Law and order

“Old Billy was right: Let’s kill all the lawyers – kill ’em tonight.” – Don Henley, Get over it

ABOUT a fortnight ago, my ex-girlfriend and I decided to eat out. We were waiting for our food to be served when we overheard a boisterous conversation from a neighboring cubicle. We couldn’t see who they were but based on the blue with white pinstripe pant leg, their blue polo shirts,  and of course, their holstered guns, we could safely assume they were cops — and loud people.

“Mao naang problema sa mga abogado. Mahukasan ka gyud. Dapat, naa ka na’y storyline daan before saoperations,” blurted one.

Another advised the other not to panic when the defense lawyer starts interrogating him and more importantly, to just stick to the storyline they made up about the operations. That cop explained that the storyline will be their rallying point in their narrative whatever happens in the conduct of operations.

I was surprised by their loud volume. They were discussing how they would comport themselves in court. They were loud, I mean, really loud. Other people eating were looking at them. Although I was surprised how loud these cops were, what they were talking about didn’t surprise me at all.

There are cops who often rant against lawyers who get their clients acquitted on “mere technicalities.” But that guy is clearly guilty, the policeman would say in frustration.

A law professor once told his class that one of the biggest mistakes the police commit during arrests is on the Miranda rights. The Miranda rights stem from the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in Miranda v. Arizona. It is a lump of rights, plus the right to counsel and sans the “freeze.” It is like a Jenga pile. When you remove one, the whole pile starts to crumble.

It usually goes like this: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court. With these rights in mind, are you still willing to talk with me about the charges against you?”

The Philippine National Police has even launched a campaign on this a year ago. It was dubbed “Know your rights.” It is a smartphone app that translates the Miranda doctrine into the different languages and dialects.

A case in point of stark relief is the Oplan Tokhang. A list of alleged drug users of a barangay by village officials, church leaders, and what have you. The police would then visit these people in their residences or they are usually rounded up to the barangay covered court. They are then made to sign a confession of sorts or a promissory note that they will not take drugs again.

Having stated the Miranda doctrine, I leave it up to you to point out how many times a regular Oplan Tokhang violates it. For one, the promissory note will not stand in court because the person signed it without a legal counsel present.

If our police only adhere to the enforcement of the law, our crime rate, including murder and extrajudicial killings, would go down instantly. I’m talking about lawful police work. No shortcuts. No “storylines” or scripts. Many cases would not be thrown off the court if the police properly enforce the law.

Another case in point is the Oplan Tambay. Remember, how many cases were dismissed and how many reached the court? As law enforcers, it is their duty to enforce it, nothing more. You may not interpret it, be creative with it, or be maverick about it. That is for the court of law to decide.

To wrap up, I should explain the quote at the start of this column. It is from an Eagles’ song. It is about Henley’s frustration and contempt for people who blame their failures, mental breakdowns, and financial problems on others, who they feel do not deserve their success and then believing that the world owes them a favor.

The line is derived from William Shakespeare’s (thus, “Billy”) Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2. The full quote is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” This line has since been the Florida Bar Association go-to lawyer joke.

Police are law enforcers. They shouldn’t hold a veiled disdain against officers of the court — lawyers. Instead, they should work together in stamping out criminality. Police should make it harder for defense lawyers to punch holes in their prosecution. Remember the old motto: Serve and protect?

Regulating the fourth estate

THE Presidential Task Force for Media Security, in all its wisdom and intelligence, is pushing for a “Magna Carta” for media workers supposedly to uplift the living conditions of journalists in the country.

Its main stooge, Undersecretary Joel Egco, is set to consult “various legitimate media partners.”

Under the proposed Magna Carta, media personalities will have to take an exam every six months to calibrate their qualification of whether the practitioner belongs to a managerial position or to a corresponding salary level or grade equivalent to that of government.

“Question is, would this be automatic once passed? This would still depend on private media owners but with the qualifying exam, journalist can now be qualified as a level 1, 2 or 3 journalists and depending on the vacant position to be applied, the journalist can now, for example, apply for a reportorial position which is level 2 while obtaining a level 1 qualification,” A Baguio-based news daily quoted Egco as saying last Thursday.

The Philippine Press Institute’s executive director Ariel Sebellino is opposing Magna Carta for media workers.

