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TGIF COLUMN

August 2: Ninoy and Cory month

July 25: The first and last 1,000days
July 18: Manly arts
July 11: More laws? Whatever for? My four/five Rs
July 4: Automation versus manual? No contest, but lets improve it

June 27: Multiple Jeopardy not right to speak
June 20: No 2 Not good enough?
June 13: UP, dont do it! No Diliman jiu-jitsu
June 6: JPE, gone; Jake, no! Inferno, redux

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ninoy and Cory month
August 2, 2013 4:23 am
by RENE SAGUISAG

August I mark for another birth date (which I share with Chair Boy Brillantes, Magic Johnson, Fr.
Zamora and Tim Tebow) and death anniversaries, Ninoys and Corys, Plaza Miranda victims, and
Walking Tall Sheriff Buford).

Ninoy Aquino at 50 ? Once again in search of his place in history I wrote in Mr. & Ms. on Dec. 7,
1982. Herewith -

I got back in the wee hours of Saturday, November 6, completing a trip to the U.S. that began last
September 22 (Mr. & Ms., October 12, 1982). . . .

I met during my trip Prominent Heavies such as Ninoy Aquino,

I spent the first week of my six?week sojourn in San Francisco, the next in Washington, D.C. the
third in New York, the fourth in Boston, the fifth in Los Angeles, and the last in San Francisco again.
[I met] Ninoy, who turned 50 last November 27.

He was a stranger to me prior to October 13, 1982. I had not met him before that night, after
checking in at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel coming off a bus trip from New York. A beautiful way to
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see New England in autumn with its spectacular fall foliage. I dialed his number which Ernie Maceda
had given me in New York. Ninoy and I arranged to meet the following noon at the Harvard JFK
School of Government, where he was to give an informal talk to the highly regarded JFK Fellows.

At the table, I, in T?shirt and jeans, asked to sit between famous State Sen. Mark Quentin Rhoads
and Feminist Guru Betty Friedan. [We may have been a bakers dozen.] Bedan Ninoy, in coat and
tie, held court on his perceptions of the Philippine and international situations. He talked of his past,
present and future. He would repeatedly stress that, partly as a result of his prison experience and
being strapped for cash, his public life was behind him and that he had cancelled his reservation for
what was at bottom an ego trip to the presidency. He had gotten elected youngest governor and
senator in our history and ? who knows? perhaps he would have been the youngest president of
the country had martial law not been inflicted by Mr. Marcos. His detractors say he would have been
our first dictator.

He said he enjoys the quiet life there. He is not sure after a trip to tropical Nicaragua that he could
adjust again to our weather in the Philippines, let alone perhaps the heat Mr. Marcos would put on
him, one might add. When I later told others about Ninoys forswearing politics they would smile a la
Mona Lisa.

Would he consider teaming up with the Marcoses? He recalled that his father had helped a lot of
people in World War II and was labeled a collaborator for his pains, which he tried to live down; he
passed away at 53 of a heart ailment ? was it a broken heart more like? Ninoy would rather not risk
being so perceived or misunderstood.

There was, one might suppose, providence in Ninoys release. Did the fickle gods intervene in
1980? However that may be, his release on deus ex machina has been at once a burden and a
blessing. His monochromatic martyrized image was blurred or distorted, if not ruined altogether.

He recalls that once in 1977, Mr. Marcos had sent for him. They met in Malacaang in the presence
of Gen. Ver, Minister Enrile and Minister Tatad. Then ensued the following exchange, as I recall his
narration of his own recollection of it, at least in substance, as something may have been lost in the
transmission of hearsay twice removed, so to say.

MARCOS ? You know, a thought occurred to me last night, while I was thinking of our meeting
today. Suppose I let you out right now, what will you do?

AQUINO (surprised) ? Well, I dont know, brod, I have not given it a thought really as I have not
been allowed to read or hear or watch the news all these years. Maybe what I will do is to go out to
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the people and ask if they are happy under your administration. If they are, then I will just keep quiet.
However, if they are not, then I will probably try to lead them against your administration.

MARCOS ? You know, in a way, I envy you.

AQUINO ? Why, brod?

MARCOS ?You have all the time to read the great books, the classics, the finest literature. I am still
struggling for mine.

AQUINO ? Well, my years in prison also made me realize who my very few real friends are. How
about you, brod, do you know who your real friends are?

Ninoy had probably let loose a shaft and sensing it found the mark, twisted it. There was an uneasy
shuffling in the seats by those present, he recalled.

He was serious, he was light, he would touch on matters of state and the latest gossip on the
members of the local ruling elite and would punctuate most anything with Jeez.

Yesterday, we marked the death anniversary of one who said she prayed with all her heart, worked
with all her might, and the rest she left to God. May I wade in and exercise also my braggin rights in
the pissin contest on Prez Corys paintings? She gifted me with one and wrote at the back this grace
note: Thank you for being my spokesman, my lawyer, my [very very occasional] speech?writer, my
loyal supporter and most of all for being my friend. God bless!

MABINI colleagues Kindly recall that in our meeting, there was a heated debate on whether I
should accept that U.S. State Departments human rights grant for 1982. Subjected to voting, only
Honorary Chair Sen. Tanny and Joey Lina shared my reservations, but a definitive 13-2 vote made
this Good Soldier accept. And I finally met The Man, who I could only see as San Bedas
commencement speaker in 1964 but I have a better recollection of Amalia, accompanying kin going
upstage. (I was also on stage as a 63 Bar Top Tenner).

I also met The Woman in Newton, but the Plain Housewife was only making ganchillo in the
background. With Ninoy, larger than life, no room for anybody else.

But of Chino Rocess prediction of an Aquino following Marcos, wrong sex.


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The first and last 1,000 days
J uly 25, 2013 11:17 pm
by RENE SAGUISAG

The official candidates for Prez in 2010 were Benigno Aquino III, Manuel Villar, Gilbert Teodoro,
Joseph Estrada, JC delos Reyes, Richard Gordon, Jamby Madrigal and Eddie Villanueva. You may
not like the last three years in office of PNoy, and you may not like the next thousand days either.

You think Erap and Co. could have done better, given the mess the Marcoses and the Arroyos have
left while we keep multiplying like rabbits? The one you hate the most, egg him to run for Prez of our
ungovernable people with Kadunongs and Pilosopos galore. They know all the answers, like I do, as
a columnist in our Wild Wild Press with Media being the Plural of Mediocre. We explain what we
dont see and understand, in our bivouacs while the Prez is in the commanding heights.

PNoy did not have to deliver that loooong State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday. It is
obligatory? But, can the Prez be mandamused? I doubt, despite the constitutional language (shall).

