The Law as Prediction: Javellana at 33

Most of SCRA Volume 50 -- more than four hundred printed pages of the Supreme Court Report Annotated -- is taken up by a case decided by the Supreme Court 33 years ago today, on March 31, 1973 -- JAVELLANA v. THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY.

Fred Ruiz Castro, then Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, wrote the following Preface to SCRA 50 (March-April 1973)

PREFACEIn his famous essay, the Path of the Law, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes defined the Law as a prediction of what the Court will do.

The prediction is based on precedents. The governing principle, which has given consistency and stability to the Law is Stare decisis et non queta movere. [Follow past precedent and do not disturb what has been settled.]

The officials enforcing statutory law and regulations, the lawyers and litigants seeking to know the law in concrete controverted cases, and the judges in adversary litigations, should b e well posted on precedents.

The Supreme Court Reports Annotated as a repository of the latest precedents formulated by the highest court of the land, serves the purpose of keeping lawyers, judges and law-enforcing agencies duly informed on the rec ent accretions to the corpus of our jurisprudence.

The copious notes and annotations to the reported cases as well as the cross references to past relevant rulings will lighten the researcher's tedious task of looking for authorities.

I wish to congratulate the Central Lawbook Publishing Co. for having undertaken this useful Publication.

(signed)
FRED RUIZ CASTRO

How ironic, that the Decision, Javellana v. The Executive Secretary, in the perfect 2020 of historical hindsight, in fact disobeyed all past moral and judicial precedent and casuistically disturbed many long settled tenets of democracy, freedom, truth and justice. No greater indictment of the Philippine Supreme Court's past perfidious performance, no greater blot on its juridical record as having touched one nadir, no more sinister omen of its likely future actions and decisions, exists, than this despicable surrender to fascism and dictatorship in 1973.

But don't just take it from me...

GURU OF DESTABILIZATION Father Joaquin Bernas, S.J., noted consitutionalist and a literal forefather of the 1987 Constitution, whom Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has recently accused of being the Guru of Destabilization in the Philippines, recently wrote in the Philippine Daily Inquirer --

The Supreme Court As Legitimizing Agent (PDI) ... Thus it is that, in the history of our nation, there have been instances when the Supreme Court has legitimized official action offensive to human rights and disruptive of constitutionalism. Hence, as we await the decision of the current Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the gag rule in Executive Order 464, and of Proclamation 1017 and the various official actions it occasioned, as well as the uses of BP 880, it might be salutary to review how our Supreme Court has sometimes, to our national regret, played around with sacred constitutional principles...a majority of the Supreme Court were of the view that the Constitution proposed by the 1971 Constitutional Convention was not ratified in accordance with the requirements of the 1935 Constitution. In the end, however the Court accepted the cryptic conclusion that the new Constitution was already in effect....We are again at a crucial moment in our history when the Supreme Court is challenged to make decisions that can either weaken or strengthen constitutionalism in the Philippines. Meanwhile, the executive arm has been behaving as if martial law had been declared. Every official act so far done, unless contradicted by the Court, will continue to enjoy the presumption of legitimacy.

AN ETERNAL PRINCIPLE is to be found in Fr. Bernas essay where he says that "the Supreme Court has legitimized official action offensive to human rights and disruptive of constitutionalism." For he could not openly have said and published such a characterization of Javellana in 1973.

That he CAN, is a point of great, if cold, consolation to us today.

That he DOES, is a sign of how far things have gone, once more, in the wrong direction.

Thirty-three years after Javellana, it may be the very template being assiduously studied yet creatively applied, to the service of a new autocrat in Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, just as once it was put in the service of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The same elements are there with new ones: a President at bay, charter change, plebiscites, martial law, barangay assemblies and Supreme Court decisions. Javellana is actually hard and painful to read, as every paragraph reads like the morning news, as indeed we seem to be REPEATING the history we've just forgotten -- at an even lower cycle in the helix spiralling down to the ranks of the unfree countries.

Reading Javellana today also sheds old light on the Executive's present actions and suggests a sinister new element to the present-day Palace moves: the Executive is being coached by a legal mind that has complete knowledge of these precedents and is anticipating the legal and judicial road ahead, by shaping the Executive's orders, decrees and actions toward a goal of mutual survival.

Justice Castro, quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Law is a PREDICTION of what the Court will do. And so it is! Reading Javellana explains a lot about what Malacanang Palace has been, is, and will be trying to do.

PASS YOUR PAPER TIME: But it seems to me that all the Edsa 2 Chickens are coming home to roost -- right where they were hatched in January, 2001! Panganiban's procrastination on all these cases of transcendental importance can last only for so long before the delay turns scandalous -- like a rotting fish head in the noon day sun at Padre Faura. It's almost Pass-Your-Paper-Time for Artemio Panganiban and that mysterious company of men and women that DARE to call themselves today's Supreme Court.

The vast audience of history awaits to JUDGE them.

RELATED:
Only the Aristocracy Cares About the Eternal Principles
Davide Supreme Court Legitimized Military Mutiny For Regime Change

Four Months To Parliamentary Unicameral Utopia?

EITHER the Speaker of the House of Representatives is dreaming. Or we are. But JOSE DE VENECIA has just proclaimed to ABSCBN News anchor Ricky Carandang that the People’s Initiative which miraculously started up just last weekend has already exceeded the 12% requirement on the percentage of registered voters signing the petition to amend the 1987 Constitution and shift from the present Bicameral-Presidential to a Unicameral-Parliamentary form of government. In an ebullient, fast-paced scenario, JDV declares that we could have a new Parliament in place by July. Of 2006! Just three or four months from now.

Here is how it could happen, according to JDV:

First, Comelec will verify the signatures, as indeed, they already have, in Pangasinan, according to him. Whether Comelec then gives due course to the initiative or not, the case will surely reach the Supreme Court. If the initiative is rejected by Comelec, the Petitioners will appeal while the Opposition will surely question the legality of the People’s Initiative if Comelec approves it for campaign and plebiscite. JDV seems supernally confident that Supreme Court will have a chance to “reconsider” the Decision it rendered in 1997 -- Santiago vs. Comelec – That Decision was penned by Hilario G. Davide, Jr. whose Conclusion reads --

This petition must then be granted, and the COMELEC should be permanently enjoined from entertaining or taking cognizance of any petition for initiative on amendments on the Constitution until a sufficient law shall have been validly enacted to provide for the implementation of the system.
We feel, however, that the system of initiative to propose amendments to the Constitution should no longer be kept in the cold; it should be given flesh and blood, energy and strength. Congress should not tarry any longer in complying with the constitutional mandate to provide for the implementation of the right of the people under that system.

That second paragraph of then Chief Justice Davide’s ponencia may now be invoked by the likes of Raul Lambino, Sergio Apostol and Jose de Venecia. JDV was breathlessly painting a picture of a massive, spontaneous, nationwide movement of people “clamoring” for Charter Change, “clamoring” for a shift to the Parliamentary System of Government, “clamoring” to sign up to Charter Change..."clamoring" for him to be Prime Minister? Chief Operating Officer JDV? (well some of these were the thought bubbles...)

JDV said that Santiago v. Comelec could be history by May and by June a campaign and plebiscite around a new form of government could be held. JDV says that by July a new Parliament couldbe in place, containing one-third of the present Cabinet, who would automatically be considered Members of Parliament under Transitory Provisions. The Speaker was waxing sentimental as he described the scenario that would then occur in 2007. An Interim Parliament would be elected, along with an Interim Prime Minister who would serve as “Chief Operating Officer” of the Republic under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who would continue as “Chief Executive Officer” in a “French –style” of parliamentary-presidential system. Naturally JDV sees himself in that new role of C.O.O.

