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First
the good news. Locally, we have every reason to be
jubilant as economic indicators show that the country is
confidently and steadily moving forward. It simply
reflects the effectiveness of President Arroyo’s
economic policies, complemented by the inflow of OFW
remittances which reached P12.8 billion as of this
writing, an increase of Pl.3 billion since December last
year, according to the BSP.
The
stock market is bullish and is reported to hit an
18-year high, reflecting solid investors’ confidence in
the market. As in other countries, the performance of
the stock market is a yardstick for that county’s
robustness or its fragile state. In our case, we are
happy to note that the President is not sleeping on the
job.
***
On the
foreign front, the good news is North Korea. After
rattling world interest by brandishing its nuclear
ambitions, its aggressiveness appears to have simmered
down, pledging before the US, China, Japan and South
Korea that it will shut down its main nuclear reactor in
exchange for economic support from these countries.
This
development, coming from a recalcitrant communist state,
can give its neighbors in Asia a respite from its
ranting and maybe a good night’s sleep.
***
Senatorial candidate Chiz Escudero was totally wrong
when he accused Sen. Joker Arroyo of walking out of the
impeachment trial of Erap in 2000.
To set
the records straight and for the benefit of Mr.
Escudero’s education, Sen. Joker Arroyo and the rest of
the prosecution panel, including this writer, did not
walk out of the impeachment trial in the Senate. It was
the private prosecutors who took a hike when the opening
of the second envelope was denied.
The
public prosecutors, headed by now Mayor Sonny Belmonte,
cannot walk out in view of the fact that they were
appointed by the House of Representatives as the
official prosecution team. The truth is, after the
private prosecutors walked out, the Senate, acting as
the impeachment court, adjourned the proceedings for the
next day.
On this
writer’s suggestion, the House panel met at the
Philippine Plaza Hotel nearby to discuss what position
to take, and again on this writer’s suggestion, the
prosecutors decided to resign and ask the House to
appoint a new panel of prosecutors.
In other
words, we, the public prosecutors composed of members of
the House, did not walk out but collectively resigned
formally, and the House, under Speaker Noli Fuentebella,
an avid Erap follower, should have appointed a new set
of prosecutors and proceeded with the impeachment trial.
But it did not.
What I
wish to emphasize here is that the public prosecution
panel did not walk out, but resigned, and asked Speaker
Fuentebella to appoint our replacements. Mr. Chiz
Escudero was a member of that House but he had bungled
his facts as far as the Erap impeachment trial is
concerned.
***
“Opposition no longer UNO but simply GO”—lead story. GO
which means “Don’t Go?,” “Go Home?,” or “No Go?”
The
people seem to pity the opposition which appears to have
nowhere to go. It is clear from the gist of media
reports that Senators Villar and Pangilinan don’t want
to go with other senatorial candidates of their adopted
party on the campaign trail. They want to go it alone.
Why? Tsk. Tsk.
***
Another
headliner: “Senate President Villar proudly announced
that the Senate had passed 15 bills in ONE day.”
After
sleeping on the job á la Rip van Winkle, is the Senate a
Sleepy Hollow? Senator Villar seems proud of the
Senate’s record in the dying days of the 13th session of
Congress, passing 15 bills in one day. I wonder how many
bills were passed on other days? At least we can
congratulate the Senate for cramming for this is still
good, for all of us. I sympathize with my former
colleagues in the House who passed hundreds of measures
that are now gathering dust and cobwebs in the Senate
archives, a substantial number of which never even
reached the Senate floor.
***
On
February 15, Prof. Philip Alston, Australian lawyer and
special rapporteur of the United Nations, met with this
writer and my staff at the DOJ where we discussed issues
related to the much-trumpeted “extra-judicial killings”
in the Philippines. Obviously, Professor Alston must
have been brainwashed by his earlier meetings with
leftist groups, although I never yielded to him
throughout our three-hour discussion.
I
challenged Mr. Alston to convince his leftist hosts to
come out with evidence to support their allegations of
military and police involvement in these killings. I
showed Mr. Alston a copy of the February 5, 2007, issue
of Time Magazine featuring the NPAs and where they
admitted to have killed or executed or assassinated
members of the police and the military, farmers and even
their own who are suspected to have changed loyalties,
especially the “purge” which the NPAs conducted.
Mr.
Alston could not respond but was very indignant in his
defense that front organizations should not be
considered enemies of the State, although he admits that
the NPAs are considered enemies because they are waging
war against the Republic and duly constituted
authorities.
I
confronted him with the fact that the NPAs have been
labeled “terrorists” by the European Union and he
countered by saying that he is not bound by the European
Union’s position. He did admit, however, that radical
organizations including Bayan, Gabriela, Anak Pawis,
ACT, Migrante and many other such groups are in fact
communist fronts as announced by no less than Communist
Party Supremo Joma Sison himself, and confirmed by
Sison’s wife.
On the
bright side, Prof. Alston lauded the Philippines for its
openness in discussing this issue, saying that it is
unlike in many other countries where he was refused to
be received and whose authorities kept a lid on their
records.
Incidentally, I applaud Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile for
standing up to Alston. Senator Enrile’s position is
exactly similar to this writer’s view when I told Mr.
Alston that I find it offensive for foreigners to come
to this country ignorant of the truth, stay for a week
and leave as “experts.”
***
A
concerned Filipino citizen questioned the citizenship of
Rep. Alan Peter S. Cayetano, who was born of an American
mother. Before 1992, Congressman Cayetano was holding an
Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR), a document
issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to all
foreigners staying in the country. BI records will show
that up to 1992, Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano was renewing
his ACR every year. However, in 1992, then- Commissioner
Andrea Domingo recognized him as a Filipino citizen
because his father is a Filipino.
Under
the 1935 Constitution, while it is true that Mr.
Cayetano was indeed recognized during the watch of
Commissioner Domingo, a question may be raised against
Mr. Cayetano’s recognition, as the same may not have
been affirmed by the Department of Justice, which is a
condition sine qua non before BI recognition is
considered valid.
In fact,
it appears that when former Vice President Guingona was
secretary of justice, he issued Opinion 108 Series of
1996: “The Department has consistently held that
identification certificates issued pursuant to
orders/decisions of the Bureau of Immigration which have
not been affirmed by this Department are not per se
evidence of Philippine citizenship.”
Then-Secretary Guingona’s opinion was merely a
reiteration of the policy directive issued on September
7, 1970, by then-Secretary of Justice Vicente Abad
Santos.
Considering the importance of this issue, in the remote
possibility that Mr. Cayetano might win a seat in the
Senate, it would be in the interest of the nation that
the issue of true citizenship be closely looked into.
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