In the US some Prez have no SONAs or just send one in writing. Here, it is mainly about making us
drool in envy, particularly the women who see the attire of the women attendees in the State of the
Nations Accouterment. A uniform? Why not? Maybe like the St. Scho-Kulasa uniform?

Orating is one strong point of ours. Japanese officials supposedly whisper or shout, unable to orate.
All they do is work, work, work while we talk, talk, talk. They have the Lexus, we still have jeepneys
at corners or trikes in counterflow. Perfectionists, where we are puede-na. But, masaya. We sing
and dance in the rain while other peoples may take shelter. Among the Japanese, the serious
ailment or death of a loved one is no excuse to be absent from work, as some over-the-hill US major
leaguers playing besoboru in Japan have found out to their additional grief (our kids can say
baseball with the word falling trippingly from the tongue). Not besoboru.

On PNoys nearly two-hour speech applauded dutifully by his people (hakot?), I had my own beef.
Like many others, I wonder why he didnt mention me and my advocacies. How dare he? Some felt
deeply hurt and offered to resign. They should resign. Period. But continue to work for our people
because Art. 238 of the Revised Penal Code punishes [a]ny public officer, who, before the
acceptance of his resignation, shall abandon his office to the detriment of the public service. . . .
The supposed resignation of Erap was refused by the people in the election of his legal wife,
common-law wife, and a legal son and a love child, to high public offices. Erap was Mindanaos
choice for Prez in 2013, and now Manileos choice for Hizzoner, as our people joined Prez Cory in
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apologizing to him for removing him from office in 2001. Anyway, kudos to Biazon, Lim and Tanada,
not morir-antes-de-dimitir types.

Now there are lawmaking seminars. In our time in the Senate, we had Uncle Jovy Salonga (UP,
Harvard and Yale), Manong Johnny (UP and Harvard), Manang Letty (Wellesley and Sorbonne),
Sonny Alvarez (UP and Harvard); Edong Angara (UP and Michigan; his son Sonny, UP and
Harvard); Bobby Tanada (Ateneo, MLQ and Harvard); Kuya Teroy Laurel (UP and Yale), Manong
Ernie Maceda (Ateneo and Harvard), Ting Paterno (La Salle, UP, and Lehigh), Manong Bert Romulo
(La Salle, MLQ and Central Universidad de Madrid) and Mike Tamano (UP and Cornell). Me? Makati
Elem, Rizal Hi, San Beda and Harvard. I was the lone Pinabili-Lang-Ng-Suka who probably needed
a seminar in my batch, not having any yen for politics as an Accidental Public Official. I told Uncle
Jovy I didnt want to add to his headaches, given the squabbles over Committees and just to give me
one no one else wanted. I got Ethics.

Academically, our people may be said to have lowered the bar this year and did not want another
criminal genius, like Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Sr.. But, lets hope for all, including Marcos, Jr.,
Bongbong, to succeed; their success is ours. What is their take on Ayungin and Scarborough?

Last Wednesday, I attended as an ordinary citizen, a demo against Bully-Bully China but Dictator
Raffy Alunan ordered this groundling to go up stage and speak. For your penance, Raffy, tell naman
La Salle Manila, your alma mater, not to have its vehicles stop and occupy 1/2 of Vito Cruz. City Hall
should never allow the elite to build flush on the boundary but should require space within the
property owned by the school for disgorging or taking in drivers and passengers.

Good people change others, better people change the system, the best ones change themselves.
State of Self (SOS). If you want to see change, be that change. Tolstoy and Gandhi, TY.

The weather, City Hall and the cops cooperated last Wednesday. But, how soon will Mayor JunJun
Binay, doing a good job, have the junkyard cars removed from Palanan where we have lost our
sidewalks and continue to have wakes on streets? Ganito kami sa Barangay Palanan sa Makati.
Thats one of the reason masyadong nakalog ang utak ni ka Rene at masyadong nadribol ng husto
ng mga Aquino..Lets face it- Hes just too blind fanatics of the Aquino. And he too alam nya ang
sikreto ng isang Noynoy..





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Manly arts
J uly 18, 2013 9:42 pm
by RENE SAGUISAG
T.G.I.F

For the first time ever, Fil-Am San Fran Giants pitcher Tim Lincecom threw a no-hitter over the
weekend, reported in this paper (only?). For the first time also, I was in Solaire last Saturday night to
dancexercise. I met Noli de Castro. I finally got to thank him for gracing my Dulces St. Scho wake
with his vice-presidential presence. With him last Saturday was superlawyer Jesse Andres, who said
that they had just watched boxing in Solaire. I politely nodded, not wanting to spoil our pleasant mini-
chat by my saying I avoid watching the Manly Art of Modified Murder: aim, hurt a fellow human
being. Supposed mismatches, I learned later. My visit to the Solaire dance hall was marred by two
brownouts, resulting in suspending our dancexercise, first for a few minutes, and the second, for the
night. Frustrating, given the gross inconvenience in a supposedly world-class joint, upsetting those
who dance exquisitely or look like they are resisting arrest or moving furniture. You dont want to
know what happened the yesterday afternoon when we inquired.

No generators and good electricians in a plush place? I was incredulous.

Exciting as Solaire matches are, how about the bouts in the Supreme Court where Justice Art Brion
reportedly seeks that ex-CJ Art Panganiban be cited for contempt of court. Superlawyer Art P did not
join us in our human rights crusade during martial law but was here all the time. What about Art B
(Bar No. 1, out of 1,956 examinees, 74)? Where was he after he topped the bar? We may have a
right to ask and know who our Justices are. High and mighty officials chose limited privacy: the right
to be let and left alone.

Justice Velasco, a 71 bar topnotcher (No. 6) may be lawyering for his son in the SC. Even if false,
the perceptual problem is acute. Maybe the Velascos, with Ka Cesar Virata, are simonpures, but we
want to see kapakanang pambayan prevailing, di pansarile o pang-pamilya. The Velascos and
Viratas may have to sacrifice.

Ex-CJ Arts column of last Sundays PDI, which mentioned me, made me pause. He is my
compadre. When one recounts a war story, he (Bar No. 6, out of 4,216 examinees, 60; I was also
No. 6 out of 5,453, 63, ang gulo talaga naming mga hambog na abogado) validates the Durants
saying that all autobiography is vanity.

2001 saw the successful power grab of the Arroyos and the generals, who by the couples own
account, they started hatching a year earlier, per GMA, narrating in a plush Makati hotel on Feb. 21,
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2001 (headlined by PDI, Feb. 22, 2001), and in Mikes own statements in an interview with Quijano
de Manila in the March 5, 2001 Graphic issue (page 3-9). Fish caught by its mouth?

The awesome spectacle of J. Art and CJ Jun Davide in Edsa, on Jan. 20, 2001, will never be beyond
easy recall. Art, arms spread-eagled, while CJ Davide administered GMAs oath, meant that the
would-be refs, joined one team. Judging their own cause. Like a Mommy umpiring a pitcher-sons
softball game. Jan. 20 we dont mark, unlike Feb. 25.