Looks like JDV has already moved into his Parliament-cum-Palace in the Sky, because he also told Ricky Carandang at noon time that once we have a new Parliamentary system in place by this coming July (We are barely 3 months to Utopia, dontcha know?) there will be a much easier way of tackling the rest of the changes required in the Constitution, such as electoral reform, economic and political reform, and all the rest! Then again... this is the Philippines where some very strange things have happened and people don't really seem to care.

But what is so crucial about that June July time frame during which the Speaker of the House of Representatives predicts we shall all be in the throes of a campaign and plebiscite over a new Unicameral Parliamentary system.

Oh yeah, Round Two of the Impeachment Battle.

Ah...but here is some ammo for JDV's side...

Pulse Asia, Inc. reports on a Question that it asked of 1200 adult voters during its March, 2006 National Survey with the raw data breakdown in the following Table:

Table 3 Whether It Is Right to Amend the Present Constitution Now or Not (March 2005, Oct. 2005 and March 2006)

Question #176: Sa inyong palagay, tama ba na baguhin ang Konstitution sa ngayon? (In your opinion, is it right to change the Constitution now?)

But, Pulse Asia gave its respondents exactly four possible answers to choose from in the survey: (The three percentage numbers that follow below are the nationwide responses from March 2005, October 2005 and March 2006.)

Choice of Answers:

(1) YES the Constitution should be amended now. (29% ... 36% ... 43%)

(2) NO, the Constitution should not be amended now but it may be amended at some time in the future.(27% ... 35% ... 24%)

(3) NO, the Constitution should not be amended now nor any other time. (28% ... 20% ... 24%)

(4) Don't know or can't say.(16% ... 8% ... 9%)

There is something fishy about this question because of the allowed answers listed by the pollster. Notice that there are two NO categories here. But consider a slightly different but closely related question:

What percentage of Filipinos are in favor of amending the Constitution?

According to Table 3 it would appear as if a strong majority of Filipinos -- two-thirds or 67A% of them in fact -- are in favor of Charter Change now or in the future, while a shrinking minority of 24% say No, not ever. Yet, the data also shows that since March 2005, the fraction of the adult voters who are for changing the Charter NOW has been on an increasing trend from 29% to 43%, a sizeable change.

Now look at how Pulse Asia reported on and interpreted this same data:

Filipinos are essentially divided on whether it is right to amend the Constitution now

About the same number of Filipinos (48%) does not consider it right to amend the 1987 Constitution at present as consider it right to amend it now (43%). Nearly one in ten (9%) is undecided regarding the timing of charter change. Of the 48% who deem charter change inappropriate at present, half (24%) oppose it now but are open to it in the future, while the other half (24%) do not see the need for charter change now or at any other time in the future (See Table 2)

Even as a big plurality of Filipino adults think it is not right to amend the constitution now (48%), this sentiment is now expressed by fewer Filipinos relative to the previous year. In March and October 2005, a small majority of Filipinos (55%) did not think it right to have charter change at the time. Between October 2005 and March 2006, the percentage of those opposing charter change now drops significantly in Class ABC (-18 percentage points) and in Metro Manila (-19 percentage points) (See Table 3)

The percentage of Filipinos in support of having charter change immediately has been increasing since March 2005 when only 29% of Filipinos were for the immediate amendment of the Constitution. In October 2005, this figure rose to 36% and it now stands at 43%. Between October 2005 and March 2006, agreement with having charter change now goes up in the poorest socio-economic Class E (+12 percentage points) and in Metro Manila (+15 percentage points). Fewer Filipinos are now for having charter change sometime in the future instead of immediately (24% in March 2006 versus 35% in October 2005), while indecision regarding the timing of charter change has dropped (from 16% to 9% between March 2005 and March 2006) (See Table 3)

On the other hand, the percentage absolutely opposed to charter change (i.e., not now nor at any other time in the future) remains nearly constant between October 2005 and March 2006 across all of the country’s geographic areas and socio-economic classes (See Table 3)

It now appears that the best way to read the March 2006 Ulat ng Bayan national survey on Charter Change from Pulse Asia, Inc. is to ignore the heavily editorialized "Media Release" wrapper and go directly to the Tables which contain the original survey questions in Tagalog and the breakdown of respondent's answers.

Guess the Fraction of White Cue Balls

IMAGINE that you are a contestant in a Game Show whose prize is a cool $1 million.

An Olympic-sized swimming pool is filled with a pre-arranged mixture of regulation billiard balls (colored and numbered 1 to 15) and white cue balls. The object of the Game is to guess how many white cue balls there are. It has been announced that the TOTAL NUMBER of balls whether white or colored is exactly 100 million.

Contestants are given exactly one hour during which they can perform any physical, mental or statistical inspections on the collection of billiard balls. They are allowed pencil, paper and a computer with an Internet connection. Rulers, clocks, weighing scales, cameras, cell phones are also available. The winner is the contestant who comes closest to the correct answer in one hour.

What do you think is the best strategy to win the $1 million prize?

[NOTE: There is no "correct" answer, but participating in this exercise could change the way you look at and interpret public opinion surveys such as the recent Pulse Asia Inc. Ulat ng Bayan national survey on charter change, or this one on political scenarios. ]

Chacha -- The Dance Within The Dance

t first, I found myself agreeing with Manila Standard columnist Antonio C. Abaya's essay today entitled, Illegal Revolutions, (via MLQ3) -- until I got to the very last paragraph --

"The point is that revolutions of all kinds are, by their very nature, illegal and extra-constitutional, whether they are spectacularly violent or remarkably peaceful, whether they are carried out by civilians or by the military, or by combinations thereof. They are justified by their own success, and nothing else. They are unjustifiable when they fail."

I could not disagree more! Although popular and considered chic in a cynical, triumphalists sort of way, this is essentially a morally bankrupt position that boils down to "The end justifies the means when it comes to regime change."
MORAL ABSURDITIES OF EDSA 2: Are we to accept the absurdities of Edsa 2 because of its success? Are we to accept as legitimate the self-confessed Mutiny of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces because it succeeded in bringing about the 2001 presidential regime change? How can the Philippine Military ever disentangle itself from Politics and professionalize officers and men if it never repudiates Angelo Reyes, who has in fact been rewarded with a succession of Cabinet posts in the regime he helped to install by coup d'etat in 2001. Are we to accept further, the Supreme Court decisions which legitimized that Mutiny, and the veritable coup d'etat executed by Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. on 20 January 2001? Are we to accept that unelected Judges, like those sitting in the Supreme Court now, can, at any time, receive a fax from the Vice President, and on that basis suddenly declare the Presidency vacant, and swear in the vice president as happened at Edsa 2? Does the continuing "success" of Edsa 2 justify the means by which Joseph Estrada was removed from office.

One finds here the very core and durable vestige of the philosophical defense that still exists for Edsa 2 among people like Abaya, and even the "Middle Forces" many of whom are already arrayed against Mrs. Arroyo, who was the true beneficiary and demiurge of that Real Coup d'etat in 2001.

