Vol. II No. 72 • ISSN 2094-4098 OCTOBER 24-30, 2011 • P15.00Page 4

By BERTENI“TOTO”

CATALUÑACAUSING

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Page3Lim fires own man for bribe take

Page 8

NPC launcheshousing project

in Bulacan

IT’S THE GLORYOF DEATH“LET the dead bury their dead.” This passage is quoted from the Book of

Luke, Chapter 9 of the New Testament.But how can a dead man bury his corpse when he is already dead?This simply means that a man or a woman has the right to choose his or

her graveyard.But all these rules can

be followed only when no one is offended, that the state is not offended, and history as the teacher of the future is not offended.

After all, right ends where the rights of others begin.

In the case of the dic-tator who ruled the Philip-pines with iron hand from 1965 to 1986, can it be said that the wishes of his loved ones should be com-plied with or be allowed?

The dictator’s wife, Imelda, who now serves as the representative of the Second District of Ilocos Norte, his daughter Imee who serves as the governor of Ilocos Norte, his other daughter Irene Marcos-Araneta who is a private person, and his son Fer-dinand Jr. or “Bongbong” who serves as a senator are demanding from President Benigno Simeon “P-Noy”

So that he or she writes his or her last will and tes-tament to command his or her heirs or executor or ex-ecutrix to bury him or her in the particular place he or she desires. And if he or she does, that is respected under the rule on succes-sion in honor of the dead.

And if he or she willed it, let thy will be done.

Absent any hindrance on moral or divine or le-gal reasons, the will of the dead should be followed to the letter.

In the case of Marcos, there has been nothing on record that shows he left a will.

And if he did not leave any last will and testa-ment, then the first rule is the everlasting maxim that says: “Dust thou art to dust returnest.”

This rule may be sub-ject to another rule: the will of his loved ones.

Aquino III to allow the former dictator to be bur-ied at the heroes’ place.

This cry of the Marco-ses began when the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) buried at the Lib-ingan ng mga Bayani the dead body of former Gen-eral Angelo T. Reyes, who died by shooting himself before the graveyard of Angie’s mother and father after having been inves-tigated by the Senate on military corruption issues.

A confidante of P-Noy said that it was the military leadership that decided to bury Reyes there and the President was only caught unaware that when known it was too late to say “no.”

It is more than 22 years since former strongman Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr. breathed his last on September 28, 1989. Until now, his earthly remains are still there for the view-

ing inside a freezer on his ancestral house in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

The process of main-taining freshness of the corpse is costly. But his loved ones felt no pain of money: they can afford it even in billions of dollars.

As had been report-ed, Marcos and his wife Imelda had moved billions of dollars of public funds to the United States, Swit-zerland, and other coun-tries as well as into corpo-rations of cronies during their 21 years in power.

It was further reported that when the Marcoses fled to Hawaii in 1986, the United States Customs agents uncovered 24 suit-cases of gold bricks and diamonds hidden in diaper bags as well as certificates of gold bullions in billions of dollars.

Critics also tagged Marcos as the quintessen-

tial kleptocrat for looting billions of dollars from the Philippine treasury.

The glamorous life of Imelda was unveiled when 2,700 pairs of her shoes were seized in the presi-dential mansion.

Actually, Marcos, also called “Apo Lakay” by the Ilocanos, can be a can-didate for the Guinness Book or Ripley’s Believe it or Not as the only man whose body has been pre-served in a freezer for 22 years now!

As recorded, the only human cell or tissue that had been successfully pre-served in 22 years is se-men.

In an experimental preservation process called cryopreservation – a pro-cess where cells or whole tissues are preserved by cooling to low sub-zero temperatures, such as

KWOKDIAMONDS

LOOTED!By DYARYO MAGDALO TEAM

DIAMOND is forever. And, as years pass by, the price of this precious stone appreciates, and constantly winning perception that it is

only for the beauty of the rich and the famous.But what happened to the diamonds seized by

then Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) from British national Siu Ting Alpha Kwok re-versed both the nature and the value.

This is because as years count on, the seized pre-cious stones depreciated.

Highly-placed sources revealed that small pieces of these diamonds seized from Kwok were looted by agents.

At the time of seizure, instead of doing an inven-tory some agents pocketed those small pieces.

The sources bared that some of these diamonds may have already been sold that many agents ac-quired sports utility vehicles.

The bad reputation of this agency created by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during her watch was the reason that President Benigno Simeon “P-Noy” Aquino III did not renew the lifetime of PASG.

As a result of this extremely bad reputation caused by numerous complaints from importers, many law enforcers detailed in this agency were placed in floating statuses or given assignments of less importance.

The arrest

On August 10, 2009, the defunct PASG that was perceived to be so corrupt as their boss seized the

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Poetic

P oetry

Reality

2 Vol. II No. 72 October 24-30, 2011

Publisher:RONALDO E. RENTA

Editorial:TOTO C. CAUSING

Editor-In-ChiefDesign & Layout:

RONALDO B. HERICODisclaimer: All news articles and opinions expressed by the writers are entirely their own and do not reflect the opinion of the publisher, the management or the editor of this publication.All Rights Reserved: No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced nor translated in any language or form for commercial pur-poses without prior written permission from the publisher and its writers or columnists.

MAGDIWANGPUBLICATIONS

From page 1

To page 3

IT’S THE GLORY OF DEATH−196 °C (the boiling point of liquid nitrogen) – only a semen sample has sur-vived in 22 years.

After 22 years, that se-men sample has to breathe its last and is no use for human fertilization.

Marcos’ remains will definitely look fresh seem-ingly sleeping tight not like semen that should be thrashed after 22 years. But for the dead body of Marcos, he should be giv-en a dignified burial even as a simple man, not only for the fact that he was a part of the nation’s histo-ry, no matter how bad that part was.

The stand of Dyaryo Magdalo is, if indeed the Marcoses want to bury their dead, let it be buried to his kingdom come: in Ilocos Norte.

There, no one and nothing would be of-fended. There, he will be judged. Whether he was on the wrong side of his-tory, let all the children someday learn and say so.

Bongbong is now a senator and he is the sena-tor of the whole State. So that means he should act for the State and not for his family’s sake.

Be a statesman, Bong-

bong. By becoming one is to ensure that one’s acts are in congruence with the interest of the State for a peaceful country.

Bongbong knows that about half of the Filipino population is against the proposal to bury his father at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

As a statesman, he should look at the entire situation not on strength or weakness of the argu-ment that his father did a morally and legally dig-nified job to the country. He should listen to the passion against his father.

Bongbong should not force the issue of whether his father is a hero or not. He should rather let others say so. After all, a person is a hero or not depends on the reputation of that person. Reputation means what others say of that person; it is not what per-son says of his self.