I agreed to be Eraps counsel after his fall from power and he became an underdog (I had no part in
his impeachment, when he was overdog). I asked the two visible Justices to recuse themselves, on
Feb. 5, 2001, in open court, in the orals; they graciously consented. I had spotted J. Puno at Edsa
but he did not as dramatically prejudged and showed his support for GMA; that came later when as
ponente, he used the Angara Diaries to unseat Erap, who had nothing to do with writing same, and
came up with constructive resignation to rule against the only Prez, in recent decades, to win
unquestionably.

I have three pamphlets on the episode, In Defense of Constitutional Democracy; Ditto, Part 2 and
Part 3. Material for an anti-book, but for which I have no time really.

In 2001 the Supreme Court (SC) could have invoked removal from office, under Sec. 8 of Art. VII of
the Constitution; I would have been hard put answering a Bench question, Mr. Saguisag, was that
not what you exactly did with Mr. Marcos?. If you look at what the Justices wrote then, they seemed
triumphalist and felt proud they were to give us GMA, for which Prez Cory later apologized.
Art recounted how she hesitated but Cardinal Sin pounded the table and so the wish of Art and Jun
D prevailed, saying that their matutinal habit of cutting the Bible guided them to remove the secular
leader voted overwhelmingly into office as Prez in 1998. A Sandiganbayan Special Division was
created by the SC for Erap; none has been created as to Marcoses, GMA and their cronies, whose
cases have been pending; no Special Division like the one created and programmed to convict Erap;
the people have vindicated him).

I really should write my own book to supplement the late J. Isagani A. Cruzs 2002 book I use while
awaiting son Carlos update which I hope will contain this recollection of Art: At 6:20 a.m., Radio
Veritas announced that Cardinal Sin was giving Estrada until noon to resign, otherwise the Vice
President would take her oath as President. Was that the place of a Cardinal heeding the elitist
Metro Manilas hooting throng? Is this our institutional arrangement in a secular society? The world
which admired Edsa86 looked askance, puzzled, at the 2001 aberrational regime change. Erap, No.
2 in the 2010 polls, winning in Mindanao, and has just won in Manila.

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In the Republic of Davao, Rudy Duterte runs everything. Gutsy, like his Mom, with whom I used to
march in Davao, and equally gutsy daughter, Sara. So also is enraged gutsy Justice Sec. Leila de
Lima. Grabbed-the-Gun? Sans finesse. Garapal. Some peoples idea of dealing with our alleged
overpopulation is the Duterte Way, popular in Davao. The SCs Way is to lower the lawyer
population? Laffaire Art versus Art should have been referred to the Integrated Bar of the
Philippines (IBP). Sub judice? Who obeys it? So more speech, not less na lang? Douglas.

Pareng Art should not be abovenor beneaththe law. The IBP should have first crack and
recommend accordingly. I am against the SC quickly acting on a complaint against one of its ex-
own; I am also against the unelected SC being asked to nullify wholesale the work of the elected
Prez and Congress.

There must be an actual case brought by a real party, for a concrete factual setting. The leaky
unelected, must wait for a proper case. All I mention here, judged by their very best, I have learned
from, and am grateful. Again, more speech, not less.

More laws? Whatever for? My four/five Rs
J uly 11, 2013 10:21 pm
by RENE SAGUISAG

Trying to get SALNs is like humila ng bayawak sa lungga, as narrated by my studes. I have
simplified my assignment, seeing the many bills being filed by lawmakers. Whatever for, indeed, in
this scofflaw society?

My simplified assignment: out of the millions in the civil service today, and in the past, I ask, for a
guaranteed passing grade (75%), proof of compliance by any elective and appointive officials and
employees, permanent or temporary, whether in the classified or unclassified or exemption service
receiving compensation, even nominal, from the government, (\t _blank R.A.No. 3019, Sec. 2(b,
and Government means the national government, the local governments, the government-owned
and government-controlled corporations, and all other instrumentalities or agencies (id. Sec. 2(a),
with Sec. 7 thereof), with Sec. 7 requiring a civil servant to file every year a statement of the
amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the
amount of taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year.

Has anyone complied? The studes purposes are: 1) to pass the subject; and 2) to help have an
amnesty cum remedial legislation since Munti may not have enough room for PNoy, Jojobama,
Justices and Judges, the Senate Prez, the Speaker, Cabinet Members, Senators, Congressmen,
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Constitutional officials, the army, navy, air force and police chiefs, Governors, Mayors, Councilors,
down to the last Barangay dogcatcher. Lawmakers, law enforcers, lawbreakers.

Sen. Grace Poe & Co. start with a clean slate and should heed R.A. No. 3019, slumbering, but not
dead. Or repeal it. Why have new laws if we wont follow existing ones anyway? If the civil servant
invokes his right to remain silent, let that be on record, using the human and constitutional right not
to speak. Grace & Co. may help start our return to the Rule of Law. Sen. Nancy B may ask her
father, sister and brother for proof of compliance with Sec. 7. The Ombudsman may start
prosecuting. More defense lawyers will live in nice homes. If no amnesty, prosecute scofflaws
anarchizing society.

R.A. No. 6713 may have helped made us a nation of liars. R.A. No. 3019 affirms that we are a nation
of scofflaws. And of Juan Tamads. Last month, I had a case were seeking to settle, in Muntinlupa
(where many officials should spend their last terms, the first one being in office). Case reset so the
parties can settle to March, 2014! Too many cases for the new Judge. I pled for an earlier date.
Granted! December 9, 2013.

No fear of the law cuz conviction with finality comes only when one is gone to a better world. Not the
fault of that brand-new judge, to be sure, but the Supreme Court (SC) should lead the way. Retired
Chief Justice Felix Makasiar said he never travelled abroad. The SC has just resumed sessions after
another long break. It used to be that between Christmas and New Year, Justices toiled. Read, but
not seen nor heard. Work, work, work. Now Justices even accept speaking invitations, unheard of
before, at times to talk of matters where, if brought to it, would sandbag them. They seem not to care
about the vital case-or-controversy-and-proper party requirements in high-profile radio-TVed cases.

And now Ulyanin Steve Psinakis, and Ballsy Aquino will be probed? What about the Woodward-
Bernstein Watergate standard? anything controversial, double corroboration not usually observed in
our Fire!-Aim!-Ready! Journalism (FARJ). There is the basic human and constitutional right to be
presumed innocent, here, observed by our Dr. Dante and the Stars Boo Chanco, doing gumshoe
work.