Those who say that the Supreme Court already ruled on these matters ignore the self-evident involvement of the Supreme Court's members in the very action of Edsa 2 itself and the non-impartial, political acts and accomplishments of Davide and Panganiban in those events. History proves that the Supreme Court can reverse any past decision, and as the retrospective hindsight on those events improves with time, hope springs eternal that abominable decisions like Estrada vs. Arroyo (March 2001) and Estrada vs. Desierto (April 2001) will indeed be reversed because they in fact legitimized Mutiny and Coup d'etat as accepted bases for regime change. I guess this lethal philosophy is why many like Tony Abaya feel just fine and comfortable "acquiescing in the result" that Erap was deposed, arrested, thrown in jail, and is now on trial for his life on charges of capital plunder. Having succeeded in ousting Erap because it certainly felt right doing so, people have ignored the fact that other high government officials, primarily Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., Chief of Staff General Angelo T. Reyes, and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, had wantonly violated the Constitution on the matter of presidential succession. Edsa 2 -- the passage of time makes ever more crystal clear -- was in fact a coup d'etat carried out by the highest officials of the Philippine Military and Judiciary in conspiracy with the political opposition led by the Vice President and the Catholic Church.

These questions are independent of the guilt or innocence of Erap in regards to the crimes of plunder alleged against him (of which I suspect he may actually be guilty), but they have everything to do with the moral dilemma that has paralyzed the Philippine Military because of the actions of people other than Erap, namely Angelo Reyes and Hilario Davide.

I think that we ignore these questions and matters as "water under the bridge" at great peril to our national security, integrity and national sanity, for I believe they stand at the very heart of the political and moral dilemmas that, like a gigantic Gordian Knot, have enveloped and bound the nation.

I see now that Antonio C. Abaya, like the "Middle Forces" who have not yet repudiated the events of 20 January 2001, does not have a moral handle on the Edsa 2 events. He is wallowing in moral and mental chaos over a missing principle, the eternal principle of moral consistency in all things and in all seasons.

Although Antonio C. Abaya is loudly and trenchantly anti-Communist in most of his writing, it appears he shares with the CPP-NPA their own most important article of faith:

The end justifies the means.

It turns out that Mr. Abaya also bought the TIME MAGAZINE story about a coup plot conspiracy from Nelly Sindayen, hook line and sinker, here at Iskandalo Cafe (where the other stuff for sale includes, prominently, Nubra Super padded Featherlite adhesive stick on bra!)

BLAWGER ED LACIERDA may have been a tad overconfident on Ces Drilon's show tonight with Solicitor General Ed Nachura on the phone, discussing the recent People's Initiative "consultations" during the recent weekend Barangay Assemblies. Although it is true that the Supreme has ruled (in Santiago vs. Comelec) that charter amendments via the route of the People's Initiative is unconstitutional without an adequate enabling law, SolGen Nachura promises that there WILL be a Supreme Court case that will bring that decision under review and possible reversal. He points out that when the results of the People's Initiative are submited to Comelec for certification, it will either be rejected (as Comelec nominee Brauner told the Senate today would certainly happen) or, as Ed Nachura hopes, that the Comelec will accept the submission. If it is rejected, SolGen says petitioners will certainly bring it up to the Supreme Court, while if it is accepted, the Opposition will certainly question it. In either case, Ed Nachura chuckles, it will come before the Court of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who dissented in the case Santiago v. Comelec, and may have his way this time around. The People's Initiative could fly!

SENATOR MAR ROXAS seems to have awakened to the very real likelihood of the Senate's impending extinction. Speaking on ABSCBN News at noontime, Mr. Palengke excoriated the past weekend's "People's Initiative" exercises with a single-minded objective that is indubitably Unicameralism and Marcosian Barangay Assembly tactics as the chosen method.

FIDEL VALDEZ RAMOS, ecdysiast that he is, finally shed the last disguising cover on his cold hand upon the chacha turntable and may have rung alarm bells in the Senate with his strong and open support for the Chacha choo-choo as the way forward. If anything, this development signals open warfare on the Senate by the House of Jose de Venecia, aided and abetted by the Palace and Secretary Ronnie Puno, an old Marcos hand, recently appointed to the Dept of Interior and Local Govt. Mr. Puno is opening his tenure under Mrs. Arroyo by putting a dagger straight at the Senate's heart, pretending it is being wielded at the initiative of 12% of the electorate, the magic number in the "People's Initiative" provision of the Constitution. Despite the absence of an enabling law, the Palace forces are moving ahead with confidence and even aplomb.

SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO, intriguingly has gone on "indefinite medical leave." (Coincidence or amor propio?) After all, there may be some things even Miriam may not be willing to surrender or stoop too, as a sign of continuing fealty to the Palace.

CHA CHA CHOO CHOO IS A WIN WIN FOR GMA I can see why President Arroyo would unleash all the forces and resources of government to support the Chacha Choo Choo at this time. With a Second Impeachment being threatened in the Lower House by July, (fortified by all sorts of new charges and allegations since Gloriagate itself got going last June), what better way to muddy the Congress waters and give the legislators something to keep them away from destabilizing thoughts than the keening, ululating dramas and debates of the Chacha Choo Choo? In the end, either people will accept chacha or reject it. If they accept it, GMA figures she will be both Prime Minister and President, with the head of the Senate on a silver platter. If they reject it, so what? The 1987 Constitution still guarantees her a full term until 2010. The fate of this FVR-JDV-orchestrated Chacha however, must be decided long before this year is over, because the 2007 national elections and the preparations and realignments required for that effort cannot be ignored. Perhaps, as soon as the Second Impeachment is dead, so will Chacha be, in the devious calculations of the Palace mind.

UPDATE: A FAINT SIGN OF LIFE IN GREECE The long-dormant weblog of RIGOBERTO TIGLAO, now Ambassador to Greece got a single update in March a link to Paglaban sa Kataksilan.

Press Freedom and Organized Religion Are Freedoms of Assembly

[NOTICE: All comments and opinions, contrary or otherwise, are welcomed and encouraged on this blog. I don't moderate comments...Just don't make a mess...My bandwidth is your bandwidth!]

I am still grappling with the issue of the Danish Mohammed Cartoons because I think the encompassed issues of press and religious freedom are of transcendental importance. I also think we cannot adequately defend our human rights and freedoms if we do not have a principled understanding of them that can withstand the severest test of moral consistency, where I think most Filipinos fail when it comes to issues and controversies involving the "eternal principles."

PRIVATE HUMAN RIGHTS ARE THE ROOT OF ALL CIVIL RIGHTS The smallest, weakest minority in a Democracy is the individual human citizen. Perhaps that is why the Bill ofRights of the Constitution defines and defends the human rights of the private individuals that actually compose the democratic polity. The Bill of Rights is a series of limitations on the powers of the State. It is a list of prohibitions on the Government which effectively define Freedoms that belong to the individual private citizens which can only be taken away by due processes of the Law. I have come to appreciate the view that all public or civil rights really have their roots in these rights of private citizens.

BILL OF RIGHTS (1987 Philippine Constitution)

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.

Section 3. (1) The privacy of communication and correspondence shall be inviolable except upon lawful order of the court, or when public safety or order requires otherwise, as prescribed by law. (2) Any evidence obtained in violation of this or the preceding section shall be inadmissible for any purpose in any proceeding.

Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Section 5. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.

Sections 1 and 2 above explicitly protect a citizen's life, liberty, property; his equality before the law; the security of his very person, of his abodes, and that of his papers and "effects". and his communications.

Section 3 seems to make his very words and thoughts a form of private property and extensions of his "effects" -- by protecting the privacy of his communications as "inviolable" except by Court Order.

Section 4, protects Freedom of Speech and Expression, which seems to me to be an extension of the human person's right to private property -- in this case the right to hold a private opinion and to communicate it (with no guarantee of course that anyone will listen!) Freedom of the press is, in one view, merely the right of many individuals to peaceably assemble, in this case as newspaper organizations, radio or television networks and other forms of organized Media, for the purpose of exercising together, their individual freedoms of speech and expression.