Bongbong should not insist on whether P-Noy has no word of honor for refusing to bury Ferdinand Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He should listen to the word of the people that is always honor-able because they are the voice of God. After all, it is the word of the people that matters and not of P-

Noy’s.The bad blood between

the Marcoses and the Aquinos are not material here.

Bongbong should not be swayed by the pain of their hearts. He should listen to others’ hearts.

Most importantly, Bongbong should remem-ber that he is a senator. As such, he is not only a sena-tor of those who voted for him. He should know he is also a senator of those who did not vote for him and who are still angry at his father.

Being a statesman has never been to wipe away the pain in one’s self. It is for one not to cause dis-turbance to the peace and quiet of the State even to the point of pain to one’s self.

The better rule of pru-dence is for him to do ei-ther of the two things: (a) to bury his father in Ilocos Norte; or (b) to keep that dead body refrigerated forever.

After all, the better act of a statesman is to give a sacrifice. So why not make a sacrifice if you re-ally love the Filipino and not only the “loyalists”?

Presidents Manuel Luis Quezon, Sergio Os-meña and Ramon Mag-

saysay were buried some-where else. People look high on them.

The real 14th President Fernando Poe Jr. was bur-ied only at the North Cem-etery. But he is revered as “The King.”

Ninoy Aquino was bur-ied at the Loyola Memo-rial Park beside another president, President Cory. But he is called a hero and his wife a democracy icon.

Jose Rizal was buried at the Luneta. But we all look at him as the Nation-al Hero.

Andres Bonifacio was killed and buried in the mountains of Maragon-don, Cavite. But we also agree that without Rizal he is undisputedly the “King of Heroes.”

Lapu-lapu was buried in the place we do not even know. But history makes him the First Hero.

Sultan Kudarat was buried in an unknown place. But he is our hero, too, for giving his life for the country just to drive away the Spanish coloniz-ers.

Hashim Salamat was buried in the hills we don’t know. But he is undoubtedly the hero of the Bangsamoro people who are also the country’s people.

Turn back the page of time and know whether Bongbong’s father de-serves to enter the gate of the Libingan ng mga Bayani that says: “I do not know the dignity of his birth, but I do know the glory of his death.”

Ferdinand Marcos is best or worst remembered as the late strongman and his wife Imelda as the “Iron butterfly.” Their powers are best memo-rized by the phrase

“ c o n -jugal dic-

tatorship.” The late strong-

man declared martial law on September 21, 1972 by virtue of Proclamation No. 1081 that he twisted and tweaked to his liking and he succeeded by using the law of force and not

Manila International Air-port upon his return

from a long exile in the United States.

The wors-ening political turmoil that fol-lowed forced B o n g b o n g ’ s father to call a snap election

the force of law.The stronghold of the

Marcoses, including the young Bongbong then, shook hard when Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino was as-sassinated on August 21, 1983 at the tarmac of the

that he won in February 1986. But the massive election fraud drove the masses to install Corazon “Cory” Aquino to power.

It is not the burial place. It is the glory of death.

Kwok diamonds looted!From page 1

diamonds, other precious pieces of jewelry and loose stones.

The PASG raided Kwok’s condominium unit at Pacific Place Con-dominium, Amethyst St., Pearl Drive, Ortigas Cen-ter, Pasig City.

Kwok, a British nation-al, was said to have been caught red-handed as she was going about her busi-ness of selling and trad-ing diamonds and other precious stones in Ortigas

Center, Pasig City.The PASG said the

bust came after a PASG operative pretended to be a buyer of diamonds while surveying the place of business of Kwok.

The PASG further said that with a search war-rant issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court, its team led by Police Senior Inspector Carl Joseph B. Jaucian and Police Officer III Florante Azur raided the condominium units of

Kwok and seized assorted diamonds, precious stones and pieces of jewelry secured in two security vaults.

The PASG said it was discovered that Kwok did not have any business per-mit from the barangay or the Business Permit’s Of-fice of Pasig City.

The PASG added that she also did not issue re-ceipts for all her sale trans-actions.

The PASG said its veri-fication with the Depart-ment of Labor and Em-ployment established that Ms. Kwok had no Work-ing Permit, making here violate her visa.

The escape

It was reported that Kwok slipped through the eyes of PASG agents be-cause their hands were full at the diamonds and their eyes were amazed seeing the brilliance they never saw before.

It was also reported that the PASG was only lucky because the Bureau of Im-migration (BI) was timely alerted that its agents man-age to apprehended her on immigration violations.

When she was arrested, Kwok posted bail before the BI.

In other words, she was arrested two times.

Through his lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan, Al-pha Kwok filed a com-plaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against PASG officers led by now Dangerous Drugs Board

Chairman Antonio “Be-bot” Villar, Jr.

This even led to accu-sation of Alentajan that he was mauled by a deputy officer of Villar.

These reported events were culled from newspa-pers’ and columnists’ ac-counts.

Doing business by refer-rals

It was known that Kwok did business only by referrals.

During her stay in the country for 17 years, Kwok traveled more than 170 times to and from Hongkong.

In all those years, her business must have flour-ished because she man-aged to stay that long and live in a high-end lifestyle.

Devaluation of values of seized diamonds

To dertemine the genu-iness of the seized pre-cious gems, a licensed gemologist was hired by the PASG to help in the inventory of the seized diamonds.

It was learned that the value was pegged at first at half a billion pesos.

On August 14, 2009, the PASG claimed that the appraisal of less than one third of the whole lot was P100 million pesos.

Thus, the diamonds lost their luster.

From that claim of the appraiser, the PASG de-clared that the total value was only P250 million.

Looting pieces of small diamonds

It was reported that the reason the values of the diamonds seized were reduced in terms of the number of carats was that agents of PASG pocketed small pieces.

Some of them thereafter acquired luxury sports util-ity vehicles.

Actually, supporting the report that agents stole some pieces of the dia-monds is the fact that the PASG had been reported to be involved in raids and arrests that were intensely questioned.

The PASG was also questioned for the escape of the owner of the big chunks of shabu worth bil-lions of pesos seized inside the Subic Freeport.

That was so, although there were reports point-ing to SBMA officials as the culprits who allowed the captured shabu bearer to escape.

In many other inci-dents, there were groups of importers and brokers who rose against the PASG for being robbers and raiders without any legal basis.

It was also gathered by Dyaryo Magdalo that two top officials of the PASG nearly came to duel over acts of one protecting an-other’s catch.

In one incident, one of-ficial went inside Villar’s office, shouted at another official being talked to by Villar.

This incoming official shocked Villar and this of-

ficial with the shout: “Bu-munot ka, barilan na lang tayo!”