OK to tell Pnoy what one thinks of him and his sisters and ancestors. FARJ tolerable when high
officials are involved.(?) Foreign Affairs may be something else. There the nation must speak with a
single voice. The President shares responsibility with the Senate, up to a point. The House? No role.
Much less the Supreme Court whose members should not speak in public, particularly on foreign
affairs where a case may be brought to it. Only the Prez has ambassadors all over and is therefore
in the commanding heights, not tiny bivouacs. Justices should not accept speaking invites, save
from the IBP, if that.

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On RH, one issue really is why the SC accepted the case in the first place; it was asked to be a
super-legislature, the unelected reviewing the work of the elected, wholesale. Our SC is the most
powerful, and therefore, most dangerous branch, which may now tell the elected in the executive
and the legislative branches, you have abused you discretion, and gravely at that. Grave Abuse of
Discretion (GAD) was really meant to apply to a martial-law situation where the military would not
release a detainee despite an SC order to do so. The military would say it would check with Da Apo
(Macoy) first. But, the expansionary appetite of the SC has made GAD a basis to decide on the
transfer of a petrochemical plant, the sale of Manila Hotel, etc.

A pleasant surprise then that several SC Justices agreed that the SC would not seem to be the right
forum to contest RH. ConstiLaw 101, there must be a case or controversy bought by the proper
parry. Judicial restraint J. Presby Velasco asked why the petitioners asked the entire law to be struck
down when certain parts of it, can be valid even if other parts are declared unconstitutional. The
SC really has to ask whether the Right thing is being done in the Right way at the Right time by the
Right party in the Right way and for the Right reason. I want to support my Church that way.

I believe in family planning. As Moro Lorenzo was supposed to have said, he believed in such
planning, and planned a big family. With population drops, calamities and civil and other wars
elsewhere, with possible use of devastating bombs and missiles, God will give us the help we need.
That is my Faith.

The State may not stop us from multiplying like rabbits, and we will find a way to endure and prevail.
The Church may continue to preach, self-control, not birth control. With mixed results. Cuz,
Muslims, four wives; Christians, no limit. And the Mahihiligs keep getting elected. No law can prevent
couples from romancing and having babies, lest we have a cleansing civil war, at long last.

Automation versus manual? No contest, but lets improve it
J uly 4, 2013 9:22 pm
by Rene Saguisag

July 2 marks the birth anniversary of Imelda Marcos and Chief Justice Meilou Sereno. Imelda
reminds me of what is said of politicians, to serve two terms, one in office, and other in jail. Having
been ordered to return billions on July 15, 2003 by the Supreme Court (SC), why did it not order the
prosecution of an established ill-gottener? The restoration has made it possible to compensate
human rights victims. BTW, why has PNoy not yet named the compensation board appointees?

Meilou will serve as CJ until 2031. I wish she would think of retiring after another decade, to
strengthen the institutional arrangement premised on de Gaulles observation: the cemeteries are full
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of indispensable people. She was not my nominee for CJ last year. I recommended J. Bobby Abad
and Ronnie Zamora, both 70 in 2014, to calm the stormy sea. But she was picked in a perfectly
constitutional manner. I support her. No seniority in our Constitution. There is no such tradition in the
U.S. which has seen many superior CJs, while those who did not rise to the very top, like Holmes,
Frankfurter, Harlan, et al. are positively remembered. Indeed, even Judge Learned Hand.

I was glad to read that Surigao del Nortes income rose by 711.22%; poverty declined by 32%. No
thanks to PNoy but genuine Peoples Initiative, no waiting for Malacanang to move, as kadunongs,
pilosopos throw everything at PNoy. Hence, my advice, the one you hate the most, egg him to run
for Prez of this ungovernable nation of hecklers. We columnists know all the answers save that they
are contradictory prescriptions by the unelectable.

In my hometown of Pasig, there is no talk of 60-30-10 I hear. An Opposition Vice Mayor and three
Councilors won. Thanks to automation, there is no more opportunity anywhere for long counts and
ballot-snatching or switching. A step forward. It may not be perfect but returning to manual scares
the bejesus out of me. Bloody.

Was there anything wrong with which Comelec Chair Boy Brillantes and Co. may be charged? I see
that a complaint has been filed where we may go where the evidence may lead, here (and not in the
UN which does not decide national elections anywhere, a remedy worse than the disease inflicted by
people our own have not elected or picked, some from faraway places with strange-sounding
names). Going back to manual will lead to endless disputes, and even violence, leading to deaths.
No goons and guns this time, a dramatic improvement. The election period last 30 days after the
elections. No guns, no alcohol.

There may be a basis to reduce to period to one week as counting is over by midnite, eliminating the
costs of a long manual count. In 1992, FVR was not proclaimed winner until just one week before
inauguration. There was a high hidden social cost.

Never again. Automation should stay even as we improve it, in an uncertain less than perfect world.
UP aint perfect. Bobit Tiglao of this paper who scooped everyone on laffaire Virata scored here
again the other day on UPs incompetence.

Whatever Harvard does in naming anything it owns is its business. It has a Lewis Intl Law Center,
where I first saw snow falling in October, 1968. (Immaculate. Our love was new.) It is today named
after Reginald Lewis, of our Class of 68 (several hundreds). I was not to meet and know him until
1991 in Harvard. He married Loida, who I had known since the early 60s in the National Union of
Students and Student Catholic Action. In May 1967, I attended UPs graduation, because my sister,
Lulu, finishing with two engineering degrees, was in that commencement rite.
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New Law grad Loida I met; I was then about to leave for Harvard, and she flattered me with sana
ma-approximate namin what you have achieved. With her in that class was another dear friend, the
late Violy Calvo (later Mrs. Frank Drilon). Both from St. Theresas, and very kind. I last met Loida
early this year, in Dusit Thani Hotel, when she again was co-leading some Fil-Am effort to give our
people a better life. My late wife, Dulce, and I, would very occasionally dancexercise with her in the
defunct Bykes on Chino Roces Avenue in Makati. She dances a mean swing.

Loida, thru sister Mely, arranged and financed my reunion attendance in Harvard in 1998, our classs
pearl anniversary. In 2008, our ruby anniversary, I also attended, with SocDem activist Ivan
Enriquez, of Davao, doing well in Canada, subsidizing my trip.

He was badly tortured in the early 80s. He came to see me after I got out of the hospital in late 2007
and financed the 2008 ruby reunion trip of this maralitang taga-lunsod. He would recall that when I
was handling his subversion case in Pasig, I would even give him fare and cigarette money after a
hearing. He was acquitted. We in MABINI could not lose em all. He reconnected about a decade
ago because he needed to get an NBI clearance about his subversion case, to start a business,
payback time, in Davao. Fellow anti-dictatorship stalwart, GMAs Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez, helped
us get his name cleared.