FREEDOM OF RELIGION IS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION In Section 5, Freedom of Religion may be seen as a derivative of the freedom of individuals to hold private opinions -- in this case beliefs or teachings about supernatural questions, gods, deities, philosophies, credos, cults, questions about ultimate origins and ultimate destinies of human beings and the Universe. It also protects a complete nullity of belief in such things or even a worship of anti-religious symbols such as Satan or Beelzebub or Pazuzu. Atheism is a protected form of religious expression. Freedom of Religion thus comes from the Freedom of Speech. Religious practices and rituals are a form of the democratic Freedom of Expression. Organized Religion is likewise protected as a special form of Freedom of Assembly -- not necessarily to petition the Government for redress of Grievances, but as fervent appeal to a Higher Power for salvation or as sign of worshipful faith. From the point of the view of the Constitution, a Roman Catholic High Mass has equal protection as a peaceful demonstration, a published editorial, a Hollywood movie, or... a Danish cartoon!

ORGANIZED RELIGION IS FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY When an individual human citizen joins a Church or Synagogue or Mosque or any other such religious association, that citizen is practicing the Freedom of Assembly. When a Catholic or a Baptist or a Born-Again Christian expresses some article of faith in a worship service, that citizen enjoys equal protection under the law as a Leftist activist demonstrating againt U.S. Imperialism in front of the U.S. Embassy. Or the right of Comedians to do standup comic shows. Or the right to publish editorials or broadcast the news. No more. No less.

DEMOCRACY SAVES RELIGIONS FROM EACH OTHER. In history, men have annihilated men and nations have warred on nations over differences of religious belief A careful reading of Section 5 (and years of thinking and discussing it with others!) reveals what a careful tightrope act Democracy walks when it comes to Religion: a complete neutrality, a steadfast prohibition against BOTH promoting or prohibiting Religion. But this careful distinction and balancing act, sometimes embodied in the Principle of the Separation of the Church and the State is not fundamentally different from something one might call the Principle of the Separation of the Press and the State, in that theoretically the State has no business either promoting or prohibiting Mass Media. The government shouldn't be meddling in the activities of journalists and broadcasters any more than it ought to be intruding on priests and mullahs. Or promoting some particular set of religious beliefs and teachings. The latter would of course be disastrous for any government to do, the tyranny of Theocracy. I think this is the proper light in which to consider the issues and arguments that have issued from the Mohammed Cartoons published by Jyllands Postens in Denmark and that have spawned a global controversy and violent demonstrations. Even in the City of Makati, we actually saw signs calling for the BEHEADING of journalists who insult Islam. A Pakistani cleric has even offered as bounty a brand new Mercedes Benz and cash for anyone who KILLS the Danish cartoonists reponsible for "blasphemy against Islam."

NO TO THEOCRACY But all this Constitutional vouchsafing of certain inviolable rights, both religious and civil, does not imply a principle like the Separation of Church and Press The protected character of the Free Speech called Religion is not any more protected than any other form of Free Speech, such as the publication of cartoons which may have the effect of offending members of that religion. But the State is PROHIBITED from protecting one religious belief that may be completely contradictory to that of other religious beliefs. For example, in the case of the Danish Mohammed cartoons, at the heart of Muslim rage is the Islamic taboo on idolatry, which is considered blasphemous. Being a democracy however, Denmark clearly cannot uphold such a teaching of Islam, no matter how keenly it is felt or how violent is the reaction. That would be giving in to theocracy -- even if it doesn't lead to the actual establishment of a full blown Islamic Caliphate of Denmark. Or simply put. It would be unconstitutional, both here and in Denmark.

THE ARGUMENT FROM DISRESPECT Many people in the Philippine Main Stream Media and the blogosphere have presented the argument that publishing the Mohammed Cartoons was wrong because they represent a fundamental disrespect for the religious beliefs of about one billion human beings on the planet. But it is too easy to ignore the actual reasons that Jylannds Postens originally published the Mohammed Cartoons -- it was certainly not to insult Islam or disrespect its adherents. As Flemming Rose, publisher of Jyllands Postens explains it, they were trying to prove a point about political correctness in Danish Media by not being obsequious in avoiding criticizing Islam and its forced association with terrorism, chauvinism and religious intolerance. However, radical Danish imams latched onto the editorial cartoons and disseminated them in the Arab world to provoke precisely the reaction that they got. Strange how it was blasphemy for Jyllands Postens to publish the cartoons but not for the Danish imams to show them around at Islamic conferences in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It was truly despicable too that two cartoons that were never published were nevertheless misrepresented as part of the series. Thus, it is pretty clear that there was no intent to disrespect Islam on the part of Jyllands Postens. But even as lampoons of Islam, these works are protected free speech and we cannot ban or apologize for them without giving up fundamental democratic principles. This does not mean I would publish such material myself, but I don't disrespect Islam, even as I defend the rights of the cartoonists to publish them. It's no different than defending the rights of the Daily Tribune and Ninez Cacho Olivarez. One may not agree with the Tribune because it's pretty obvious they don't RESPECT Mrs. Arroyo, though they would certainly be right to argue they still respect the Presidency itself. I think it is morally and logically inconsistent to defend the Daily Tribune but not Jyllands Postens.

Our Vast Leftist Rightist Coup Conspiracy

A Family Picture From Happier Times

How It's Portrayed Today
CHEAP SHOT: Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist JUAN MERCADO is having fun with the buzzword INSTIGATE and the term INSTIGATIVE JOURNALISM, which probably works cleverly enough to be a sort of Palace retort to INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM as practiced by the likes of Sheila Coronel of PCIJ. However it was Ricky Carandang and Twink Macaraeg of ABSCBN News who are held up by Juan Mercado as examples. It was just a CHEAP SHOT at the media people who were there at that Marine Stand-off at Fort Bonifacio. Who could blame them? This was the third day into Proclamation 1017. The Palace itself had alleged coup d'etat plots by elite military units were afoot. So, on that mysterious Sunday, I don't believe that Ricky Carandang or Twink Macaraeg instigated the following little vignette that I heard and saw live on TV and radio that Sunday afternoon in Fort Bonifacio. Perhaps Mr. Mercado would care to say something sage and wise about this strange and bizarre outburst by a Marine under Col. Ariel Querubin, a certain Lt. Col. Archie Segumalian --


LT. COL. ARCHIE SEGUMALIAN AT FORT BONIFACIO
26 FEBRUARY 2006
Mr. Mercado can sneer only because that initially tense and dramatic situation in fact ended peacefully and anti-climactically. Yet it could easily have turned out quite differently and been a big story instead of a dud.

BONG AUSTERO BOUGHT THE FAIRY TALE ABOUT OUR VAST LEFTIST RIGHTIST COUP CONSPIRACY: That became pretty obvious during Ricky Carandang's one-on-one interview with him tonight. Well, no wonder Mr. Austero had a hissy fit and wrote that famous email dissing anyone going EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL last February 26. He probably reads TIME MAGAZAINE, or something. But asked who he thought were part of the Coup Plot Conspiracy, he said sheepishly, "I'm not really at liberty to say!" Asked who he thought were legitimately being hunted down by the Government for participating in the coup, he revealed a tic -- its a heavenward roll of the eyes -- that proclaims he doesn't really have a clue. But he was able to name those who are anti-GMA whom he considers are legitimate and ought not be hunted down-- Enteng Romano for one, Randy David too, he said, and probably Manolo Quezon, whom he says is the most popular blogger in the world, right now. But it was disappointing...Bong Austero is actually for IMPEACHMENT, just like me. In fact, if things get worse I'm pretty sure we'll see Mr. Austero at the barricades too, at least figuratively. I thought he would actually have something interesting to say, some solid manifesto for ideological apathy. Not just another wishy-washy liberal who told Carandang he BELIEVES GMA cheated but is perfectly fine with it. For now, he said. And delivered a promise to take back everything he said in his email, once the Filipino people decide to go against GMA for sure. I've got audio of him, but I'm too, uhmm apathetic to do the work. Where Juan Mercado takes advantage of hindsight to make a cheap shot, Bong Austero seems bothered by it more and more. But both will be on the right side when the time comes, I wager.