“Levelling has nothing to do with the quality of journalism. We should care for the following:  Welfare and protection, ethical practice, and truth-telling,” he posted on his wall.

The supposed Magna Carta for media workers is nothing more than government meddling into the independence of the press.

I urge these former journalists and news readers who are now in government service to address the media killings rather than regulating the industry it clearly doesn’t have an inkling on.

The other night, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has not only gave a flat no, it enjoins other media entities to join it in opposing this threat to the independence of the fourth state and freedom of expression in general.

I would like to share with you NUJP’s statement in full here. Please do read on.

NUJP rejects PTFOMS proposal to regulate press through ‘Magna Carta’ (July 22, 2018)

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines rejects outright the proposal of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security to regulate the profession in the guise of a “Magna Carta” and urge all colleagues as well as media owners to unite in opposing this clear threat to freedom of the press and of expression.

(A Baguio daily) quoted PTFOMS Executive Director Joel Egco as saying the proposed measure would seek to professionalize journalism through qualifying and classifying exams.

“If you want to become a media personality, you will have to take an exam every six months to assess your qualification which would set either a managerial position or a corresponding salary level or grade equivalent to that of government,” Egco was quoted as saying.

This is, in fact, not the first time the idea of regulating, even licensing, journalists have been proposed. And the NUJP, along with other media and free expression advocates, has consistently opposed and thwarted all such attempts.

We do not question the intent of Usec Egco, himself a former colleague.

But the proposed “Magna Carta,” which goes so far as to set salary grades depending on “competency,” is fraught with danger, not least of all allowing government to determine who can or cannot be a journalist, which is totally anathema to a profession that can thrive only in independence.

We maintain that journalism is an extension of freedom of expression and serves the people’s sacrosanct right to the information they need to make decisions about their individual and collective lives.

The Magna Carta would also infringe on the rights of media owners and managers to determine who to employ.

We cannot allow the government – this or any other – the opportunity to meddle in any way not only in the profession that serves as the people’s watchdog against official abuse but in any other matter that may endanger freedom of the press and of expression, and the people’s sacred right to know.

National Directorate, hotline: +639175155991

Rest easy, Jimmy

IT was you who showed me the ropes when I was just starting out in the newspaper industry, then as a layout artist.

I just got married and was unemployed then. Emilio had bought a personal computer and along with it the Pagemaker software which I didn’t really mind because I mainly used the spanking new MS Word software for writing short stories, mama’s dissertation, and other clerical errands Emilio had me do.

One day, Emilio brought a copy of a local daily and in it was a house ad to hiring a “typesetter” — layout artists were called that then. In it, it said the applicant should have average knowledge on Pagemaker. That’s when I taught myself the basics of the Pagemaker.

Jimmy Salvo Diango taught me all the possible shortcuts of Aldus Pagemaker 3.11. Before that, I hardly had to use the mouse to design a page. Whenever I was in a rut, designing a page, he was always there to give layout suggestions.

He taught me the tricks on almost all of the “kiniat” (that was how he used to call it) in my page layout of the showbiz section of a local daily years ago. He taught me the practical application of the “rule of thirds,” the eloquence of minimalist and monochromatic designs.

Jimmy made my first few weeks in the newsroom less daunting. I don’t know how he exactly did it but he made designing pages fun.

I recall you were also the one who goaded me to write. You encouraged me. I wasn’t really into news writing but had written a short story which I showed to Jimmy. He goaded me to have it published in the Cebuano version of the newspaper. The problem was all my written works were in English. But Jimmy saw right through me and told me not to find a reason why I can’t but to just do it.

He had told me our Cebuano version has employed the sharpest and fastest translator in the galaxy, Yul Caringas. That was how the sci-fi series of the “Moravian Revolution” was born in the local papers.

Now, I had extra money aside from being a typesetter. Terry Betonio would clip the stories so it would be included in the billing by the end of the month.

It was also Jimmy who encouraged me to take up photography. I remember, when Emilio gave me my first SLR camera, I told Jimmy I wouldn’t have much use of it since we work in the newsroom almost 12 hours each day. The very next day, Jimmy also bought his own so we could shoot together. “Wala ka na sa’y lusot run,” he told me grinning.