I dont know if the U.S. has the equivalent of our R.A. No. 1059 prohibiting naming any public facility
after a living person. Whatever, we are no longer a colony. UP still has to tell us how it named a
facility there after Cesar E.A. Virata, still in the land of the living. The nation owes Bobi for calling our
attention to what he deems improper and I agree, but, as a lawyer, I focus on the illegality, which I
pointed out. I had time and again criticized the naming after Marcos and Imelda in their time as
Conjugal Dictators (e.g., see my Malayang Pilipinas issue of March 31-April, 1978, which I edited;
there I wrote that the Supreme Court ruled: Iloilo officials could not put President Garcia Hall at the
facade of the building of what used to be called Iloilo Provincial Building. Miguel v. Patricio, 16 SCRA
860, decided in 1966; Garcia served in the 1971 Con-Con).

With its array of legal talent, no UP Law alum, to my knowledge, has come out to hit UP (save Loida
and Mon Esguerra). Not superlawyers Manong Johnny, Titong Mendoza, Jojobama, et al., who may
dream of having Malcolm Hall renamed after them. Why not Malcolm-Esguerra-Lewis Hall? Others
dream of attending the renaming in their lifetime (like Ka Cesar).

Our own Dr. Dante Ang has come out in defense of Ballsy Aquino-Cruz. I can only echo what he
wrote in this paper yesterdayand more. Takot na lang makalmot ang paa niya ng Nanay niya.


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Multiple jeopardy, right not to speak
J une 27, 2013 9:11 pm
by RENE SAGUISAG

Last June 7, I wrote in this column: The other morning, I fell off my chair when I read Business
Insight saying that Joker and I worked with Peping Cojuangco to set term limits. Not true. Well, one
has the right NOT to speak. But, what about Jokers letter to it of June 11, 2013? There he said that
he and I did no such thing.

So you do not have to believe everything you read in the papers, given daily deadlines.
Mass layoffs at top-flight . . . law firm IHT,. June 26, 2013, p. 18, col. 1. The ellipsis is for U.S. OK,
not the top-flight Taguig Firm, crawling with topnotch UP alums not one of whom, to my knowledge,
has spoken in defense of its renaming taxpayer property for Ka Cesar Virata. Only the Jesuitical jiu-
jitu of my pal, layman Popoy de Vera.

The Supreme Court (SC) en banc should not discipline our enterprising Jomar Canlas in a society
like ours, which leaks like a sieve. Officials feed favored journalists what should be kept in court, etc.
But, life in government is living in a hardy climate. More speech, not less. And, what might have
been wrong in saying it [alleged tantrum] never happened and I am sorry to read that the SC is
seen as leaking. This would discourage candor in our discussions since at times we toss out
tentative views as devils advocates. Not as Devils Incarnate.

Justice Marvic, I know enough of you, I think. Keep the high ground. Stand on principle. Consider
journalists deadlines. Being misperceived as pikon will only encourage further bullying of a sort. You
and the rest all have better things to do.

To illustrate: On February 1, 2012, my client, Aquila Legis member Zos Mendoza, was acquitted for
the third time but today still awaits the resolution of yet another motion to reconsider in an incredible
case of not double, triple, quadruple, but quintuple or multiple jeopardy, possibly because some
justices are too preoccupied leaking stuff to favorites. Not in this case, but many a time your hear
about a motion for consideration.

Good to see Chief Justice Sereno and Associate Justice de Castro working together to give our
people a better life. Appointees were picked per an accepted institutional arrangement, which must
be strengthened, not undermined. GMA may have lowered the bar but everybody can grow in office.
We cannot have in Padre Faura another Circular Firing Squad. One could be a Holmes, a JBL, or a
Learned Hand and be admired forever and a day.
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And the Supreme Court should stop issuing unworkable rules. In an earlier life, I was a hard-nosed
litigator, in court almost daily, e.g., every afternoon with Art Panganiban and Tony Abad in the
Astorga-Gomez election case in 1963-67, before tough Judge Arsenio Solidum.

I sympathize with prosecutors grousing about the Judicial Affidavit (JA) rule. Not easy preparing a JA
and they may not have the time to execute one. The witness, say, in a vehicular incident, may even
be busier eking out a living. And all sorts of objectionable stuff creative lawyers can put in.

As to pre-trials in criminal cases, I have always objected to same as defense counsel, when I was
still actively litigating, because my accused clients have the right NOT to speak. Anything
misspoken, trouble.

The Senate, the House, and the judges should always tell the one whose fate is on the line: You
have a right to remain silent and not condemn yourself, which these institutions honor more in the
breach than in the observance. In the U.S., one can plead the Fifth (against self-incrimination or
suicide), as it were, and avoid inquisitorial misadventures. We have not moved away from the
Inquisition, which here has led to suicides.

But, UP may have no right not to speak and may owe the people a step-by-step account how it
happened that a college is named after a living person, arguably violating R.A. No. 1059.

As regards silent Ka Cesar Emilio Aguinaldo Virata, has the good man said anything since martial
law? He has had a checkered career, like Emilio Aguinaldo..

Anyway, the new JA Rule would show a lawyers, not a witnesss, passion for precision and
conciseness but nothing of the witnesss demeanor on direct examination.
UP Laws Malcolm Hall may be renamed after sharp cross-examiners: Enrile, Mendoza (Titong),
Jojobama, and others, including Sigma Rhogues from ACCRA and The Firm.

Obstaa principiis, resist the first encroachment, by sticking to the rules, such as in identifying and
naming justices.

Business Insight misspelled the surname of Justice Noel Tijam (as Tejam) when lauding him. He
was a jewel in San Beda Law Class 71. I will support him and Justice Joey Reyes to succeed good
egg Bobby Abad next May. In San Beda we were taught the very quaint way to pronounce Puig, in
Puig-Pena, a civil law authority. Not as spelled. UP mahirap ispelengen.

I bumped into Cong. Abby Binay last Tuesday evening in Cash N Carry here in Palanan, Makati
(where I was enjoying my Apos-tolate). The Cong.LLB should have been the one made to run by
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Jojobama. But, its done and Nancy deserves a fair shot. Now that we have new members of
Congress seminared to learn, what do we do? One thing to teach them is to be like Sen. Byrd of
poor West Virginia, who improved his state with his pork barrel. Why should the thieves in the
Executive have all the fun?

Another problem is Pareng Boy Brillantes of the Comelec and others being sued here. Good. That is
the institutional arrangement. (Will some UP law alum question UPs seeming violation of R.A. No.
1059 in laffaire Virata?)

Taking the Comelec to the UN for it to decide our fate as a nation by nations from faraway places
with strange-sounding names may not be the way to go. We never elected or appointed them and
the UN is not in the business of overseeing national elections.

How to pronounce august if a solon would use it. Ah, Monica Puig in tennis. In San Beda, we were
taught that Puig (as in Puig-Pena) is pronounced Pooich.