After recovering from the surprise, Villar told the two officers to allow him to leave first and let them settle their scores at each other inside with only the two of them.

It was learned that when one of the two of-ficials raided and appre-hended smugglers and smuggled goods, the other officer would order the same agents on the field to let go of the arrested per-sons and goods.

In other incident, the other officer would arrest the smugglers protected by that officer who made the

challenge to a duel.It was not known how

Villar pacified his two of-ficers.

Confirmed diamonds smuggler

Kwok was perceived as a true-blooded smuggler.

She was said to have admitted she was also the same Kwok Siu Ting caught for unlawful impor-tation of assorted jewelry at the Ninoy Aquino Interna-tional Airport on March 8, 1997.

She was also said to have also admitted she was apprehended and in-vestigated by NAIA Cus-

October 24-30, 2011 3 Vol. II No. 72

From page 2

ByBERTENI“TOTO”

CATALUÑACAUSING

LIM FIRES OWN MANFOR BRIBE TAKE

Gives his cellphone numbers, email address for people to ‘text’ or email him

DYARYO Mag-dalo obtained an “unspo-ken of” news that Customs

Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence Danilo D. Lim has fired a man he brought with him to supposedly execute the trust of the people in him through the mandate of President Benigno Sime-on Aquino III.

It was not immedi-ately known who this person was except for a piece of information that said that the man fired by Lim was a military offi-cer close to him.

highly-placed sources told Dyaryo Magdalo that Lim somehow sacri-ficed an enduring friend-ship when he decided to give this person a walking order after con-firming from his own sources that this officer he trusted then so much strayed away from the public trust by receiving a bribe.

This somehow recon-firmed the reputation of the man who once was said to have refused mil-lions of pesos and free-dom from prison offered

him in exchange for a cooperation with the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

To avoid shaming his man, Lim did the dismissal by just telling the person to walk away without any more discus-sion.

The former chief of the Army’s Scout Rang-ers once led a band of rebel soldiers in the 1989 coup d’etat against then President Corazon Aquino, mother of the man who appointed him to the Customs’ No. 2 position.

Lim was detained by the Arroyo administra-tion after having been accused of trying to lead his full-battle-geared men in a march against her when the contro-versial Hello Garci tape scandal went at its high-est.

After attending a trial of the rebellion charges along with Senator An-tonio Trillanes IV, Lim marched with Magdalo soldiers and renegades to seize Manila Peninsula Hotel, that almost du-plicated the seize of the same group of Oakwood

Hotel also in Makati City.

He ran for senator under the banner of Lib-eral Party but he landed beyond the top 12 but within the top 20.

After the one-year ban for appointment to election losers, P-Noy named him to the No. 2 post with fellow defeat-ed senatorial candidate Ruffy Biazon getting the top post as Customs Commissioner, replac-ing the controversial An-gelito Alvarez fired after failing to account for the 2,000 missing container vans.

Having learned from the behavior of his man, other sources of Dyaryo Magdalo said that Lim expressed doubts on his other men he named to surround him and to take care of the trust reposed in him.

As one of his counter-measures to ensure his own men never talks with strange characters, Lim issued a public order af-ter having been informed by some members of the media that “importers are confronted with dif-ficulties in processing

their respective ship-ments reportedly due to strict rules currently im-plemented in the Bureau of Customs (BOC).”

To ensure that any-body, especially the complaining importers, talk to him in confi-dence, Lim announced his cellular phone num-bers 09152312637 and 09279496623 and email address boc@gendanny-lm.org and they can call or text him.

He further said in this order dated October 21, 2011:

“I wish to inform all duly-accredited import-ers that this office per-forms an above-board implementation of Cus-toms Laws and Regula-tions. This office will neither abuse its author-ity nor circumvent rules in the exercise of its duty.

“I personally guaran-tee that the office will not cause disruption of the normal trade facilita-tions, unless supported by valid reasons as pro-vided by the TCCP. This office will faithfully ex-ercise its mandate in the highest standards of pub-lic duty in order to pro-tect the interest of our State and its people.

“We shall remain steadfast in our war against corruption and smuggling at the BOC, a task that is sought by President Benigno S. Aquino III and the Filipi-no people. I am request-ing the support of all importers in this fight by way of providing infor-mation directly to me.”

Recently, Lim issued a memorandum calling on licensed customs bro-

toms Arrival Operations Division led by then Act-ing Examiner Estelita B. Nario for outright smug-gling into the country the assorted jewelry weighing 2.2 kilos valued US$3,368.

Kwok was apprehended at the arrival area of NAIA while disembarking from Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hong Kong on March 8, 1997 or 12 years before her apprehension by PASG at her condominium unit in Pasig City.

Diamonds deposited at BSP

The precious gems and other glamorous pieces of stones were reported to have been deposited in-side a vault of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for safekeeping.

Early this year, after a tiresome legal battle to put Kwok behind bars for smuggling diamonds, of-ficials of the PASG turned over the diamonds to the care of the Bureau of Cus-toms, as well as the docu-ments pertinent to the smuggling case.

The turnover was sparked by the issuance

of Executive Order No. 18 on December 9, 2010 by President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III or-dering the abolition of the anti-smuggling agency.

With the turnover, PASG Director Jeffrey Pa-tawaran informed Violeta Mejia of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas that the Office of the President has signi-fied willingness to pay all the obligations of the de-funct PASG.

In can be recalled that PASG officials filed charg-es before the Department of Justice against Kwok

for violating the Tariff and Customs Code of the Phil-ippines and National In-ternal Revenue Code after the precious articles were seized inside her condo-minium unit.

Initially, the panel of three investigating pros-ecutors absolved Kwok of any crime.

However, the PASG appealed and then Secre-tary Agnes Devanadera reversed the resolution finding probable cause that Kwok committed crimes of smuggling and tax evasion.

Kwok diamonds looted!

kers transacting in the BOC to stop bribing any-one using his name as he has neither authorized anyone to solicit “tara” nor will accept bribes.

“Let it be a public knowledge that: I nei-ther asked for ‘Tara’ nor appointed anyone to so-licit either for myself or for my office,” Lim de-clared.

Lim has committed to snuff at birth all at-tempts to undermine or sabotage his missions and mandate by unscru-pulous men in the BOC or by anyone closely as-sociated to him.

“I am at a firm belief that a tight moral rec-titude deserves highest respect from all -- that no one: even a friend, an

ally, and a family mem-ber, has a birthright to desecrate what it rep-resents and stands for. I live with this convic-tion,” Lim said.

So far, the BOC Intel chief is highly revered today as the face of in-tegrity and gallantry expected of a public of-ficial and as a former Filipino soldier.

