Happy Anniversary!!!

Sa mga taga-peyups, happy centennial!!!

Isang Paalala sa mga Iskolar ng Bayan

Sabi ni CJ Puno...
http://www.supremecourt.gov.ph/speech/04-18-08-speech.pdf

MCLE - ALG

MANDATORY CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION PROGRAM

June 9-13, 2008

Social Development Complex (SDC) Conference Hall

Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City

Dear friends,

The Alternative Law Groups, Inc. (ALG) is pleased to invite you to attend the full course (36-units) Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) program, which will be held on June 9-13, 2008 at the Social Development Complex (SDC) Conference Hall, Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. This accredited MCLE program can be applied to the first, second or third compliance periods. The regular fee for the full course is P8,000.00. Lawyers who will register and pay on or before June 2, 2008 will get the discounted rate of P7,500.00.

The ALG is a coalition of twenty (20) non-government organizations in the Philippines that adhere to the principles and values of alternative or social development-oriented law practice. These organizations have distinct programs for developmental legal assistance that is primarily concerned with the pursuit of public interest, respect for human rights, and promotion of social justice. ALG members’ operations cover a wide area of concerns involving justice issues of the poor and marginalized groups in the Philippines. These include issues on women, labor, peasant, fisherfolk, children, urban poor, indigenous peoples, persons living with HIV-AIDS, local governance, and the environment.

The MCLE program will be a venue to exchange information about the legal aspects of social justice and human rights issues in the country, as well as related developments in the region. The MCLE program will bring together a select group of resource persons who will share their rich experience in their respective fields of work.

Please find attached the registration form. You will find the program below.

For inquiries and reservations, please call 426 61 24 (direct line) or 426 60 01 loc. 4858, 4859, 4860, or 426 56 90. You can also e-mail us at secretariat@alternativelawgroups.org

By attending the ALG MCLE program and helping disseminate information about it, you contribute to the ALG's dual work of empowering the poor and the marginalized, and effecting justice system reforms.

Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

Marlon J. Manuel

Coordinator

Alternative Law Groups, Inc.

secretariat@alternativelawgroups.org

www.alternativelawgroups.org

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

June 9 Monday 9:00 – 12:00	Lawyering for Social Justice and Human Rights, & the Code of Professional Responsibility (LEGAL ETHICS, 3 units)	Atty. Marlon J. Manuel Coordinator, Alternative Law Groups
1:00 – 4:00	Feminist Lawyering in Relation to the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Code of Judicial Conduct (LEGAL ETHICS, 3 units)	Atty. Eleanor Conda Women’s Rights Advocate Former Chairperson, Women’s Legal Bureau
4:00 – 6:00	ASEAN Charter and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms (INTERNATIONAL LAW, 2 units)	Atty. Carlos Medina Executive Director Ateneo Human Rights Center
June 10 Tuesday 9:00 -12:00	Legal Framework of the Peace Process as Applied to the CPP-NDF and the MILF (UPDATES ON SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL LAW & JURISPRUDENCE, 3 units)	Atty. Sedfrey Candelaria Member, GRP Panel (GRP-CPP/NDF) Adviser, GRP Panel (GRP-MILF)
1:00 – 4:00	Executive Privilege, Legislative Inquiry and the Right to Information (UPDATES ON SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL LAW & JURISPRUDENCE, 3 units)	Atty. Carlos P. Medina Executive Director Ateneo Human Rights Center
4:00 – 6:00	Steps to Justice, Steps to Change: The Sumilao Farmers’ Case (LAW AS A MEANS OF SOCIAL CHANGE [Prescribed Subject], 2 units)	Atty. Arlene J. Bag-ao Executive Director, Balay Alternative Legal Advocates for Development in Mindanaw
June 11 Wednesday 9:30 – 11:30	Addressing Challenges in Environmental Law Compliance and Enforcement (ENVIRONMENTAL LAW [Prescribed Subject], 2 units)	Atty. Grizelda Mayo-Anda Assistant Executive Director Environmental Legal Assistance Center
1:00 – 5:00	Gender Sensitive Language in Legal Writing and Oral Advocacy (LEGAL WRITING &ORAL ADVOCACY, 4 units)	Atty. Amparita Sta. Maria Women’s Desk Director Ateneo Human Rights Center
June 12 Thursday 9:00 – 12:00	Problems in Natural Resources Law (UPDATES ON SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL LAW, 3 units)	Atty. Maria Paz Luna Chairperson, Tanggol Kalikasan
1:00 – 5:00	Rules on Examination of Child Witnesses in Child Abuse Cases (PRE-TRIAL AND TRIAL SKILLS, 4 units)	Atty. Joan Saniel Executive Director, Children’s Legal Bureau
June 13 Friday 9:00 – 11:00	Current Proposals to Amend the Labor Code (LAW REFORM [Prescribed Subject], 2 units)	Atty. Arnold De Vera Executive Director Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal
12:30 – 3:30	Court-Annexed Mediation and Judicial Dispute Resolution (ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, 3 units)	Atty. Hector Soliman Project Director, Justice Reform Intitiatives Support Project (JURIS)
3:30 – 5:30	Learning from Indigenous Modes of Dispute Resolutions (ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, 2 units)	Atty. Christine Tomas-Espinosa Institutional Development Officer Tanggapang Panligal ng Katutubong Pilipino