Fr. Benabarre, TY, for confirmation, and bon voyage, at his departure to attend the beatification of
28 Spanish Benedictine monks, martyrs of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. Some Bedans are going
with you on July 8 to Tarragona, you say. Is Centurys Joey Antonio going? A Bedan 66 Commerce
alum, cum laude, he has Wharton kids now in the news, for allegedly violating zoning, ethical and
legal norms in ostentation at a time of want.

I hail Pope Francis for snubbing, last Saturday, a concert, the high life, and preferring to work with
low-life figures in his simple Spartan way.

On norms, why should government pay for the Ampatuan Massacre victims as suggested by my
good friend, Harry Roque? My late wife was telling me of a poor father of a classmate of a son of
ours in San Beda. Killed by hooligans. No serious probe. No case filed.

Why should only headline-grabbing cases victims be prioritized in our poor country as we ration out
justice? The press and lawyers are higher in the pecking order? And women are seemingly getting
all the breaks in recent legislation. I may have started the trend,

On July 26, 1990, the Senate approved, on third reading, my Senate Bill No. 1438 to admit women
into the PMA. But it took the Women in Nation-Building Act of Raul Roco & Co for me to insert in
conference (the Third House, after the Bigger and Better Houses), where I simply removed the sex
requirement for admission, in R.A. No. 7191 of 1991. It might not have been the right decision but in
government, ones choices could be bad, worse and worst.
16

Despite the lack of widespread outrage or clamor, some want a manual recount. Others want the
Ampatuan victims compensated. They may speak from their bivouacs.

But as one who for a year was in the commanding heights, I felt like the widower left with a dozen
kids all wanting to have a blanket each, when I could afford only four. So mamaluktot muna. All have
valid competing claims but one would have to do with the reality of the situation in dealing with fellow
Bedan Ado Paglinawan for a manual recount or Panyero Harry Roques claim for compensation..

Tita Helena Benitez is 99. Happy birth anniversary.. Not the type who will say on the witness stand
that she is of legal age. Having been a Senator myself, ssssh, huwag nyo na lang pagsasabi, I
fantasize with the Irish youth, to live to be a hundred, when Ill be shot to death, in bed, caught in
flagrante with a kulasisi, by a jealous boyfriend.

No. 2 not good enough?
J une 20, 2013 8:45 pm
by Rene Saguisag

Jason Day was No. 2 in the U.S. Open last weekend. His mother hailed from Samar. With his latest
prize (nearly $700K), his Ma can no longer claim he cannot afford coming home. He should
reconnect. That is, if Madonna & Son are interested. We should not have to beg.

Was I edified when I got weeks ago an email from Charlie Borromeo, on Jason (born Down Under in
1987, son of an Aussie Pa, Alvin, and a widowed Waray Ma, Dening). The source said she is down-
to-earth, petite, and would not stand out in the crowd but for a Louis Vuitton bag on her shoulder, not
common for fans on a golf course. The source asked her if Jason had ever been to the Philippines;
she answered: Hindi, kasi walang pera, eh? [Ano po? O wala pong desire I asked here last April?
RAVS] If he does not care for us like San Francisco Giants Tim Lincecom (mother, Rebecca Asis,
daughter of Pinoy emigrants), forget him. Not that we want to tax him but for him and Dening to
connect and reconnect sana for ethnic reasons, to take that sentimental journey home.

I hope he comes home soon, like another guy born also in 1987, to American Baptist missionaries,
in Makati, Tim Tebow, now with the Boston Patriots as Quarterback. TT is also our Patriot as he is
building a hospital in Davao. Do we see him when his hospital is inaugurated early next year? It may
be named after a living donor. Or even after Cesar Virata or Jojobama Binay, being of private
provenance.

17

Of course, we cannot tax Tim and Jason here where Kim Henares is cleaning up the BIR
image. Unbribable Ms. YM retired after an unblemished 29 years of service in the controversial BIR
(Bigay Ikaw Regalo). How much will she get as retirement pay?

P40,000! Josme! And under process still. No wonder government personnel try to provide for their
own future and old age. Not the fault of the BIR, but the incoming Congress should think of
improving pay, and providing for retirement, health care and pension packages for government
workers. Pay people above the level of corruption and lay down the economic foundation of honesty
as in clean governments elsewhere. Government should improve working conditions. Now YM calls
herself as a Calderologist, selling pans or calderos, an honorable undertaking.

We should of course improve ourselves; the current goings-on in the Supreme Court are not
paradigmatic. Legion of stories elsewhere on the volcanic temper of Manong JPE and Senadora
Miriam. Even Senator Manuel Quezon. As lawyers we are enjoined to guide those who follow us.
And the Supreme Court Seniors shamefully leak stuff that helps no one but weakens the damaged
institution. I find Marvic Leonen mild-mannered but the best of us lose it from time to time. Why a
Justice should tsismis about any perceived frailty of a colleague needing support and guidance is
beyond me. Wrongdoing, yes, but shortcomings? My own perception of Marvic is that hes
unbribable. And Jomar Canlas, with tight daily deadlines, should be commended for enterprise. Our
society leaks like a sieve, chilling devils advocacy and asking the foolish questions of the day.

Such as on taxes. Kris Aquino topped the list of individual 2012 taxpayers, paying just under P49.8-
M for 2012. Had Manny Pacquiao paid P50M on his billion earned last year, from boxing (he lost
twice) and endorsements, he would have been No. 1 and talked of, as to his VP plans. But, he paid
only P6.1M, not front page, but comic, stuff; hes not the only one to make us laugh until we cry. Of
course, as Judge Learned Hand said, one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes be as low as
possible, there being no patriotic duty to increase his taxes. But Manny even reportedly, in addition,
mauled a Barangay Captain. Case status? Wotta Congress.

And the SC should stop being a Circular Firing Squad. No one gains.

If Jackie Enrile is running for the Senate in 2016, he probably would get my vote given his report on
campaign expenses and seeming contrition, if there is anything to be contrite for. If he has money
left over from donations, he should not pay taxes on same, if he wantss to run in 2016 for the Bigger
House or the Better One. The money was given as an investment in democracy, in him, and what he
stands for and vows to do. He should prepare now and the BIR should leave him alone given R.A.
No. 7166 that took effect in 1991. On February 23, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that
political/electoral contributions, duly reported to the Comelec, are not subject to the payment of any
18

gift tax. Abello v. Commissioner, 452 SCRA 162, 173. I hope that some conribution and expense
reports, like SALNs, are even true.

Anyway, no woman would settle for being called No. 2. In the 60s though we were No. 2, behind
only Japan, and we were content with being so. Jason Day should be happy to be No. 2, Phil
Mickelson, unhappy with being No. 2. Both earned $696,104 last Sunday. As to Tiger Woods, was
he in the Open? A desaparecido?