4 Vol. II No. 72 October 24-30, 2011

PRESS TRIUMPHS OVER EVILBy BERTENI “TOTO” CATALUÑA CAUSINGNew Year, the

59th, starts with a good note for the National Press Club. Too

telling why the NPC is a definition of press freedom.

First, it wins all its cases that have put the Club in a quagmire of doubt and fears five years ago. All its too-important cases with the Court of Appeals es-tablished a firmer foothold: ensuring never again that the Club will be debased by assaults that diminished to some extent its strength to fight for press freedom.

The latest triumph over evil came when the Court of Appeals rebuked the theory of the GSIS that the officers of the NPC for the 2006-2008 term were thieves. To the contrary, the CA penned that just is just: one cannot steal his own money.

Second, the “blood money” that has been the focus of all these cases have finally found a blood bank that will give true life to the pen men and air men through giving them houses they could call home while at the same time showing a face of as-surance of preservation and growth for the blood to be added with more blood of press freedom fighters to found a new blood bank that will give more leases on life for more journalists.

Imagine journalists without blood, or some who have but are anemic. Can they write well to the expectations of the society they serve for information on matters of public inter-est?

Going simpler and di-rect to the details, let it be-gin from the beginning.

In December 2006, the Board of the NPC, led by Mr. Roy C. Mabasa as the president and Mr. Benny D. Antiporda as the vice-president presided over a grave problem on how to deal with the Vicente Manansala mural painted on a canvass of lawanit nailed to a lumber frame running parallel to Pasig River beside the building. The grains were falling and there was no hope it can be arrested: the restoration bid ran to almost two million pesos.

The ultimate remedy beckoned: To sell.

The search for better sale than the standing P10-million proposal began and ended after a period. No better offer came. The Board was compelled to seal the offer. In 2006, the mural was taken carefully without any damage to the painting or to the wall and the buyer paid in full.

Early in 2007, many amongst the olds and “con-servatives” cried out, with-out giving a thought that some of the blame should be on them why the mural decayed or why they say the Club decayed. But they have not done anything to arrest what they call “de-cay.” They don’t care to regret the decay that they caused.

The GSIS joined the fray, upon the urging of some of the “olds” who call themselves “pure” NPC members. They call the young ones who hold the reins as “impure”; but how do you call those who caused them to be “im-pure”?

So the GSIS and these olds called the board mem-bers “thieves” for selling the mural. So that this law-created firm whose man-date is to attend to the wel-fare of the retirees from the government service filed a case of qualified theft against the directors.

Its head, Winston F. Garcia, used power and in-fluence to cause the Office

that was committed by the NPC directors.

The DOJ ordered the Manila prosecutor to with-draw the case from the RTC of Manila that, in re-sponse, conducted a hear-ing on whether to approve its motion to withdraw the information. Until today, the RTC is yet to decide on whether to terminate the case or not.

The evil fought back. It cannot accept reason.

So that it challenged the ruling of the DOJ be-fore the Court of Appeals, which only affirmed the

ruling that there was no case.

Yet the story is not about to end. The GSIS manifested it will file a motion for reconsideration to present new arguments how can the directors of the NPC be considered thieves when what they sold, the mural, was sold by them in the name of the Club and the proceeds went to the Club’s bank account and used for its own purposes.

To understand what the GSIS is fighting for, this is their theory.

The GSIS owns the NPC building and the land upon which it stands by virtue of its purchase of the real property during the public auction conducted by the Manila City Trea-surer’s Office on April 15, 1975 and the fact that the NPC failed to redeem the property in one year.

So that the GSIS in-sists that whoever owns the building also owns the Manansala mural, argu-ing that the painting was intentionally destined by the building owner to be a permanent part of the NPC building, borrowing from Article 415 of the Civil

of the City Prosecutor of Manila that was lacking in balls to file a case of estafa in court, in defiance of the time-honored rule that only an air-tight evidence can justify a filing of a crimi-nal case in court to justify sacrificing the presumption of innocence in favor of the prejudice of warrants of arrest and trial that are so stressing and shaming.

But good will never tri-umph over evil by sitting by.

So the directors who were—and are—young did not take comfort from Edmund Burke’s everlast-ing statement, “For evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Not minding the criti-cisms that could bring worst of the names for them, these directors be-lieved more in this: “For evil to triumph is for good men to do not enough.”

And so they fought back with passion and ex-traordinary courage. And the evil is now crushed. The rest is history.

The NPC won the case before the Department of Justice that ruled there was no crime of theft or estafa

Code. And since the GSIS now owns the building, the GSIS also owned the paint-ing.

The NPC countered that the Manansala mural was movable. The fact that it was removed by the buyer in December 2006 without causing destruction to the painting or damage on he building, it means that the NPC of old did not intend to make the painting a per-manent part of the building.

Additionally, the NPC insisted it remained the owner of the NPC building by virtue of Letters of In-

struction No. 500 issued on January 28, 1977 by then President Marcos, invok-ing his emergency powers under Amendment No. 6 to the 1973 Constitution that said: If the National Assembly or Batasang Pambansa cannot act on matters deemed urgent the President can pass a law, in the form of a decree, proc-lamation, executive order or letter of instructions.

The DOJ and the Court of Appeals fully concurred with the NPC arguments.

Aside from the criminal case, the GSIS also filed a case seeking to evict the NPC from its house, the NPC building.

The Club lost in the Metropolitan Trial Court, Branch 22, but won in in-sisting that the Club cannot be compelled to pay for the use of the building and the land to prevent implemen-tation of the said decision.

The NPC appealed and the RTC of Manila, Branch 19, reversed the MeTC’s decision, anchoring on LOI No. 500 that commands the GSIS to donate the real property to the NPC. The GSIS argued that the land title showing the GSIS as

the owner cannot be col-laterally attacked. But the RTC rebuked it by saying it cannot also collaterally at-tack the law, LOI No. 500.

The GSIS appealed to the Court of Appeals. That is why it got another re-buke from another division of the CA that declared that the complaint of the GSIS was poorly done that it failed to state a cause of ac-tion based on its claim that it tolerated the NPC to use the property and that they already withdrew that tol-erance.

The appellate court clearly lectured the GSIS that it did not state in its complaint any overt or clear act of how tolerance was given before the NPC occupied the building.

This ruling of the CA favored the argument of the NPC stating: How can the GSIS withdraw toler-ance when before the NPC started using the real prop-erty the GSIS did not give tolerance from the start? How can you withdraw nothing?

Undaunted by this de-feat, the evil went to the Supreme Court. The NPC is confident the triumph over evil will be preserved until the end of the fight.

The GSIS also filed a case for a recovery of personal property, seek-ing for the court to order the surrender the mural to the GSIS. The Pasay RTC granted the motion of the NPC to summarily adjudge the case and ordered the GSIS to implement LOI No. 500.