---

If you like reading Juan Mercado and Bong Austero, here at ISKANDALO CAFE you can find them together ONLINE. (Check out the merchandise for sale here: the Nubra Super padded Featherlite adhesive stick on bra).

---

Manuel L. Quezon III thinks this discussion on Press Freedom is "highly illuminating." No discussion. Just "highly illuminating." I found it "droll." But I guess every blogger keeps nice stock phrases like that for "diplomatic linking." I personally like "strongly persuasive" or even "mildly interesting." But still no definitive essay from MLQ3 himself (and most bloggers now lambasting the Arroyo regime for oppressing their freedom of expression.) on the Danish Cartoons and the fundamental principles of Press Freedom, on why the Liberty of Fleming Rose is the same Liberty as that of Ninez Cacho Olivarez, why Jyllands Postens IS the Daily Tribune.
Some recent posts here at Philippine Commentary on Press Freedom (maybe not highly illuminating, but deeply felt and sympathetic) --

From the Ministry of Truth and Responsible Journalism

Bitter Herbs and Purple Flowers

Danish Publisher Explains Mohammed Cartoons

Democracy Saves Religions From Each Other

Global Jihad Against Insensitive Journalists?

PDI on the Separation of Church and Press

The Responsible Journalism of Conrado de Quiros

As the Sun Sets and Darkness Falls Over My Sad Archipelago

Breaking News --- Standoff Developing at Fort Bonifacio

Stand for Liberty! Stand for the Philippines!

MAX SOLIVEN of the Crony Newspaper The Philippine Star takes the Commission on Human Rights to Task for questioning the "Siege of Bagong Diwa" last year. Max's entire argument seems to be that the Abu Sayyaf bandits like Commander Robot, Global and Kosovo deserved to die anyway, so who cares if maybe the thing was a rubout? Never mind that dead terrorists tell no tales about alleged top brass in cahoots with the enemy, (even selling them bullets!) Hey but what do those Commission on Human Rightists know about it anyway, eh? I mean, Max may be onto something here, how dare those Humans Rights commissioners actually take sworn statements from the actual witnesses to the 2 day siege and "massacre" (CHR's term)?

Davide Supreme Court Legitimized Military Mutiny As A Basis for 2001 Regime Change

THE SEEDS OF THE MORAL DILEMMA which has engulfed and paralyzed the Philippine Military were sown on 20 January 2001 by Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr., in the acts and decisions of the Supreme Court itself -- before, during and after that decisive moment in Philippine history five years ago called Edsa 2. By declaring the Presidency VACANT on that bright Saturday morning and at high noon swearing in Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the Edsa Shrine, the Davide Supreme Court effectively LEGITIMIZED MILITARY MUTINY as an acceptable means for forcing a PRESIDENTIAL REGIME CHANGE.

OBJECTIVE EFFECT OF LEGITIMIZING WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPORT There is one undeniable and objective consequence of the Edsa 2 Supreme Court decisions which has nothing to do with Erap's guilt or innocence as such, but with a new standard of behavior on the part of the Philippine Miitary that has been established by the Davide Supreme Court when it found the events of Edsa 2 -- "CONSTITUTIONAL THROUGHOUT"-- with no HIATUS whatsoever in the operation of the Constitution, on the part of anybody (including themselves of course.) A retrospective and Chronology of Events on the Angelo Reyes Mutiny is in When Last the Military Withdrew Support.

THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS By legitimizing the END RESULT of Edsa 2, the Davide Supreme Court also blessed the ILLEGAL MEANS employed -- including Angelo Reyes' Military Mutiny, still perniciously referred to in respectable society as "a withdrawal of support" when he himself had called it a Mutiny. Indeed, it was only because the Armed Forces Chief of Staff Angelo T. Reyes had declared and executed a mutiny against President Joseph Estrada on 19 January 2001, that Davide could even have considered doing what he did. A most important vestige of that highly immoral legitimization of plain and simple Mutiny may be found in the term "WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPORT" which, in this context, reveals a Supreme Court assiduously creating a category of acceptable mutiny. It is Davide's Chicken, which wrongly declared the Presidency vacant at noon on that bright Saturday morning, which has come home to roost in the Philippine Military as a logical brain twister that subverts the Articles of War, idiotizes the Chain of Command by confounding office-holders with positions of public trust, and indeed declares EVIL to be GOOD, as a recent PDI editorial Orwellianized.

FROM THE MINISTRY OF TRUTH AND RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM There is a particularly reprehensible but inherently cynical line of reasoning that serves to rationalize and justify the Supreme Court's benediction of Angelo Reyes' Mutiny: Whether or not a military action abetting or causing a Regime Change is to be considered unconstitutional or not depends on whether the action SUCCEEDS at toppling the current regime or not.(I think this is the height, and breadth and depth of intellectual dishonesty. It is the purest, deepest casuisty in current usage, and I wish I were more clever and expressive that I could find the words to destroy this mental abomination. It is something so deeply and obviously wrong whose fallaciousness is viciously demonstrated every time just such a Regime Change is threatened. Only victors can say it with relish, but even those defeated are given hope of undertaking their own LEGITIMATE MUTINY. The Supreme sank to a fresh nadir in enshrining this self-evident piece of casuistry in its annals.

TIME BOMB OF LEGAL AND MORAL AMBIGUITY FOR THE MILITARY The Supreme Court thus left the Philippine Military with a ticking time bomb of legal and moral ambiguity. For in legitimizing Mutiny by Angelo Reyes to achieve a SUCCESSFUL Regime Change in 2001, the Supreme Court has really made it morally inconsistent and conceptually bizarre to prosecute people like General Danilo Lim and Colonel Ariel Querubin for failing to abet a Regime Change by imitating said Angelo Reyes. To be MORALLY CONSISTENT, any prosecution of a FAILED MUTINY-CUM-COUP D'ETAT ought to be preceded by a thorough investigation and prosecution of Angelo Reyes' Mutiny and Coup D'etat. Anything less, such as what the High Court, the Military and the government are all blundering about doing, is inexorably headed for the all-reducing dramatic pathos of successive absurdities that is already unfolding before our eyes.

DANGEROUS LEGITIMIZATION OF RADICAL JUDICIAL ACTIVISM There is a second, even more lethal consequence of the Davide Court's decisions with respect to Edsa 2. But that deserves its own future commentary.

Is the Supreme Court Infallible?