.___

The Irony of the Rice Crisis

I haven't been reading the papers much lately, and people don't really to read them anyway to know that we have a crisis in our hands. We are rationing our staple food for goodness' sake!!!! People line up in the hopes that they will be able to buy jacked-up rice in order to feed their families!!! They're even thinking of putting ink on people just to know if they have already bought rice!!! Meanwhile, fast food outlets now sell half-servings of rice so as not to waste more uneaten rice. And, of course, being the smart people our politicians are, like in any other crisis, whether brought on by calamity or force majeure, they will hoard supplies so that they will wait for the laws of economics to apply -- less supply, more demand equals higher prices. I'm one of the fortunate few that gets rice supply from my grandparents' farm (magsasaka po ang mga ninuno ko, hindi po panginoong maylupa). I could not, however, help in raising my eyebrows at the irony of it all. Two major ironies:

First Irony:
The Philippines is an agricultural country. Need I say more?

Second Irony:
For a long time now, people have been telling this government to give support in the agricultural sector, obviously because we are an agricultural country. But because money talks, what has this government done? It has instead given priority to extractive industries. For example, found in Mindsalip Zamboanga is the hundreds of hectares of palay that feed the communities and nearby towns. What do they do there? They opened it up to mining. This is also equally true to other areas. Aside from mining, oil palm plantations and other plantations also push the rice industry out, apart from other staple foods. Money really talks.

Now, the government is scrambling to say that there is no food crisis. They are giving billions to support the agriculture sector, etc. etc., to cover up their screwed policies and economic beliefs. Well, it's a little late, isn't it? People are hungry. People are poor. And people are dying. Just because a few don't know when to say "enough" and get their fat asses out of their high chairs. Two adjectives: greedy and gluttonous.

Another Reason to Hate Honda

I Hate Honda. And I will try to convince everybody I know not to buy a Honda vehicle.

My dad bought a Honda Civic in 2001. Within a year, it was recalled, not just once, but twice. Once for its defective radio, which we returned again for the same defect the following year, and is almost useless now, since the CD reader is busted, there is no LED to speak of, and the volume is also stupidly stubborn coz it decreases in volume if you try to increase it and vice versa.

(Did I mention that I don't like the shocks as well? Made me feel as if I was in a LiteAce or something. Bouncy. It was the first thing I noticed.)

The second time is because they used the wrong fuel band and so they recalled my car, along with 12,000 ++ units, because anytime that you're driving your car, your fuel tank can just crash out of your trunk. Beat that.

Soon after its warranty period, the automatic doors won't work anymore. Mine is the double-click system. First click on the remote is the driver's door. The next click is the rest of the doors. Then to close, it just takes one click. The right passenger side was the first to give. If we were talking about a brain, it was like the left hemisphere of the brain was going bonkers, affecting the right side of the body. So you had to manually close and open the stupid doors. You'd think that along with the driver's door, the left back door would lock as well, coz you think it was the right side of the car that was stupidly busted, and then the lights would flash to indicate that all doors are locked.

Lo and behold. After a few hours or minutes-- there really is no definite time-- the horns would be blaring and the alarms will be tripped. Why? because apparently, what you thought to be locked, wasn't really locked, but just pretended to be locked. Stupid huh? It was then i found out that the back door wouldn't really go down. It would just click, but for some stupid reason, it won't go all the way down. So no more locks.

Then the stupid automatic window went. It won't go down, and if it does go down, it won't go up.

Then the stupid clutch will get stuck in the box, so while you're driving, it'll get stuck there, so you put it in neutral, then push it to where it's supposed to go...but it doesn't again. so you try until you finally get it in.

Then recently, my dad had the car fixed. They billed us about 50k. My dad, who used to work for Toyota, really worked up a temper and called them. They then billed us 17k.

I thought it was just my car. But when I went to a wedding last January, I saw an old friend driving the same model as mine. In fact, our cars were from the same batch since we have almost the same plate number, WTL.___. I asked her if she has experienced the same problems. Confirmed, it's not just my car. One of her Hondas also have a hole in the fuel tank.

Then again, just this January I think, I had the timing belt replaced, again in Honda Alabang. They said they have to clean the engine. It will cost 80k and my car will be gone for 2 months. Or....the attendant so smartly suggested: "Ma'am kung gusto nyo, ibenta nyo nalang po yan, para hindi kayo maabutan ng sira, iba nalang yung gagastos. Kumita na kayo, tapos bili nalang kayo ng bago dito." (Translated: Ma'am, if you want, you can just sell your car and just let the second owner to pay for the repairs (ano ba ang ingles ng maabutan?). You get to earn from that, then just buy a new car here.) Is he crazy???? Who the hell does he think he's talking to? Is that really how they practice business? Then I responded, after laughing bitterly, "We will never buy a Honda again."