The GSIS questioned the Pasay RTC decision and another CA division ruled that the GSIS has never owned the mural.

The GSIS never relented that it filed a motion for re-consideration. But the NPC is confident that the ruling will still declare that the NPC owned the mural until it was sold.

The only good thing for the GSIS in this case is that it succeeded for the CA to rule that it was premature for the RTC of Pasay to or-der the implementation of LOI No. 500 because the Club did not pay a filing fee and that there are some issues yet that need to be threshed out in a trial.

To this, the Club ar-gued: there is no need to pay for the filing fee be-cause the claim is a direct challenge and intimately

connected to the claim of the GSIS; and that there is no need for trial because the only issues left are an-swerable by the court as these involved only inter-pretation, construction and application of laws.

The RTC of Manila handling the criminal case, upon the other hand, is yet to approve or deny the prosecutor’s request to withdraw the case against the same NPC directors.

After seeing great suc-cess in all these cases revolving around the pro-ceeds from the sale of Manansala Mural, the NPC is now assured that the P6-million that remained thereof would be rolled over to produce houses for the journalists while getting back the money at the end of the project with modest returns ready for a new housing program.

For the skeptics and the naïve amongst the NPC members to be assured that the invested money will not go to naught, these are the material clauses and se-curity features of the NPC Village housing project embodied in a joint venture memorandum:

1. The owner of the land valued a little less than P4 million committed the real property to be con-structed with 48 houses;

2. The land is lo-cated beside NLEX near Pulilan Exit, a high ground that was not even soaked when waters submerged Calumpit and Hagonoy towns in Bulacan province;

3. The NPC com-mitted P6 million to build all these houses on a roll-ing scheme and that these houses shall be awarded to journalists whose loans were approved immediate-ly by the Pag-Ibig;

4. Right after building the first 11 houses, these shall be fast-tracked to be given right away to the members whose loans shall be processed by the NPC itself as part of the partnership agreement with the Pag-Ibig;

5. Thereafter, the Pag-Ibig releases the pay-ments for the houses to the NPC and the members could pay the amortization in the average of P5,000 a month, more or less, and they could chose even up to 40 years to pay to reduce further the monthly pay-ments, depending on what is the difference between 70 years minus their actual age at the time of the loan approval;

6. The payments of the Pag-Ibig that will not go beyond two weeks shall then be used by the NPC for the next phase of the NPC Village;

7. The process re-peats until all the 48 houses are built and awarded to the NPC members;

8. At the end of the project, the NPC gets back all its P6-million capital and the landowner gets the amount equivalent to the lot, while the excess shall be the small profit that would go to the Club, ready for new housing projects aimed at empowering the journalists to be more inde-pendent in their work;

9. To assure the project is implemented, the contract calls for the release of the P6-million fund by installments of P3-million each and the next P3-million will not be re-leased until the works for the particular phase are not commensurate to the ear-lier P3-million that was re-leased, thereby compelling the contractor to use up first the P3-million before getting another P3-million;

10. As an added se-curity feature, the contrac-tor was required to post a surety bond of P3 million to be taken by the NPC if the contractor fails in any part in any phase thereof; and

11. Moreover, all the three parties—the con-tractor, the NPC and the landowner—shall become the surety of each, that in case one of them decides to withdraw from the project the two who remain will complete the same.

Indeed, it is a good note. Happy Anniversary to all NPC members.

National Press Club President Jerry S. Yap with the board of directors together with Presidential sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz dug up dirt to plant the time capsule at the groundbreaking ceremony held at the NPC Village in Brgy. Tibag, Pulilan, Bulacan. The project, a brainchild of Yap and AFIMA President Benny Antiporda, aims at providing a cheap but decent housing for the members.

October 24-30, 2011 5 Vol. II No. 72

OFWs congressional district outside PHL? Why not?THIS article was sparked by an OFW who asked: “Can we create a legislative district for OFWs who are outside the coun-try?”

My answer is, “Yes, why not?”

How can it be done when the Constitution impresses immedi-ately that it limits con-gressional districts to be located within the territories of the Phil-ippines?

Simple. And there are two ways.

The pertinent Constitu-tional provisions

But before reveal-

ing how, let me quote the pertinent provi-sions of the Constitu-tion, under Section 5 of Article VI, which are as follows:

“Section 5. (1) The House of Representa-tives shall be com-posed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless oth-erwise fixed by law, who shall be elected from legislative dis-tricts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metro-politan Manila area in accordance with the number of their re-spective inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progres-sive ratio, and those who, as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or or-ganizations.

“(2) The party-list

representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representa-tives including those under the party list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be pro-vided by law, except the religious sector.

“(3) Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a popu-lation of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one repre-sentative.”

Provisions of sub-paragraphs 1 and 3 say clearly that the Constitution states that the House of Rep-resentatives should be composed of “not more than” 250, that each legislative district should comprise “as far as practicable” contigu-ous, compact and adja-cent territory.

Legal means of creating congressional district outside PHL

Do these provisions now close the door for OFWs legislative dis-tricts outside the Phil-ippine territory?

They do not.

Examining sub-paragraph 1 shows that it allows the Congress to make a law to have representatives from partylists and sectoral parties or organiza-tions.

This now opens the door for a group of OFWs in a region of another country, or in a foreign country, or in a group of countries or states outside the Philip-pines to be organized by a law into congressional districts without land territories.

Examining again the whole of Section 5 shows that the only limitations stated are that the total number of the members of the House of Representa-tives shall not be more than 250 and that the total number of partyl-ist representatives shall not be more than 20% of the total number that included the number of the partylist representa-tives.

If we look at the pro-visions again, the Con-stitution does not speci-fy the procedure on how partylist representatives shall be elected.

What is more telling is that the Fundamental Law speaks of sectors and organizations so that it refers to sectors and organizations as different from partylist groups.

In other words, the Congress can change the present procedure employed for electing partylist representa-tives and remove the 2% ceiling or whatever or design another sys-tem of how these rep-resentatives are to be chosen.

It also means that the Congress can create or-ganizations or sectors as distinct and separate from partylist groups.

It follows therefore that there is no offense to the Constitution if the Congress passes a law that creates a sectoral group or an organization out of a region of OFWs outside the country as one organization or one sector or one partylist group.

Then, the law may design a procedure of electing a representative or a congressman from their group by means of electing at large from them their own repre-sentatives.

Thus, we see clearly the Congress can cre-ate a legislative district outside the Philippine territory.

Of course, the law may provide for the abolition or dissolution of that sector or group or partylist group when the number of voters no longer reaches the mini-mum for one congres-sional district classified

as a sector or a group or a partylist.