We told our editor-in-chief then, Carlos Conde, that we would like to contribute news stories and photos for the English version of the paper. Caloy was gracious enough to give us our break. I remember our first deployment was in Northern Mindanao Regional Hospital, now called the Northern Mindanao Medical Center.

It worked out well because my mother used to be the chief of nurse at the hospital and knew most of the emergency nurses. I had more access to the emergency room than most reporters. As Jimmy would taunt me before: “Sa wala’y pabor-pabor.”

Jimmy and I learned a lot of things in that emergency room. We learned that Caloy wasn’t going to use all the gory photos (e.g. bones sticking out of the knee) we took which we thought were what the other photojournalists were supposed to take. We were wrong. We learned how to respect the space of a grieving widow and families. We learned all these together.

After we were retrenched from that newspaper, we both went our separate ways. Jimmy continued designing pages for other printing presses and I, having caught the news bug, continued to write news stories and taking photos for other news organizations as a freelance correspondent.

I still did page designing gigs on the side, though. As Jimmy would encourage to acquire new skills, one also needs to nurture them by practicing it. Jimmy encourage me to explore the possibilities of each skill. It was because of Jimmy’s nurturing spirit that I was able to land a layout job for Mindanews. Yes, I started out in Mindanews as their in-house layout artist in Davao City.

Years went by and we met again in a now defunct local daily. I was to be the chief of reporters and he was the main layout artist. It was the now defunct Periodico News Network. When that closed shop, we would sometimes bump on each other in the streets. I learned he had tried the networking business. That was the last thing I knew about Jimmy.

He was interred on Friday. Jimmy, I could honestly say that you played a major role in my development as a journalist. I regard you as one of my professors at the “Pamantasan ng Puso.”

Bai, you will be missed. Rest easy, igsuon.

The ‘Spolarium’ fuss

“…di ko na mabasa pagkat merong nagbura…” –Spolarium, Eraserheads

I DIDN’T really know what the fuss was all about because I was just an elementary pupil when the alleged rape of bold star Pepsi Paloma — the alleged involvement of TV show hosts Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon, and Richie D’Horsey, and what Vic’s brother, Tito Sotto, allegedly did to cover up the crime — happened.

However, when the senator, using his spanking new letterhead as Senate President, requested Inquirer.net to take down articles it published regarding the rape of Paloma, it piqued my curiosity. Almost as soon as I posted the statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines that called out Inquirer.net for relenting to Sotto’s request, nay demand, friends and family kept burning my lines to ask what the articles were. Even my millennial friends are now curious because of Sotto’s request.

In the interest of public service, a thing My Wit’s End has always been intended for, I have appended, in full, the controversial Paloma rape article that Sotto appeared to regard as some kind of a “smoking gun” of the almost four-decade cold case. Mind you, this article wasn’t lifted from Inquirer.net. This is, and will always be, posted on the Internet Archive.

But before that, I would like to give a short background of the Internet Archive and what has happened on the Internet since Sotto’s Inquirer.net takedown request.

On October 2001, Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat launched the Wayback Machine on the Internet Archive. Its content is maintained by Alexa Internet. In its Wikipedia entry, it reads: “The service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a ‘three-dimensional index.’

“Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes. It revisits sites on occasion and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the site’s URL (universal regional locator) into a search box. The intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machine’s creators is to archive the entire Internet.”

But wait, there’s more. Just last week, a group of hackers who call themselves the “White Hat Hackers Group,” upped the ante by cataloging everything regarding the rape of Pepsi Paloma — from PDF files of news clippings to word documents. So, just key in the group’s name on Google search and voila!

My hacker friends used to remind me, “Once uploaded to the worldwide web, it’ll be there forever.”

So without further ado, here’s the full article Sotto tried to block from people’s memories. Read on:

The rape of Pepsi Paloma (by Rodel Rodis for Inquirer.net)

We were eating lunch at a Daly City home and watching “Eat Bulaga!”, the popular noontime variety show on GMA TV, when someone commented that he read on Facebook that two of the show’s hosts, Vic Sotto and Joey de Leon, were involved in the gang rape of a young Filipino American actress named Pepsi Paloma in 1982.