(YES. BUT ONLY BECAUSE THE SUPREME COURT CAN CHANGE ITS MIND!)
JOAQUIN BERNAS, S.J., is the favorite Constitutionalist of many people, especially those who supported the Edsa 1 and 2 People Power events, though much distinction-making between them has lately been fashionable. Being not only a Roman Catholic priest and a leading light at the Ateneo de Manila University, as well as legal circles generally, Father Bernas is also a literal forefather of the post-Marcos Republic, as an original member of then President Corazon Aquino's Constitutional Commission, which drafted the current 1987 Freedom Constitution. As with our most influential thinkers, Fr. Bernas is also a newspaper columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Fr. Bernas wreaks a devastating essay of retrospective on the most infamous legacies of the Philippine Supreme Courts with his superb piece this week, THE SUPREME COURT AS LEGITIMIZING AGENT-- (a tour of the worst Decisions of the Philippine Supreme Court)

WE ARE WONT TO SPEAK OF THE SUPREME Court as the last bulwark of our liberties and the ultimate defender of constitutionalism. That is the general truth. This is true because of the Court's power of judicial review which leads to the truism that the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, means what the Supreme Court says it means. Thus it is that, in the history of our nation, there have been instances when the Supreme Court has legitimized official action offensive to human rights and disruptive of constitutionalism. Hence, as we await the decision of the current Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the gag rule in Executive Order 464, and of Proclamation 1017 and the various official actions it occasioned, as well as the uses of BP 880, it might be salutary to review how our Supreme Court has sometimes, to our national regret, played around with sacred constitutional principles.

This was only Fr. Bernas' lead. Please read the rest of his piece. He wonders what the present Supreme Court will do with all the weighty cases before it and yet to come! But I shall leave for Father Bernas' sharp scalpel the gruesome task of laying bare to the brave reader, the execrable depths to which past Philippine Supreme Courts have sunk in the past, in the canine service of Marcos the Dictator, in the legitimization of several intellectually and morally reprehensible Decisions of the almighty Supreme Court. It seems to be his parabolic but effective means of expressing a lack of confidence in the Supreme Court of Artemio Panganiban to RISE to the level of moral and intellectual ethos required to successfully rule and decide these matters. CPR... EO 464...BP 880...Proclamation 1017...the Garci Cases, looming impeachment, rebellion and coup d'etat charges against senators, congressmen, journalists, soldiers, mutineers...the morass of potentially landmark cases gathering at the High Court, or rotting there, is a real challenge to the Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban.

IS THE SUPREME COURT INFALLIBLE? Fr. Bernas deserves a lot of credit for administering this medicine now to whatever is left of the thinking Public. It has not been even slightly his fault, (but for a religious association), that the Public paradoxically is still taught to believe in the INFALLIBILITY of the Supreme Court, despite this history of successively lower nadirs attained by its past incarnations. I think this has something do with the fact that in Roman Catholicism, the teachings of the Roman Pontiff are deemed to be infallible in certain special cases, but the distinctions have historically been lost even on the most faithful. Thus the legitimate desire for an ideal, infallible Supreme Court, to a willing suspension of disbelief that in any particular case the Supreme Court might be wrong. I believe that the Constitution is what the Supreme Court says it is, but I also believe that the Supreme Court can REVERSE any past decision it has made! It does not seem reasonable to me, outside of a religious theology, to believe otherwise about the Supreme Court of any democratic country.

A Layman's Tenet: THE ONLY INFALLIBILITY ACCORDED TO THE SUPREME COURT LIES IN ITS CORRIGIBILITY...THE INHERENT ABILITY TO REVERSE ANY PAST DECISION.

Yet we await with bated breath for Father Bernas to go all the way, having opened up this line of questioning...am waiting for Father Bernas to confront the constitutional and moral issues of EDSA 2 in the light of Proclamation 1017. What does he think for example, about Estrada vs. Arroyo (March 2001) now? Wasn't that also the same sort of Vast Leftist Rightist Conspiracy complete with a Military Mutiny which the government is now making VIDEOS about?--

How Saddam Hussein Supported Terrorism In The Philippines

There really are people who still believe that SADDAM HUSSEIN could not have supported terrorist groups like Al Qaeda because he was a SECULAR fascist dictator while Osama bin Laden is said to be for a global Islamic theocracy, a kind of modern Caliphate. Yet Al Qaeda has about as much to do with Religion and Islam as Saddam Hussein had to do with Iraqi Democracy and good air quality in Halabja. But very few Filipinos probably know of the direct connection with local terrorist groups, long suspected and now definitively confirmed in the mountain trove of documents found in Iraq and Afghanistan, only recently come to light and comprehension.

(VIA MEMEORANDUM) The Weekly Standard has this item today: Saddam's Philippines Terror Connection--

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME PROVIDED FINANCIAL support to Abu Sayyaf, the al Qaeda-linked jihadist group founded by Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law in the Philippines in the late 1990s, according to documents captured in postwar Iraq. An eight-page fax dated June 6, 2001, and sent from the Iraqi ambassador in Manila to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, provides an update on Abu Sayyaf kidnappings and indicates that the Iraqi regime was providing the group with money to purchase weapons. The Iraqi regime suspended its support--temporarily, it seems--after high-profile kidnappings, including of Americans, focused international attention on the terrorist group.

The fax comes from the vast collection of documents recovered in postwar Afghanistan and Iraq. Up to this point, those materials have been kept from the American public. Now the proverbial dam has broken. On March 16, the U.S. government posted on the web 9 documents captured in Iraq, as well as 28 al Qaeda documents that had been released in February. Earlier last week, Foreign Affairs magazine published a lengthy article based on a review of 700 Iraqi documents by analysts with the Institute for Defense Analysis and the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. Plans for the release of many more documents have been announced. And if the contents of the recently released materials and other documents obtained by The Weekly Standard are any indication, the discussion of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq is about to get more interesting.

Read it all, but especially part 2 of the Weekly Standard's report. Read it all, though here's a juicy bit more from the Standard...

One week before the attack, Abu Sayyaf leaders had promised a campaign of terror directed at the "enemies of Islam"--Westerners and the non-Muslim Filipino majority. And one week after the attack, Abu Sayyaf attempted to strike again, this time with a bomb placed on the playground of the San Roque Elementary School. It did not detonate. Authorities recovered the cell phone that was to have set it off and analyzed incoming and outgoing calls.

As they might have expected, they discovered several calls to and from Abu Sayyaf leaders. But another call got their attention. Seventeen hours after the attack that took the life of SFC Jackson, the cell phone was used to place a call to the second secretary of the Iraqi embassy in Manila, Hisham Hussein. It was not Hussein's only contact with Abu Sayyaf.

"He was surveilled, and we found out he was in contact with Abu Sayyaf and also pro-Iraqi demonstrators," says a Philippine government source, who continued, "[Philippine intelligence] was able to monitor their cell phone calls. [Abu Sayyaf leaders] called him right after the bombing. They were always talking."

An analysis of Iraqi embassy phone records by Philippine authorities showed that Hussein had been in regular contact with Abu Sayyaf leaders both before and after the attack that killed SFC Jackson. Andrea Domingo, immigration commissioner for the Philippines, said Hussein ran an "established network" of terrorists in the country. Hussein had also met with members of the New People's Army, a Communist opposition group on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups, in his office at the embassy. According to a Philippine government official, the Philippine National Police uncovered documents in a New People's Army compound that indicate the Iraqi embassy had provided funding for the group. Hisham Hussein and two other Iraqi embassy employees were ordered out of the Philippines on February 14, 2003.

Interestingly, an Abu Sayyaf leader named Hamsiraji Sali at least twice publicly boasted that his group received funding from Iraq. For instance, on March 2, 2003, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the Iraqi regime had provided the terrorist group with 1million pesos--about $20,000--each year since 2000.