From the celestial heights of there 60s, we started descending into the abyss, thanks to Macoy and
GMA, but partly checked by PNoy. Pareng Boy Brillantes should welcome the complaints against
him so well see whether he deserves to be the worthy son of a worthy Comelec father, like PNoy. I
am glad the complaint was filed here, not again in the UN, which is not in the business of running
national elections and washing local dirty linen.

Miami No. 2? Id share the pain of Erik Spoelstra, and his Mom, Celia Cenido, from San Pablo. But,
God willing, today, Miami gets the whole enchilada. All the marbles. Erik, Kabayan, go for it!


UP, dont do it! No Diliman jiu-jitsu
J une 13, 2013 10:19 pm
by RENE SAGUISAG

Last Monday I went to the wake of Dante H. Cortez, my pre-law classmate and fellow worker in
Dean Feliciano Jover Ledesmas bufete. Promdi me thought he was the best in English among the
Bedans I met and befriended in Mendiola, in his Law Class61; his classmate Aveling Cruz (my
Pasig townsman) was No. 1 in the bar, which I took two years later; I went on to AB, after getting
seduced by Caissa, Goddess of Chess, and dropped Botany, for more wood-pushing time.

In the news was the case of assassinated Outstanding Judge Henry Arles, my stude, class of 74.
The system should be proud of him.

Odd feeling to be reading of the interment of a stude. Children and students should bury their
parents and teachers. Condolences to the Cortezes and Arleses.

Late-breaker: also to the Gutierrezes. Justice Hugo I first met in the early 80s in the Supreme Court;
after one orals in a small room there (Bobby Tanada argued in the We Forum case, and his father,
Sen. Tanny, Ka Martin Vivo, Bobbit Sanchez, Joker Arroyo, Jojobama Binay and I assisted in a rare
19

win; Burgos v. Chief of Staff, 133 SCRA 800 [1984]), we chew the fat and Hugo told me I had gotten
two votes as UP Law commencement speaker.

Of course it would not happen; it was well known that I went around, like in a Bishops-Businessmen
Conference breakfast, calling Macoy a UP Law criminal genius. I was 92 commencement speaker
in Ateneo but did not touch on Jesuitical jiujitsu. Prudence. Heaven knew what imprudent I arent
I? would have said about Macoy, who I had called in open court a super-subversive in the We
Forum trial. Judge Joe Castro made me spend a weekend in the City Jail of QC, where I became a
candidate-member of Batang City Jail.

Anyway, Dantes pa was Pastor, our principal in Makati Elem, who was fond of poking sharply the
tummy of wild rowdy irrepressible misbehavin pupils. He led a corps of outstanding teachers, the
type Henry Brooks Adams would say affect eternity. We could only think fondly of those days,
pinaluluhod sa munggo, pinatatatayo sa sulok, pinaghahawak ng dalawang aklat sa mga nakataas
na kamay, made to write I will never do [whatever] again a hundred times on the blackboard, or
told to stay behind to clean up, etc.. Built character,I thought.

Today, same could be child abuse. My folks believed in spare-the-rod-spoil-the-child, so it-hurts-me-
more-than-it-does-you palo, Mommy, aray ko po! if we misbehaved. Today, Noli Me Tangere.
Touch me not or some gung-ho lawyer would have a parent subpoenaed.
I was in high school in 1954 as I told UP Prez Alfredo Pascual in this letter I sent the Diliman
Republic last Tuesday:

I was in junior hi (Rizal Hi) 1954 when R.A. No. 1059 was passed banning naming any public facility
after a living person. (Long before Macoy started turning us into the Land of the Bribe and Home of
the Fee.) I saw from Bobi Tiglaos Manila Times columns that this is exactly what UP is doing with
Ka Cesar Virata. No obit yet. Can the Republic of Diliman pull it off? Ka Cesar cannot be honored by
renaming after him a UP college. R.A. No. 1059 bans this mode of honoring people. Let this go in
this scofflaw nation and we may soon have many public facilities named after those still in the land of
the living.

We need not talk of Ka Cesars being a Good Pinoy the way Good Germans were during the time of
Hitler. He could have left the dictator the way Paeng Salas did, or even a few years into martial law.
He could have spoken against the Bataan nuke plant, on which Minister Ting Paterno wondered why
we were getting one plant for the price of two. SolGen Titong Mendoza memoed Macoy on
November 19, 1975 against it but the contract was signed anyway, involving an initial $644M loan
we could not repay (we did repay finally in April 2007, for something we would never use, the largest
loan ever extended by Eximbank for a single project at that time). Eximbanks head Bill Casey said if
20

we wanted to get fleeced, it was none of his business. One does not question Ka Cesars financial
integrity but the law is the law. He should have turned down the illegal award, given R.A. No. 1059.

We cannot deodorize martial laws corruption on the installment plan through the back door by
honoring someone whose cruel lie was arguably told in silence. R.A. No. 1059 passed when Mang
Ramon Magsaysay was Prez, an honorable man with delicadeza.

UP has just picked Titong Mendoza a distinguished alum. That is UPs business. To rename a UP
public facility after Ka Cesar, the peoples. Kindly give us a legally tenable, intellectually respectable
and psychologically satisfying reason for doing so.

Does UP care for Uncle Jovy Salonga, now a veggie? Why not rename the UP College of Public Ad
which helped us frame the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards, R.A. No. 6713, by which he
lived after him? Hes almost gone. But, as Mr. Wong said, after he came home from a year-long
travel, and found a Caucasian baby Mrs. Wong said was his, No, two Wongs cannot make a white.
Anyway nice to know that NFL pro quarterback Tim Tebow, born in Makati to Baptist folks, on
August 14 (like Pareng Boy Brillantes, Comelec chief, and me), 1987, is now with the New England
Patriots; his Davao Hospital under construction continues to rise with our hopes in the newly-elected
officials in his adopted country. Way to go. As the money is his no problem if the facility is named
after TT.

Maybe Ka Cesar is a true Patriot but we need to be sure he had nothing to do with the crippling debt
Marcos left as Legacy. Prof. de Vera, my friend, no Jesuitical jiu-jitsu please; we have to look at the
spirit of the law that giveth life, not the letter that killeth. If Ka Cesar had joined Ting and Titong in the
mid-70s, we might not have been fleeced by Eximbank.

No! to Diliman hair-splitting jiu-jitsu, if I maymix my metaphors.