Three young Filipino kids, all recent immigrants, joined in the conversation and said that they also heard of the Pepsi Paloma rape case. I expressed surprise because it occurred long before any of them were born. They explained that they learned of the rape from the song “Spolarium” composed and performed by the Eraserheads, their favorite Filipino rock band.

When I Googled the lyrics of “Spolarium” by the Eraserheads, I found these words:

at ngayon di pa rin alam

kung ba’t tayo nandito

pwede bang itigil muna

ang pagikot ng mundo

umiyak ang umaga

anong sinulat ni Enteng at Joey dyan

sa gintong salamin

“di ko na mabasa

pagkat merong nagbura ahhh…

(And we still don’t know why we’re here, please stop the turning of the world, the morning cried, what did Enteng and joey write in the golden mirror I couldn’t read because someone erased it).

According to these diehard fans of the Eraserheads, “Enteng” is  Vic Sotto and “Joey” is Joey de Leon and the something that was erased was their criminal record. The meaning of the lyrics of this song, the kids shared, has been a popular subject of discussion in Manila universities as well as in the social media.

When I Googled “Pepsi Paloma”, I saw the link to the video that had been downloaded on Facebook by as many as 66,000 viewers The “Eat Bulaga – Pepsi Paloma story” reported the tragic tale of Delia Smith, the eldest daughter of Lydia Duenas, a native of Borac, Northern Samar, and Kenneth Smith, an American letter carrier who deserted his family when his four children were still young.

When Delia was barely 13, her mother introduced her to talent manager Rey dela Cruz who changed her name to “Pepsi Paloma” to join his stable of other “soft drink” beauties which included Sarsi Emmanuel and Cola Nicolas. Dela Cruz secured Pepsi’s starring role in her first movie, a “bold” feature called Brown Emmanuelle in 1981.

Less than a year later, according to her account, while promoting one of her movies, Pepsi met the three comedian hosts of Eat Bulaga – Vic Sotto, Joey de Leon and Richie D’Horsey (Richie Reyes). The three men took her out to a bar, drugged her, and then gang-raped her in a hotel room. (Because she was only 14 at the time, these comedians were pedophile rapists.)

To prosecute a crime in the Philippines, you cannot just rely on government prosecutors, you have to hire a private prosecutor otherwise the case will be dismissed for lack of prosecution. For this job, Pepsi sought the help of then-Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile who referred her to the senior partner in the ACCRA law office, Atty.  Rene Cayetano, the father of Sen. Pia Cayetano and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who offered his pro bono services to Pepsi.

If convicted of the rape charge, the three comedians faced the death penalty, a sentence that was meted out previously in 1967 to the four rapists of movie star Maggie dela Riva. Three of the men were executed in 1972 on live TV while the fourth escaped the electric chair by dying in prison.

To prevent the same fate from befalling his younger brother, Sen. Tito Sotto quickly went to see Pepsi Paloma while she was still securing the services of Atty. Cayetano. According to her account of this visit, Sen. Sotto “coerced” her into signing an “Affidavit of Desistance” to drop the rape complaint against his brother and his cohorts.

[But how could that affidavit be legal when she was only 14 when she signed it and she did so without the presence of her attorney?  But this happened in 1982 during martial law and the Sottos were said to be favored by the Marcos dictatorship.]

How was she coerced? In her November 3, 2012 column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rina Jimenez David described this incident as follows: “Paloma eventually dropped the charges after she was allegedly visited by one of the trio who said he had only talked with her, but only after placing a pistol on the table in front of her.”

As a result of Pepsi’s signed affidavit of desistance, no criminal charges were filed against the three comedian rapists even after they went down on their knees on their show “Eat Bulaga!” and asked forgiveness from Pepsi Paloma for raping her when she was only 14.

Three years after her rape, on May 31, 1985, Pepsi was found dead in her apartment with a rope looped around her neck. The police concluded that it was a suicide caused by “monetary problems” and this was the official story that appeared in the headlines of the newspapers.

But her manager, Babette Corcuerra, disputed the press account. “She was earning well and was fully booked for dancing performances. She just finished the Pepsi Paloma Show at the Bughaw and 10 other beerhouses,” Corcuerra said, and she had three film offers lined up, she added.

