protest but in his own home he can be an opposition by denouncing them and telling it to his friends.

As far as i see we stay in our homes watching, not even doing anything.

They laugh at protesters but they cant even protests in their hearts what they see as wrong.

“I am not enough” they answer

Now if the people of India thought that way there will be no India as we see it today.

as Gandhi said it “Be the change you want to be”

and then we say “But i need to earn my dough, i need to work and study for the future of my family”

Dodong Nemenzo is right the battle today is not about who’s right and wrong it is Individualism Vs. Collectivism.

But then i think there is a much deeper problem here… I want to go deeper and state that It is not individualism that is at stake here in the bringing about of change.

They are institutions that fail to hold their moral foundations in our society.

Coincidentally a priest was just killed and do you see people mourning for him?
Do you see Churches making their own investigation and denouncing the perpetrators?

I pray for one day a certain V like the one in the movie V for Vendetta blow up a Government institution.

But then i guess it would be better if somebody blows up a Church…

GMA CHA-CHA TRAIN and the MARCOSIAN revolution

before anything else pls read the ff:

CHA-CHA FILES

&

CHA-CHA AND MARCOS

—

first we let her steal our votes, next we made her stop her cohorts be accountable, next we made her steal our freedoms, and now we must face the grim truth that shes going to steal our democracy…

just as marcos did in the 70’s
just as bush jr. did in the US
just as many tyrants that sat in office

and because of this we push our children to an imaginary left that capitalizes on youth and passion and makes them bear arms but closes to them their own blemishes.

we push our children to emotional poverty as more and more each year leaves their children and goes abroad for greener pastures.

and while media spouses more and more culture of consumerism and illusionary escape, we push more and more children to more fantasy…

this CHA-CHA train is the final straw.
and no amount of Bong Austero letters could deny the fact that who is sitting in power now is definitely an abomination to what our forefathers fought in all our revolutions.

no amount of self-pity either could bring our good churches to help us.

maybe its time we grab power for ourselves.

maybe this time democracy should be defended in the end of a barrel of a gun…

The beast of Angelo Reyes

Angelo Reyes says he can’t see what the fuss is about journalists getting killed in this country. Cops and soldiers are also being killed in this country, he says, and nobody gives a damn. “If soldiers are killed, they become statistics. If policemen are killed, only I and (PNP director-general) Arturo Lomibao visit their wake.”

The murders of the journalists themselves, he says, should not be viewed as an assault on press freedom since the majority of them are not related to journalism. Indeed, many of the victims may not even be considered journalists. “Who is a journalist? I consider journalism a profession that should pass certain criteria of competence, expertise or ethics. And a roster of real journalists should be maintained because not all attacks on journalists are assaults on press freedom.”

-conrado de quiros-

(lifted from: http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=37097&col=77)

when i went to Mindanao and certain parts of the country, it is well known that there are journalists that kiss the asses of their respective camps in context to politics particularly in regional medias. these people carry a certain air of arogance, they take advantage of their position they lambastes innocent people or honest officials on air.

though i agree that the profession doesnt merit being killed, nor is its nature to be comparable to soldiers as Angelo Reyes says.
i must say that the opposite applies indefinitely.
what Conrado failed to understand is that it is in the culture of Filipinos to fight back and they are very creative in doing so.

some would kill and some would shout back, some would hire other newscasters while some will buy out news stations. what he failed to realize is that radio stations exists because of political parties. its main aim is to incorporate public service to campaign slogans and profit from advertisers. thats how messed up politics is in this country.

true that there is freedom of speech in a democracy, but does that democracy apply to warlords of certain provinces who holds the will and soul of their constituents?

the answer is no.

it could but can never will.

it could because ideally if the situation in this country stabilizes meaning having more literacy ergo accepting criticism in the level of opinion making then it could. but the point is it cant. people will not accept being “insulted” no matter how you call it, nevermind that its “criticism” in the academic sense of it.

the culture of violence will stop if the police and the military are not conniving with the higher ups.

the culture of violence will stop if journalists can protect themselves.

the culture of violence will stop if people understand the concept of responsible journalism.

that doesnt mean that i subscribe to the idea of journalists placing upon themselves the probability of being killed. rather i would concur that to be able to appreciate journalism per se, one should have at least a basic idea of what journalism really is.

yet the question is… are filipinos ready for that?

i didnt realize how censorship is as excruciating as censorship having ones head underneath a tombstone.

i definitely dont want to be a journalist if only to save my lineage.

but there are things that need to be done. words that are meant to be said and there many good people who in their aspirations to help their baranggays and see their children have a better future they fought hardly and in the process stake their heads on a silver platter.

some are killed indefinitely while some are still alive fighting head on.

what i’m saying is this. Angelo Reyes is a stupid idiot who tries to equate bravery in the battlefield with the bravery of speaking ones mind. that is just different. while being a soldier entails holding a gun, a journalist holds a pen. while soldiers have helmets and combat boots on, journalists are being killed in front of their families and loved ones. while soldiers brandish their badges, journalists only have the complement of their friends and the sheer hope that what they fight for would lead to a better life.

if Angelo Reyes wants more media attention when it comes to soldiers being killed then lets have an Armed forces that do its job of really protecting its people, not taking away their budget from having decent education, and afterwards asking for more from the government having underpaid manpower and overpaid stockholder generals to be exact.

i have to agree to Conrado when he said that there are natures of beasts.

well to hold media and the power of information in ones hand is already a beast in itself, remember martial law?

lets just hope that the beast would bite the proper offender like Angelo Reyes.