JPE, gone; Jake, no! Inferno, redux
June 6, 2013 9:48 pm
by Rene Saguisag

No Christmas bonus when Uncle Jovy Salonga was Senate Prez. For our hardworking rank-and-file,
something modest, and, as Ethics panel chief, I had to ask the foolish question of the day: what legal
basis? My own staff was deluged with calls telling me where to gothe gates of helltill my people
had to say sorry, wrong number. JPE had his Christmas palambing, but it seems the Senators
were not given an equal share of the loot so the larceny was exposed by the discriminated against.
21

Lesson for the next Senate Prez: be an equal opportunity Boss in thievery. JPE, TY and good-bye
as Senate Prez.

The other morning, I fell off my chair when I read Jake Macasaets saying in Business Insight (page
A3, col. 1) that Joker and I worked with Peping Cojuangco to set term limits.

Not true. In 1986, I was busy in the Cabinet Committee on the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and was
a virtual one-man panel preparing for the visit of Prez Cory to the U.S., and dodging RAM bullets.
And daily briefings for the media. I had absolutely nothing to do with the 1987 Con-Com. Me telling
Con-Com Commissioners Ka Celing Palma, Chief Justice Berting Concepcion, Senators Paddy
Padilla, Soc Rodrigo, Cosoy Rosalesa and other icons what to do? Unthinkable.

I saw what Mayor Villena of Makati and Mayors Panong Raymundo and Naning Caruncho of Pasig,
let alone what Uncle Jovy, Tanny Tanada, Pepe Diokno, Soc, Paddy, et al. had done. Aint broke, so
what was there to fix?. Far be it for me to intrude into dynasties. But, my Dulce was named Social
Welfare chief by Prez Cory on Oct. 22, 1987; we turned it down, as I turned down my signed
appointment as Supreme Court Justice in January 1987. Id cut short any suggestion of hers that I
prepare to succeed her. Even today, talk of my son Atty. Rebo running for anything I greet with the
disapproving repartee of silence.

There is so much in what Jake has written in the last three decades I agree with that I am at sea
asking myself who his source could be. Anyway, the Kanos say good people should go to the
ministry but the best ones should go to politics, and stay there. Amen.
Yet, Mexicans keep saying so near the U.S. and so far from God.

Who gets uptight? No one, from where I sit. We cannot be balat-sibuyas when a Dan Brown writes
Inferno; we cannot have the national caravan stop at every barking dog. We cannot just write about
what we read on its pages 351-54 or merely heard about same. We need to read its entire 461
pages to appreciate the larger picture or context of alleged global overpopulation.
Were we agitated when Mark Kram wrote in 2001 in Ghosts of Manila (on Muhammad Ali) that
Manila is the Oral Sex Capital of the World? (Now we see Michael Douglas saying he has throat
cancer for oral sex. Any throat cancer epidemic here? Or have we opted for verbal, not oral, sex, as
more romantic, in poetry and song?)

On page 124 of Inferno, Florence was linked to the Gates of Hell. Did the excitable, passionate
Italians or Florentines mind? Nope. Cool.

Anyway, were happy for Sen. Pia Cayetano and respect her stand on RH, for which the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation recognized her. Melinda is a devout Catholic. Presumably so is Pia, a
22

San Beda Alabang (then known as Benedictine Abbey School ) alum; there I handle human rights. I
dont agree with Pia and Melinda on RH but respect their human right to be wrong, he, he. Seriously,
whos to say?

Inferno deals with genetic or biological terrorism as the villains supposedly feared that the world
would be overpopulated. Their solution was to trigger, with good intentions, another Black Death of
the middle ages.

But, we have Lee Kwan Yew fretting that native Singaporeans are not making enough babies. Japan
is a country of old people. So is much of Western Europe. Take Germany, which has been deeply
concerned about its rapidly dwindling population, [which] released the results of its first census in
nearly a quarter of a century Friday last and found 1.5 million fewer inhabitants than previously
assumed. PDI, June 2, 2013, p. A27, col. 3.

We are nearing 100M, apparently doing, or overdoing, our share to prevent genetic suicide. With
China and India, whose populations stats also go north, we, m;utiplying like rabbits, may yet
dominate the world..

Who dominates our politics? Some dynasties won and some lost. 60-30-10 was reportedly
suggested by a specialist as a cheating pattern. But, per PPCRV: No Evidence of suspicious voting
pattern, PDI, June 1, 2013, p. A4. Do we have the experts who can guide us on how Grace 60-30-
10ed to No. 1? Specialization pervades. Chip Engelland who once played in and for the Philippines
is now shooting coach of the San Antonio Spurs..

Among the highlights of my visit to Philadelpia for the May 23 Rutgers U graduation of our daughter
Lara (Doctor of PhilosophyChildrens Studies, which may benefit her Pop in his Second
Childhood) was lunching with Bob Swift, lead counsel in the human rights class suit against the
Marcoses. Venue: the building housing his law firm, just across historic City Hall. Bob ordered tilapia
as appearing in the menu.

I see that the Domingo-Viernes murder took place on June 1, 1982. BWorld, June 3, 2013, p. 4
Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes: Heroes for democracy and worker empowerment. The work of
Justice Sec. Sedfrey Ordonez helped nail the Marcoses in that Seattle case. I helped get documents
from the military when I was still seen as Cory, Jr., opening doors and files. The trove, Bob built on,
for the Hawaiit class suit. I met Cindy, Silmes sis, in the Seattle home of my hipag, Alma, a Fil-Am
leader. The Seattle Judge, Barbara Rothstein, of Harvard Law, I met again when she came in
December 2004, in Makati Shang, on Justice Art Panganibans invite.

23

In Phillly, I also spent a couple of nights with Dr. Lara and caregiver son Nonoy in a big sports bar
showing baseball, hockey and basketball live, simul. I rooted for Miami; its coach is from San Pablo,
via his mother, Elisa Cenido. My suwail kids were openly for Indiana. Last Tuesday, Miami trashed
Indiana convincingly in the Seventh Game, which would have been unnecessary had not Lebron
been lucky to sink a last second-lay-up in the very first game. But, good players are always lucky.

Anyway, Lara, Nonoy, belaaat. Good luck, Lara, our own, as you teach in Staten Island in the Fall.
Nonoy and I are back home. That we are home was again seen in the way we handled the Davao
airport incident, and I deal with counter-flow tricycle drivers. Then I see in my CP an ad. Political ads
I can live with as part of the national conversation but commercial invasion of privacy must stop. One
measure of this presidency is whether PNoy can let us enjoy our right to privacy, the right to be let
and left alone and offend the telcom behemoths. If he cannot solve it, I will support in 2016 anyone
who can credibly promise that this gross abuse of my human and constitutional right to privacy is
stopped. I dont need to be distracted to read about condos, condoms, etc..

And the unending catfight in the Supreme Court (SC), confusing the Comelec and the people,
damaging the institution further. Kapakanang pambayan, di po pansarile, dahil na-bypass for Chief
Justice. The SC shamefully leaks like a sieve but is shamelessly united in denying the publics right
to know its SALNs.