Archive for February, 2006Testing and fiddling with automatically crossposting my entries from hereon to a livejournal. This is thanks to the wonderful LJXP plugin. I know, I know. I think I’ve given LJ users some grief before, but the truth is that I’ve been secretly in love with the platform and its social networking features. I want to make my content available to LJ-based communities and I do admire LJ-users for being such an active amiable bunch. So there. (Statement of the Jose P. Laurel Constitutional Law Society)
More than three decades ago, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and placing the country under martial law. The events of the fifteen years that followed have left their indelible mark on all Filipinos, even those who, at the time, were too young to understand what it all meant.
Three days ago, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 1017, and while she stopped short of suspending the privilege of the writ and declaring martial law, the events that followed her Proclamation shadow the acts of the former dictator.
It is the firm belief of the Jose P. Laurel Constitutional Law Society that Proclamation 1017 is a form of undeclared martial law that allows Gloria Arroyo to effectively skirt public accountability.
As is clear to anyone who bothers to compare the two issuances, the language of 1017 is, almost verbatim, the language of 1081. Although both are anchored on provisions of the Constitution, both have been used to legitimize actions that won’t take a law student to know run counter to the values of free speech and assembly guaranteed by the Bill of Rights in Article III. Ostensibly pursuant to an authority granted to her by law, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has sanctioned the aggressive nature in which the government has responded to peaceful assemblies of oppositors to Arroyo’s administration, the warrantless arrest of those perceived to be threats to national security, express “appeals? by Malacañang and the National Telecommunications Commission to the media to refrain from airing events that might incite sedition or rebellion, and concurrent directives to cancel media licenses and raid offices of newspapers who prove recalcitrant.
By refraining from using the words “suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus? and persistently insisting that nothing in the Proclamation talks of martial law, Arroyo avoids the four checks contained in Sec. 18, Article VII, namely: 1) the 60-day limit on the effectivity of any proclamation suspending the writ or declaring martial law; 2) her obligation to report, within 48 hours, to Congress on the reason for such an action; 3) the power of Congress to revoke the suspension or proclamation; and 4) the power of the Supreme Court to review, upon petition by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual bases of the proclamation or suspension.
More than anything else, the 1987 Constitution was a sweeping reaction to the events of the 1970s, and it was the intent of the framers that the fundamental law guarantee that the outrages committed under the Marcos dictatorship would never again be permitted to occur.
The Constitution expressly states that even in a state of martial law, the rights protected under its aegis cannot be suspended. No matter what has or not been inscribed in Proclamation 1017, the fact remains that freedoms fought for by generations of Filipinos who came before us are being violently wrested out of our hands by a Chief Executive who refuses to accept that the true power in this country lies not in the officials who hold public office, but in the people whose vote put them there.
We call on all students of the U.P. College of Law to stand with us by affixing your signature to this statement. Let our voices be heard. My Dear Politicians, Really now, I’m tired of this shit. Talk to me when you have something different. And dangerous. Get a few fucking bombs, fer crying out loud. Blow shit up. Put your soft asses on the line. It’d be great to rant in a whiney, bloggy way about how woeful my life is, but that would just be obscene, as hundreds of people could be dead or dying in the mud. Petite of clickmomukhamo.com is stepping up to gather help. Where the fuck is the local Blog Aid chapter when you need it? Please excuse the thinning of blog posts for the next few weeks. I’ll probably hide under a rock on the 14th, and then go straight to drafting the paper I’m supposed to submit for the conference in Cyprus. For those curious about what I’m up to lately: I’ve got two moderately interesting posts over at the Man Blog: 1. A modest proposal to relegalize the duelo. Been doing a lot of listening to Zencast lately, particularly, Thich Nhat Hanh. Meditation’s been of great help, lately. My heart is a storm in the sea. Buddha give me patience. As in right now. Found the sitcom that I’ve been waiting for all my adult life - The I.T. Crowd, a TV show about sysadmins. Here’s howto get it. Thinking of sending out these Star Wars-inspired Valentine’s Day cards. But to whom? A particular Evidence teacher (who, alas, is in a hospital following a stair-related mishap) comes to mind. Enjoy the 14th, ya freaks and geeks! Today’s news: nearly died. Figured that would be refreshing, as opposed to the day by day dying I’ve been busy as of late. The Katamari Damacy ball of memes that I’ve got for a belief system has enough pointers to the idea that death isn’t something to be afraid of, that it is an inevitable part of life. And stuff. There aren’t a lot of things I wish I’d said or done. I wish I hadn’t stop learming about photography. Maybe it’s not too late for that. And then there are the legal details. Always the legal details. They’d have to deal with the body, I guess. My family will have to guess what I’d prefer (cremated, please). Unless of course I die of ebola or a similar infectious disease- that means the authorities have to dispose of my corpse. I don’t have a lot of property. When I have money I buy books, and when I have any left I buy food and clothing I’m worried about my online stuff. I don’t share my password, so I guess my inboxes (email, friendster, del.icio,us, etc) would just remain unopened until they expire from lack of activity. All those unanswered messages from from people who aren’t connected to my real life social network. All that spam. I’ve done some automation programming before. Maybe I can hack up a script that will delete my mailboxes and propagate a message of presumptive death just in case I don’t login for 2 months. I’m wondering how my blog will do without me. Legally speaking, it’s a donation from Mark. When I die, the obligation to keep it in his server ceases, and he can do whatever the hell he pleases with it, as long as it’s not too nasty (don’t delete it without the proper ceremonies, buddy). If I were paying a third party host, they’d cut it off as soon as I stop paying. What I need is a sort of estate management plan for my blog. The details and the legal language isn’t there yet, but the most salient point would be: 1. Mark is going to be the temporary custodian of the blog. That makes sense. I think he has access and knows its internals already. 2. Mark is to choose, among the bloggers in my link sidebar, a person willing and qualified to continue the tradition of this blog. He or she will be the new aspect of Bangus, and will ascend in a ceremony, the details of which shall be determined by a committee 3. The blog can be monetized to defray expenses. 4. I wish that the new blogger would write about bangus the fish, if only to give back to our deal national fish, which has given me so much googlejuice. 5. I hope the issue of highschool students asking me for movie summaries will be dealt with. Annnd, that’s all I have so far. The table is open for additional items. What will *your* blogging succession plan look like? |
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