People in the Archipelago will recall that this was the period of spectacular raids, kidnappings and other escpades of the Abu Sayyaf Group. This was the era of the Rizal Day Bombing (December 30, 2000, blamed on Erap and Ping); of the Sipadan hostage takings and rise of fame of names like Commander Robot, Global, Kosovo; the raid on Dos Palmas, the ransomed rescue of GMA's billonaire election contributor, Reghis Romero; the Beheading of Guillermo Sobero, the tragedy of missionaries, Gracia and Martin Burnham, the Military Fiasco at Lamitan; the never-ending turmoil on Basilan Island; the escape of Fathur Rohman al Ghozi; the rise of Mindanao as the training ground and hiding place and R&R for the Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda. This was an era of infamy and intelligence failure, nay of a failed and illegitimate leadership. Anti-terrorism policy in the Philippines under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has always been mostly HOT AIR -- all talk and very little effective action. This not to disparage the brave fighting men on the frontlines of the fight against both Islamist terrorism of the Abu Sayyaf and the CPP NPA brand of communist insurgency. Rather it is to point to the failures of the national civilian and military leadership to effectively and convincingly call the Filipino people to war on terrorism. How can a military, whose top brass is denounced by its bravest young officers of corruption and dereliction of duty, effectively lead the people towards a just and lasting peace? The President herself has failed to get Anti-Terrorism legislation passed, because her own inconsistent words and actions have thrown her commitment to the fight against terrorists in serious doubt. Her actions testify only to a superb instinct for peronal political survival, not a commitment to the wider alliance or to the principles that motivate its members. Joseph Mussomelli, previously US Embassy's charge d'affaires (last year), said in a parting commentary that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was the "weakest link" among the leaders of ASEAN. I've had several occasions to consider the record of President Arroyo in the war on terror in several related posts:

People are having problem with semantics and the debate has never quite moved beyond the issue of what terrorism IS.
IS TERRORISM A TACTIC?

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's capitulation and appeasement act in Iraq did not impress our allies any about Filipino reliability, at least at the level of the President, especially after she immediately flew into the arms of China in order to play an old Marcosian game. She comes in for some hard scrutiny from the Heritage Foundation in...

AMERICA'S INTERESTS AND FATE OF GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

This is a bit more philosophical in response to an email
METAPHOR OF THE SINGLE JETLINER

Some plain Texas talk for the U.S. President...
AMERICA SHOULD WITHDRAW SUPPORT FOR GMA'S MOB RULE

Only the Aristocracy Cares About the Eternal Principles

Everything will be different now.
Even the apathetic must know it.
Their apathy is a nervous consolation.
But I don't understand that smile on Dinky Soliman's face,
with its near-tittering self-consciousness.
Doesn't she know, they mean to wipe it off her face?

The New Philippine Commentary is now just about five months old. The Google and Yahoo Arachnidae have been more than kind, and our Visitors, especially the Commenters, have been incandescent and sublime... We thank you from the bottom of our hearts...Rizalist and I are now equipt with MP3 audio and the old codger is still around (with a higher Page Rank after hibernating for two years!) Ye Olde Philippine Commentary. Given our changed circumstances in the Philippine Archipelago, a summary of Philippine Commentary since reboot last October seems to be in order. I had a feeling something like what just happened, would. That is why this blog has been resurrected. Because there are important things again for Free Men to say, important, eternal principles that must be seized upon and applied for all times and all seasons, if Democracy is to survive in the Philippines.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, the great American Justice and abolitionist said it best: "Your forefathers were men of peace; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forebearance but they knew its limits. They believed in order but not the order of tyranny. With them nothing was "settled" that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final" -- but not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men, for they seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Mark them."

All our posts since reboot...