It just did not add up, Corcuerra said. “She was looking forward to celebrating her 18th birthday next year. She made me promise to throw a big party for her at a hotel because it would be her debut,” Corcuerra told the Times Journal.

Was she murdered? Before he passed away, in an interview on ABS-CBN that was not aired, self-confessed hitman Kit Mateo intimated as much.

“Eat Bulaga!” is now entering its 35th year as the longest-running noontime variety on-air program in the history of television, making millionaires of its comedic stars.

Sen. Tito Sotto is still in the Philippine Senate serving as the proud champion of the Holy Roman Catholic Church in his staunch opposition to the Reproductive Health Act and to all forms of contraception.

Pepsi Paloma would have celebrated her 47th birthday this year.

(Send comments to Rodel50@gmail.com or mail them to the Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127 or call 415.334.7800). [Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20180203143959/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/99861/the-rape-of-pepsi-paloma]

PNoy’s ‘hol-DAP’

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." - proverb

LATE last month, the Office of the Ombudsman finally ordered the indictment of former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III and ex-Budget Secretary Florencio Abad when both encroached Congress’ power of the purse by redefining savings to fund programs, activities, and projects under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales granted the appeal of Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate to review her decision last March 3 that cleared Aquino of liability for implementing the dubious economic stimulus package. The Supreme Court, by the way, had already ruled it as unconstitutional, still, the dynamic duo continued to implement it just the same.

All of these started four years ago. In the spirit of public service and providing context, allow me to give the backstory of Aquino’s economic stimulus package.

On July 1, 2014, the Supreme Court—voting 13-1-0—declared the National Budget Circular 541 and other related issuance related to DAP unconstitutional.

The High Tribunal ruled that “the following acts and practices under the DAP, National Budget Circular No. 541 and related executive issuance unconstitutional for being in violation of Section 25(5), Article VI of the 1987 Constitution and the doctrine of separation of powers, namely:

1. a) The withdrawal of unobligated allotments from the implementing agencies, and the declaration of the withdrawn unobligated allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year and without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the General Appropriations Acts;
2. b) The cross-border transfers of the savings of the Executive to augment the appropriations of other offices outside the Executive; and
3. c) The funding of projects, activities, and programs that were not covered by any appropriation in the General Appropriations Act.”

The Supreme Court also declared as “void the use of unprogrammed funds despite the absence of a certification by the National Treasurer that the revenue collections exceeded the revenue targets for non-compliance with the conditions provided in the relevant General Appropriations Act.”

Then Palace spokesman Herminio Coloma Jr. defended Aquino’s budget impoundment facility by saying that it was implemented “in good faith and due diligence, in accordance with existing laws and pertinent auditing rules and procedures.”

“Good faith,” in contract law, is a general presumption that the parties to a contract will deal with each other honestly, fairly, and in good faith, so as not to destroy the right of the other party or parties to receive the benefits of the contract.

So, can this reason of “good faith” possibly exonerate Aquino and Abad this time around? I highly doubt this reason will still hold water again.

In March 2009, then-Senator Aquino filed Senate Bill No. 3121 also known as The Budget Impoundment Control Act to limit the president’s power to impound funds appropriated by Congress. Aquino then argued that this practice had removed from Congress the control over the public purse. Aquino was then part of the political opposition to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Of recent times, however, this presidential prerogative has been misused and abused and has emasculated Congress’ authority to check the President’s discretionary power to spend public funds. In effect, the President seems to have a vast and unbridled control over the national budget,” Aquino wrote in the bill’s explanatory note.

Aquino ended the bill’s explanatory note by saying the bill would increase Congress’ oversight and clip then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s influence over specific appropriations in the General Appropriations Act.

Aquino argued then that “as the ‘power of the sword’ belongs to the President, ‘the power of the purse’ resides in Congress.”

So, how could Aquino invoke “good faith” in implementing the DAP when he himself knew that such impounding mechanisms were prone to abuse, and had even proposed legislation against such a practice five years prior to the DAP?

But then again, I cannot help but be teary-eyed of the thought that no matter how effed up our country was before, at least it had a clear delineation of the three co-equal branches of government -- executive, legislative, and the judiciary. The Supreme Court did its mandate as the check and balance of the executive branch.

Sadly, those lines have become blurry now.