Another Constitu-tional way of creating a congressional district outside the Philippine territory is by invoking the “unless otherwise fixed by law” clause in sub-paragraph 1 of Sec-tion 5 of Article VI of the Constitution.

The exception phrase applies not only to the number of total repre-sentatives, 250, that may be changed. This ex-ception clause can also apply to all other provi-sions that the Congress may want to change by means of a law.

And if it can apply to any provision of Section 5, then the Congress can fix a congressional district even without the land territory that should be compact, con-tiguous and adjacent.

Supporting this le-gal argument is another clause that says, “as far as practicable.” This means that if it is not practicable to have a land territory, then the Congress is authorized by the Constitution to create a congressional district outside the Phil-ippines.

Reasons for creation of congressional districts outside the country

The first justification is that all—not only the

Filipino voters inside the country—have the right of suffrage, or the right to vote and be voted upon.

If that is so, it a dis-crimination of a class of Filipinos to deprive them of the right to vote for their congressmen other than partylist con-gressmen when they are also Filipinos.

There is no valid jus-tification to look down on the Filipinos outside the country just because of their geographical locations outside the country. There is no law that says a voter be-comes an inch-less of a voter if he or she is out-side the country or out-side of his or her con-gressional district when he or she were at home.

This is so because the laws that the Con-gress makes affect the overseas Filipinos as much as or as the same as Filipinos in the home front.

Further, In the old times, these overseas Filipinos (OFs) were handicapped by the reality of physical im-possibility to go home and vote. But with the internet voting that is now being pushed by the Commission on Elections to be done in the 2013 election, there is no more impossibil-ity standing in the way in so far as the physical capability of all voters to vote.

Also, it is a persona non grata of the Filipi-nos at home to outcast their OFs or OFWs who have been toiling out there just so the relatives

back home can eat and live a good life.

It is also a big in-grate for the country to deny rights of suffrage from the people it calls “living heroes” who are keeping the dollar strength of the State.

Since it is unrea-sonable or revolting to conscience to deprive the OFs of the right to vote for their con-gressional district and sectoral or partylist or organization represen-tatives, they must now be allowed to have their own district out-side the country and would still be allowed to vote for the partylist of their choice.

Further, by creat-ing a sectoral congres-sional district out-side PHL, it ensures against “pseudo” con-gressmen like Mikey Arroyo circumventing around the law to be-come a representative of tricycle drivers and security guards, one of whom he even failed to protect against a fellow congressman, who is from Lanao del Sur.

It assures that per-sons who truly are from their sectors are elected.

As long as other qualifications that one must be at least 25 years old and a natural-born citizen, there is no reason to deny a repre-sentative each from the Sector Congressional Districts of Califor-nia Filipinos, Jeddah Filipinos, Hong Kong Filipinos, UK Filipi-nos and others.

TELL THAT TO THE MARINES!EXCEPT for bat-tling corruption, this government is not prepared for anything.

As we have wit-nessed in the past, the government of President Benigno Aquino III is unable to move swiftly when it is required by situations.

The Manila Hos-tage Crisis, the ty-phoons, and now the massacre of our soldiers in Mind-anao are proofs of Aquino’s inability to act decisively as the top official of the land.

C o m p o u n d i n g Aquino’s problems are his set of cabi-

net members and advisers who are causing him more troubles instead of helping him when things get tough.

When a president is “slow” at least his secretaries and advisers must be “heavyweights” to fill up the vacuum of intelligence in Malacañang.

But as we see it, nobody in the Palace is capable of running the government the right way.

This is why the government’s main peacemakers are confused and are left with no other re-course but to ask the people: “What is the

solution?”Tell that to the

marines!***

A total of P8 mil-lion was stolen by holdup men from DSWD personnel in Samar recently.

The heist took place when DSWD personnel were about to distribute huge amounts to farmer-fishermen beneficia-ries in the province.

The incident should be thoroughly investigated because

it shows how reck-less DSWD person-nel are in handling the peoples’ money.

It is a big question why the DSWD per-sonnel were carrying such huge cash while performing their du-ties when common sense dictated they should have depos-ited the money for protection.

Even if the mon-ey was set for dis-tribution it did not warrant them to hand-carry the P8

million. They should have considered bank facilities like checks or ATMs. It doesn’t take a scien-tist to realize this.

The incident also makes us wonder if carrying big cash is a common practice of DSWD personnel in the field. If it is, the practice should stop immediately or precious government funds would only go to the wrong hands that have been re-portedly happening

“in retail” since So-liman implemented the Cash Conditional Transfer.

***The P72-billion

stimulus package be-ing released by the government to perk up the economy ap-pears to be its way of saying: “We’re sorry. We’re no lon-ger hoarding public funds.”

The government has a lot to be sorry about because its un-der-spending caused so many damages to the people and the country.

Many lost jobs and went hungry because the govern-ment tightened its

financial belt for so long in the belief that everybody is a thief.

This P72-billion fund would have gone a long way had Aquino did his homework and re-frained from rely-ing too much on his cabinet secre-taries like DBM chief Butch Abad who are reportedly more interested in “witch hunting” than moving the country forward.

***For comments,

pls. call or text 09285034265 or email lastmohi-can2004@yahoo.com

the last mohican

By Mario F. Fetalino, Jr.

Privileged spits

By Toto C. Causing

6 Vol. II No. 72 October 24-30, 2011

Simplified Libel Lawin the Philippines

By BERTENI “TOTO” CATALUÑA CAUSING

AS the author said in Chapter III of this book, “GIJUMO” theory is a general defense that has the effect of a conclusion that there is no malice.

So that if there is success in proving the existence of “GIJUMO,” the effect is the lack of the element of malice, one of the four elements in criminal libel.

Thus, after proving the existence of “GIJUMO,” one can go back to the defense of lack of an element and get acquittal from the charge of libel in the court or from the Office of the City Prosecutor or the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor.

“GIJUMO” is actually the second acronym in-vented by the author in libel law to make the recall of this defense easy to the laymen and lawyers. The other acronym is “DIMP,” which stands for “Defamation,” “Identification,” “Malice,” and “Publication”; also for the purpose of easy recall of the elements of libel.

“GIJUMO” stands for “Good Intention and Justifi-able Motive.”

Literally, this simply means that the writing or the article concerned was made with good intention and the motive was justifiable.

Good Intentions

But what intentions can be considered as good?The answer is: The list is unlimited.There is no specific standard as to what intention is

good but the rule is simple: Any intention that is con-sidered good under ordinary logic and common sense is enough to be said as of “good intention.”

But what should be remembered by everyone here is that the intention must not be to malign or not to put another person in shame. If it happens that the inten-tion for goodness and was not meant to malign but the publication incidentally puts one to shame, then there is no libel.