General Danilo Lim Faces Court Martial...What About Angie Reyes?
with 6 Comments
Poll Fraud and Rebellious Elite Philippine Military Units
with 4 Comments
I Say: Remember Tien An Men! (and EDSA)
with 0 Comments
Canaries In The Mine Shaft
with 7 Comments
President Arroyo's Impeachable Offense Against RA 4200 Anti Wiretapping Law
with 5 Comments
ISAFP, Bunye, PCIJ, et al Are Guilty Of Violating R.A. 4200?
with 23 Comments
This Is Proof of Leftist-Rightist Tactical Alliance Coup D'etat Conspiracy?
with 24 Comments
A Telling FAUX PAS In Proclamation 1017 Noted in Senate Hearings
with 14 Comments
Gone Trekking
with 26 Comments
Condoleeza Rice Bats For Free and Informed Media
with 11 Comments
PP 1021 Did Not Rescind Military Rule Portion of PP 1017
with 51 Comments
Documents of 2006 State of National Emergency in the Philippines
with 2 Comments
Proclamation 1017 Moot and Academic -- Et Tu Brute?
with 33 Comments
2001 'Leftist-Rightist' Coup d'etat -- in Mike Arroyo's Own Words
with 17 Comments
Thanks a Lot Comrade Gloria!
with 29 Comments
On the Criminal Culpability in Proclaiming and Enforcing 1017
with 3 Comments
The Citizen-Soldier's Moral Dilemma
with 70 Comments
BUSH: America Is Watching Your Democracy
with 8 Comments
President Arroyo Blinks on Proclamation 1017?
with 30 Comments
As the Sun Sets and Darkness Falls Over My Sad Archipelago
with 65 Comments
Breaking News --- Standoff Developing at Fort Bonifacio
with 56 Comments
A Call for Solidarity from National Union of Journalists
with 1 Comments
1017 Outlines of a New Conjugal Dictatorship in the Philippines
with 1 Comments
Stand for Liberty! Stand for the Philippines!
with 3 Comments
Proclamation 1017 GMA's Speech in English Translation
with 15 Comments
Warrantless Arrests, Raids on Mass Media By Manila Regime
with 2 Comments
From the Ministry of Truth and Responsible Journalism
with 0 Comments
Alleged Coup Plotter Is A West Point Graduate
with 6 Comments
Cory Aquino Asks President Arroyo to Resign
with 14 Comments
PROCLAMATION 1017 STATE OF REBELLION DECLARED!
with 9 Comments
Live Blogging the Edsa Anniversary
with 0 Comments
Bitter Herbs and Purple Flowers
with 16 Comments
Sliding Down to the Ranks of the Unfree
with 19 Comments
Philippine Coup Rumors Intensifying
with 15 Comments
Yet Another Tragedy Strikes
with 3 Comments
Danish Publisher Explains Mohammed Cartoons
with 22 Comments
Bloggers! The Google Dance Is On
with 8 Comments
Democracy Saves Religions From Each Other
with 24 Comments
Global Jihad Against Insensitive Journalists?
with 25 Comments
PDI on the Separation of Church and Press
with 30 Comments
The Responsible Journalism of Conrado de Quiros
with 22 Comments
Nuclear Nonproliferation is Nonnegotiable
with 10 Comments
Storytelling from the Nineteenth Century
with 3 Comments
ABSCBN the Wowwowee Stampede--A Week Later
with 3 Comments
Who Saved Los Angeles?
with 8 Comments
Angst of the VFA Abrogationists
with 16 Comments
That Log In Our Eye
with 0 Comments
Quezon's Chilling Allegory About Assassination
with 2 Comments
Danish Cartoons Broke Muslim Taboo On Idolatry
with 4 Comments
Freedom of Religion IS Freedom of Expression
with 6 Comments
It's Capital Blasphemy to Just Describe the Cartoons
with 6 Comments
Anti-VFA Forces Fall Silent -- For Now
with 0 Comments
The Power of Regret in Davide and Abueva
with 0 Comments
Having Second Thoughts About The Second Edsa?
with 3 Comments
Sign This Petition To Save Children In Philippine Jails
with 3 Comments
President Bush Rejects Isolationism and Retreat
with 12 Comments
The Strong Republic of Jueteng
with 2 Comments
Don Filippo Asks Pilosopong Tacio a Question
with 3 Comments
Internet Hoaxes and Legends in PDI Editorial
with 9 Comments
Davide and Goliath: Trust, But Automate
with 2 Comments
Cardinal Sin Really IS Dead, Silly!
with 4 Comments
Science Sunday -- Remembering Columbia
with 3 Comments
America Should Withdraw Support For GMA's Mob Rule
with 5 Comments
Why the Five Congress Committees Failed
with 4 Comments
VFA--Will GMA Do Another Angelo de la Cruz?
with 29 Comments
Garci is a Test of the Supreme Court's Independence
with 4 Comments
Noel Blinks, GMA Winks, Is Chacha Dead Til 2010?
with 1 Comments
FVR Warns Council of a Disaster Waiting to Happen
with 4 Comments
The Left and the Trapos United In GMA's Gambit
with 5 Comments
The Pulse Asia Survey on People Power
with 5 Comments
GMA Does Not Attend Burials of Filipino American Soldiers?
with 0 Comments
Wiretapping Garci's GSM Digital Cellphone--and Hiawatha
with 2 Comments
Were Smart Or Globe In On ISAFP Wiretapping?
with 4 Comments
THE REAL COUP D'ETAT
with 7 Comments
Senate Is Really Digging Into ISAFP Wiretapping
with 3 Comments
Escaped Oakwood Officers Issue Defiant Statement
with 1 Comments
Oakwood Rebel Website--A New Radyo Veritas?
with 0 Comments
Oakwood Mutiny Reignites After FVR Was Shoved
with 2 Comments
Mathematical and Other Mysteries of the Second Envelope
with 0 Comments
Quo Vadis, Fidel Ramos?
with 1 Comments
Was 2004 Election Automation Junked Deliberately?
with 2 Comments
Remembering the EDSA 2 People Power Coup
with 3 Comments
Coalition of the Willing?
with 1 Comments
GMA As Joan of Arc or FVR As John the Baptist?
with 3 Comments
Public Opinion Polling Is A Genre of Journalism
with 0 Comments
EDSA II Retrospective: When Gloria Resigned
with 2 Comments
Prediction: GMA Will Junk Chacha of FVR and JDV
with 2 Comments
Jail Oliver Lozano Now For Obstruction Of Justice
with 15 Comments
Gloriagate is a National Security Disaster
with 7 Comments
Filipino-American Soldiers In Iraq
with 1 Comments
FVR to GMA: Do the Noble Thing and Cut Your Term Short
with 6 Comments
Will FVR Lose Lakas To GMA?
with 10 Comments
Zbig's Real Choice in Iraq
with 19 Comments
Polling Bleg: Ponnuru's Puzzle
with 4 Comments
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
with 1 Comments
The Art of the Areglo Gone Awry
with 0 Comments
"We Must Have Peace Among All The Families"
with 16 Comments
When Last the Military Withdrew Support
with 4 Comments
Did the Oakwood Mutiny Fail Because Gringo Stole Erap's Money?
with 6 Comments
The Real Victory of Joseph Estrada
with 1 Comments
Will America Abandon Democratic Iraq?
with 6 Comments
Bernas and Biblical Judicial Activism
with 4 Comments
Are the Garci Tapes Studio Fakes?
with 4 Comments
Philippine Commentary Since Reboot
with 2 Comments
Nobody Died Today...It's All A Vile Rumour!
with 7 Comments
National Security is the Highest National Interest
with 0 Comments
Democratic Iraq is a Baby In Bloody Swaddling Clothes
with 5 Comments
Future American Leaders Are In Iraq
with 3 Comments
Bells of the Archipelago Called Earth
with 5 Comments
Chief Justice Panganiban In His Own Words
with 6 Comments
FVR CALLS ON GMA TO CUT AND CUT CLEANLY?
with 8 Comments
Freedom and Garci's Second Petition
with 15 Comments
Davide Retires: Good Riddance!
with 14 Comments
Iraq Is a Project Like Japan or Germany
with 2 Comments
Democratic Iraq -- First and Only in the Arab World
with 15 Comments
What Was the Star of Bethlehem?
with 10 Comments
Bush Addresses Wiretapping Issue
with 5 Comments
Big Wiretapping Controversy in America Too!
with 27 Comments
OUR LOVE GOES TO DEMOCRATIC IRAQ!
with 7 Comments
Dilemma of the Poisoned Fruits
with 9 Comments
Only the Opposition Can Save GMA
with 9 Comments
The Right to Privacy and the Public's Right to Know
with 6 Comments
Long Live the Anti-Wiretapping Law!
with 5 Comments
Science Sunday -- The Nuclear Nobel
with 3 Comments
Fourteen Soldiers Are Hostages of ISAFP
with 8 Comments
Russia, China Big In ASEAN. Where's America?
with 12 Comments
STUNNING BREAK IN GLORIAGATE CONTROVERSY
with 13 Comments
Supreme Court Will Now Rule in Garci's Favor
with 1 Comments
The Day After Pearl Harbor
with 14 Comments
Judas Goat on Top of Mount Pinatubo
with 8 Comments
China's New East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
with 3 Comments
Sunday in Iraq -- Cradle of Civilization
with 1 Comments
Fingerprinting the Human Voice
with 6 Comments
63 Gold, 44 Silver, 50 Bronze, 1 Black Eye
with 20 Comments
Rope-a-dope Trap: Garci As Poisoned Pawn
with 7 Comments
And So The Retreat Begins?
with 10 Comments
Overhearing the Palace Thinking
with 3 Comments
Was the Adam & Eve of All Tapes Digital?
with 17 Comments
The Stone of Scone and the Bells of Balangiga
with 16 Comments
The Wire-Tapping. The Wire Tapping!
with 8 Comments
To Parry The Coming Offensive
with 10 Comments
The Paradox of People Power
with 11 Comments
How Could I Forget?
with 10 Comments
Metaphor of the Single Jetliner
with 22 Comments
Garci's Back -- GMA's Safe For Now?
with 7 Comments
Has the Gene Pool Run Out?
with 8 Comments
Orphans of the Anglosphere
with 3 Comments
A Little Yellow Journalism by Leftist Hatemongers
with 12 Comments
A Future Poem
with 7 Comments
Was This A Gutenberg Moment?
with 4 Comments
Open Source Media Launches
with 12 Comments
Land Ho! Oops the Tubbataha Reefs
with 6 Comments
Attack of the Rainbow Warrior
with 3 Comments
No Blog Is An Island
with 7 Comments
How Secure Are the Southeast Asian Games?
with 12 Comments
Bunye & Goebbels--Masters of the Big Lie Technique
with 15 Comments
Scrapping VFA Will Only FREE Accused Rapists
with 8 Comments
Visiting Forces Aggrievement
with 21 Comments
The Opposition In Full Retreat
with 2 Comments
ABSCBN Empire Strikes Blow for Press Freedom?
with 2 Comments
Before We Won the War and Lost the Peace
with 4 Comments
Personal Abhorrence
with 0 Comments
Paris As A Memetic Outbreak
with 0 Comments
The FLY in the Ointment
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Six US Marines Held For Raping a Filipina in Subic
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Rizalist and I
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A Tribute to a True Leader
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Game Theory and Gloriagate
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The Power Laws of Blogosphere Popularity
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A Rotten Deal in the Fertilizer Scam?
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A Fresh Start on the Filipino Dream
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19 Clicks Is The Diameter of the Blogosphere
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Civil Rights Pioneer Rosa Parks Dies At 92
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Visual Maps of the Filipino Blogosphere
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American Blogger in Mindanao on Civil Liberties
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One Bishop Blogging, Four Bishops Blogging!
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