Yesterday, I brought the car to the shop near my house, where I have been bringin my car for some years now. There's something wrong with it because it's been very noisy. The mechanic tells me it's the bearing of the compressor of the aircon. They don't do aircons.

Ok. So I go to Rapide along Kalayaan. They take a look at my car. Yup. It's the bearing. It's the compressor.

Rapide guy: Kelan po ninyo nakuha ito?
Me: 2001.
Rapide: Grabe naman. Sira agad ang compressor.
Me: Bakit, ilang taon ba ang lifetime usually?
Rapide: Mga 10 years po.
Me: It's a Honda, what do you expect. So magkano?
Rapide: P21500.

GRRRRRRR....I almost wanted to kick the damn car.

I know a lot of you like Honda. It's the yuppie car. You might think that it's just my car, and that it happens to other brands as well. But the thing is, my family took a chance with the Honda Civic even if we were pretty happy with Toyota. Trying it out and seeing what the whole fuss was all about. So we will never really buy a Honda again. After talking with their people, from the showroom, to the tech to the corporate, the company has left a bad taste in my mouth. (Believe me, if i was just allowed to write about my case against Honda here --airbags not popping-- you'll understand why i'm even more pissed).

So if you still want to buy Honda. Go ahead. But be sure to check the warranty card. And don't believe the provision which states: "Honda reserves the right to be the final arbiter of all matters involving warranty claims." Don't let it stop you from suing them if you think you have the right.

Job Opening

Hello, my former boss called me last night and have requested me to send out this post.

The Office of Justice Isaias Dicdican of the 12th Division of the Court Appeals is looking for three Court Attorneys. He was formerly a Justice in the Visayas Region based in Cebu, but will be transferring to Manila by March 19, 2008.

Please submit your resumes to me through this post, or for those who know my email, you can do it there also. I will forward to him your applications (since we only had a quick conversation and wasn't able to iron out that detail). You might also want to submit your applications through the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Court of Appeals in Manila.

Yun lang po.

Celebrating the Leap Year

For justice, human rights, national patrimony and dignity:

ARROYO REGIME, OUT NOW!

Today, the call for patriotic duty is upon us, all freedom-loving and justice-

seeking citizens, peoples as well as women and men of the Philippines!

Today, we are called upon to exercise our sovereign will in this historical moment, and to reclaim our self-respect and dignity as a nation.

We are called upon once more to mobilize our collective courage and unity—our Power as a People, to bring an end to an illegitimate, corrupt , ruthless and rapacious Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) government.

In recent days, we staged various forms of protests nationwide to demand the resignation, ouster or stepping down of the GMA government, not only for its lack of legitimacy, unbridled greed, grave human rights abuses and widespread repression.We also resisted a recalcitrant and shameless regime for its gross violations of the constitution, the sell-out of national sovereignty and patrimony, the betrayal of national and people’s interests and the betrayal of public trust.

It took the damning testimony of one courageous whisteblower of the cancelled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal to shock and enrage an entire nation about the extent to which this government could go in its monumental greed, ruthlessness and cling on power.

Noel Lozada Jr. has shown to us what courage and patriotic duty are all about. Just as our other brave men and women, our heroes and martyrs –now and in the past, have shown that a just cause against an unjust regime is worth the resistance and sacrifices. And that this country and its people are worth dying for.

Today, we are gathered and mobilized around our rallying call: ARROYO REGIME OUT NOW! We say enough of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) regime which is a government of lies and of leaders enriching themselves at the expense of the people’s natural resources and patrimony and the labor of our toiling people. We say enough of cover-ups and impunity for this regime’s evil deeds.

Today, we call for an end to this government that came into power through cheating and remained in power by silencing its critics---474 political killings in the last three years alone, and more than 180 people have been made to disappear. No more of a government that sells off the country’s minerals, forests and lands in exchange for largesse and bribes from large businesses and corporations --at the costs of the welfare and survival of local communities, our environment and posterity . We say no more to a government that lords over the people and wields its power ruthlessly like a mafia.

Today, let us show to the world once more that the Filipino people will not have anything to do with GMA and what she represents—elite rule, patronage politics and greed. At the same time, we serve notice that we will no longer allow our future to be hijacked and placed in the hands of different factions of the same elite and their brand of patronage rule that is governed more by narrow-self-serving interests and agenda at the expense of the people’s interests and welfare.

We invoke the spirit of People’s Power and draw lessons from our collective resistance and history: that only a united and determined people can make history; and that in our own hands lie our own liberation and deliverance as a nation.

Together, let us chart our own destiny towards national freedom, social justice, democracy , development , durable peace and security.

Today, let us once again, make our history as a people. Today, let us once again make our nation proud .

February 29, 2008

PHILIPPINES

From the Women and Men of Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth-Philippines (LRC-KsK/FoE-Phil.)