For example, a published story about corruption in a city hall can be said as without argument more of one done with the good intention of informing the people of the goings on in their city government. This is be-cause it is a fundamental right of the people to know what are happening to the funds accumulated from the taxes, licenses and fees they paid to the city, to educate them to become more intelligent in choosing their next officials in the succeeding elections, to be informed to decide whether to exercise their right to seek redress of grievances or their right to recall elected officials or their right to initiate a constitutional amendment or enact or repel a law or enact or repel an ordinance, and to give them the necessary information needed when they call their officials to account for what was done.

Similar are the reasons in cases of information on the goings on in the national government, including the Office of the President, the Senate, the House of Repre-sentatives, and the Judiciary.

Now, the people compose the public.Seeing through the reasons or justifications why the

people must know what is happening in their govern-ment and knowing that the people compose what is called “the public” give us a clear picture why informa-

tion about the goings on in the local and national governments and the officials therein are matters of public interest.

As a matter of public policy enshrined in the Constitution, a concept far from the mind of public officials, providing these means of ex-

pressing dissent and disgust do not drive the people into taking up arms and rise against the

incumbent government.Thus, it can be said that any story

about the goings on in the government clearly has a good intention and this in-tention is to serve public interest.

This intention is obligatory on the part of journalists,

or people whose daily

natural work is characterized by gathering of information, writing them as a report or writing them as a platform for commentaries, and publishing them in any medium: newspaper, television, radio, or internet.

On the part of non-journalist citizens, or people whose professions or trades are something else, to invoke this good intention is also available to them as to the report-ers’. Those citizens who are proactive can write the information they know or express opinion on what they knew by blogging or any other means as their own commitment to help his community informed. That is, each citizen has a moral obligation to tell the others of what he or she discovered as in the interest of their country.

And to make it clearer to all readers, saying “goings on” in the government in-cludes official proceedings. And when official proceedings are concerned, these in-clude court proceedings from the inception of a case up to the termination thereof, including the appeals and review proceedings.

These proceedings also include all Senate and House of Representatives proceed-ings, such as investigations in aid of legislation, privilege speeches, committee hear-ings on the crafting of bills proposed for enactment into laws, performance of over-sight or monitoring functions to see to it if the laws are faithfully implemented by the executive offices and to discover what else that need to be done to improve these laws, filing of bills, acting in the capacities of jurors in impeachment trials, and others.

Official proceedings also include all performance of official acts of the executive offices, from the Office of the President down to the lowest employees of bureaus, departments, political subdivisions such as local governments, agencies, and govern-ment-owned-and-controlled corporations.

Official proceedings also include the routine patrols of policemen, buy-bust opera-tions of anti-drug law enforcers, raids in enforcing search warrants, response actions to criminal incidents, criminal investigations officially done by a police detective, filing of criminal charges before the prosecutor’s offices, response of firemen to fires, performance of jailer’s functions among the provincial and bureau jails, and others.

These also include the performance of official powers and functions by indepen-dent bodies such as the Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Audit, the Civil Service Commission, the Commission on Human Rights, and the Commission on Elections.

Good Intentions on Private Lives of Public Officials

Now, a question may be asked: Can private lives of these officials be considered within the province of “good intention”?

The author answers this as follows: If the private acts referred to are matters that affect the efficiency of an official’s performance of his official duties and obligations then these are covered by the mantle of “good intention.” Otherwise, it is not.

Among the private acts that can be the subject of “good intention” are the illicit love affairs of officials, gambling vices, habitual drinking manner, and any other acts that affect the morality and efficiency of the offices to which the concerned officials serve.

On this score, the author argues: More important than academic and experience resume for any public official is the moral “biodata.”

This wisdom is easily seen when it is argued that an official who maintains a mis-tress tends to steal from his office to sustain the second woman. Much more that main-tenance funds become necessary when the other woman becomes the other family.

It is also easily seen when it is argued that an official who is addicted to casino gambling is put in a greater risk of losing his salaries and as such he is a big security risk to the funds of his office. As such he is prone to be dishonest to sustain the vice.

The same can be said of officials who are fond of frequenting nightclubs to drink and date with women inside VIPs. A government official who stays late because of the love of drinking wakes up late to do his job. Even if he wakes up early, he becomes sleepy to do his job.

In other words, all private activities that affect the efficiency of the performance of the official functions of a public official are within the domain of “good intention” to publish these kinds of stories.

Good Intentions Concerning Known Personalities

Can this good intention be applicable to private persons who are popular?Libel law legally calls them as “public figures per se.” The author dares to say this

even as the legal definition of “public figures” now include public officials and private persons who voluntarily thrust themselves into the vortex of the controversy to influ-ence the resolution of the issues at hand.

In this particular topic, the application of good intention doctrine is limited to people who are pervasively or notoriously known in a community. Among them are actors, boxers, sports medalists, society girls and women, well-known private persons such as the First Lady or the First Gentleman, and many others.

The justification in writing about well-known private persons is the fact that their being popular makes them being idolized by ordinary individuals. That being idol-ized makes them the interest of the public, that any event happening about popular persons is being followed by the public. This is demonstrated by the fact that people would tend to ask: “What’s the latest about Michael Jackson?”

Now, these popular private individuals owe it to show examples of the finest be-haviors that their fans should follow them. If indecent or improper conducts of these personalities are reported, it is because there is a natural effect of telling the public that these particular acts are bad that ought not to be followed. Thus, it also serves the public good to denounce or ostracize bad conduct.

Thus, in all practicalities, virtually all kinds of private lives of well-known per-

Chapter VThe “GIJUMO” Defense

sonalities are not exempt from being a rightful domain of the public. The acts they make, the words they ut-ter, the partners they take, the love quarrels they are engaged in, and the separations from each other are all rightful part of the staples of the public. Everything in them is an interest of the public.

Good Intentions Concerning Private Persons

Now, are private persons subject to good intentions in publications?

Literally speaking, rats have all the rights to stay alive and to be protected from harm if they stay inside their holes. But if they voluntarily go out, they cannot blame anyone if they are caught by cats.

Private individuals who want a quiet life and those who are in reclusion or being reclusive are entitled not to be put in public contempt.

This if they do not go out to commit acts that in-vite the interest of the public or they do not voluntarily speak words or do acts that affect the society or the community.

If a private person commits a criminal act, he or she is going out of the secrecy of his or her abode to become a valid interest of the public. Of course, it is always a public interest to know the crimes happening in their midst.

A man or a woman who sells marijuana or shabu becomes a valid subject of “good intention” in report-ing and publication.

A man or a woman who covets another’s wife or husband becomes a valid subject of “good intention” as it is a topic of interest to the public.

A man who kills his wife inside their family home cannot claim privacy anymore because that act is al-ways a valid interest of the public to know.

Much more it becomes an act that is a valid interest of the public if the act done by a private person has national or community security implications.

Corporations as Subjects of Good Intentions

Can corporations or other entities created by law be valid subjects of “good intention”?

Similar to private individuals, corporations are al-ways protected against public glare unless they com-mit acts through their officers or stockholders and that these acts are valid interests of the public.

If the corporations resort to swindling acts they can-not complain. Examples of these are the one that was alleged to have been done by Legacy group of compa-nies, the act of Globe Asiatique to allegedly swindle Pag-Ibig of the funds contributed by Pag-Ibig mem-bers, the acts of smuggling goods by several brokerage companies, the negligent acts of food corporations to produce dirty or contaminated products, the negligent acts of Pepsi in its Number Fever fiasco that victimized millions of people, etc.

Justifiable Motives

What are justifiable motives in libel law?To begin with, let us define motive as the one that

To page 7

October 24-30, 2011 7 Vol. II No. 72

ByWILLY IRINCO

impels or drives one to act.

So that we can define “justifiable motive” as a justified driving force that impels one person to write and publish about any matter.

Some motives are “motive to gain,” “mo-tive to live,” “motive to love,” “motive to ad-vance a cause,” “motive to live in peace,” “mo-tive to stop corruption,” “motive to stop abuse,” “motive to stop pain,” “motive to defend the state,” “motive to defend honor,” “motive to vindi-cate rights,” “motive to

get justice,” etc.Publishing continuous-

ly about the happenings in the trial of the accused in Ampatuan massacre is nat-urally impelled by the de-sire of the journalists and the people to get justice and not to seek vengeance. This is no doubt justifiable.

In publishing about corruption, the clearest motive is the desire to have a good government.

In publishing about oppression, the clearest desire or drive is to stop oppression and the revolt-ing conscience seeing op-pression.

In publishing about an impoverished society, the motive is to help that soci-

ety in order to attract help from any of those who may have read the publication. But the bottom line here is that people who engage in helping others usually have that passion to pity and that feeling of pitying others becomes a motive to drive another to act ac-cordingly.

In publishing about cheating of votes, as in Hello Garci, the motive is driven by the revolt-ing conscience to let the true voice of the people be heard and the revolt in the mind that seeks justice, too.

In publishing about a public officials’ poor job, the motive is the demand

a proof of clear and con-vincing evidence that there exists GIJUMO, then the published matter is absolutely privileged.

The fact that if it is undisputed that there was “good intention and justifiable motive” or “good intention” only or “justifiable motive” only, it becomes undis-puted that there is no malice.

Again, any of the good intention and justi-fiable motive cannot ex-ist when there was mal-ice or intention to shame another.

Anyway, what is important right now is for the reader to learn to know what is “good intention” and what is “justifiable motive.”

From page 6

Chapter V: The “GIJUMO” Defense

‘NO RETREAT’BOxERS

COMPARED

Rolando Navarette was the WBC world junior lightweight champion in 1981. He later lost the title to Mexican fight-er Rafael “Bazooka” Limon. He earned the moniker “The Bad Boy from Dadiangas” for it rang true outside the ring as well.The boxer was involved in violent incidents after his career ended. For a fleeting moment in his roller­coaster life, he was once “King of the Hill.”

Rocky Graziano, (below, right) trading punches with boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson, was considered one of the greatest knockout artists in boxing his-tory, often displaying the capacity to take his opponent out with a single punch. His life story was the basis of the 1956 Oscar-winning drama film “Somebody

Up There Likes Me,” based on his 1955 auto biography of the same title. Paul New-man starred in that film.

for better work for the peo-ple because the people feel being cheated by people they pay but are not doing enough to compensate the pay.

In publishing the de-mand for Gloria Macapa-gal Arroyo to resign, the motive is to stop very abu-sive, very corrupt, and very dishonest administration.

In publishing the cam-paign of Noynoy Aquino, the motive is to have an honest leader as the Presi-dent.

“Good Intentions” and “Justifiable Motives”

The author argues that it is enough to have either

a “good intention” or a “justifiable motive” to be acquitted of libel charge. It does not need for the two to go together to prove there was no malice or in-tention to malign.

This is so because “good intention” and “jus-tifiable motive” are in-separable from each other. Once “good intention” ex-ists, “justifiable motive” is always present.

It cannot also be said that one has bad intention or malice if his or her inten-tion is good to begin with.

It cannot also be said that one has ill intention or malice if his or her inten-tion is good to start with.

Also, these two state-ments are dare said be-cause either “good in-tention” or “justifiable

motive” is inconsistent to co-exist with malice.

However, in preventing one publication from get-ting vulnerable to a libel accusation, it is the better part of prudence to set out clearly in the writing both the “good intention” and the “justifiable motive.”

Clear Proof of GIJUMO is absolutely privileged

In libel law, once it is called “qualifiedly privi-leged” it means that the presumption is there is no malice and it becomes the burden of the accuser to prove there was malice or intention to malign on the part of the author of a published item.

But the author presents a thesis that once there is

THE dangerous p r o f e s s i o n a l sports of boxing is one of the mod-ern day versions

of the gladiatorial combat during the heyday of the Roman Empire.

Gladiatorial combats, history says, were a fight-to-death event between two prisoners encouraged by the emperor to enter-tain blood-thirsty wealthy subjects using imprisoned Christians or defeated war-riors from various con-quered areas of the power-ful Roman Empire.

The prize of a winner is freedom and that of the de-feated is death during the bloody and cruel armed duel in an arena just like the Roman Coliseum in Rome, Italy.

Modern day boxing, on the other hand, originated from bare-knuckled street fights usually between drunk warriors and later on between on rest and recre-ation (RNR) American sol-diers and sailors.

Unlike the modern day boxing which has leather gloves, during those times only bare hands were used during the bloody man-to-man bout.

During the World War II, soldiers played boxing

as a past time during their furlough usually in restau-rant or bar.

Today, just like Manny Pacquiao, who came from a poor family, who wore gloves to get out of his low hardy life and to try his luck to be redeemed from poverty. He hurdled the tough test.

The Hollywood box office hit “Somebody Up There Loves Me” in the 1960s and the “Bad Boy From Dadiangas,” a Phil-ippines’ movie, were two films that tackled the lives of an American-Italian boxer and a Filipino pug from General Santos City who have similar lives and successes.

The first film featured the ups and downs of Rocky Graziano, an im-migrant from Italy, who ar-rived in New York to seek greener pasture, but had to train as a boxer to sur-vive in the American city jungle.

The second film fo-cused on Rolando Na-varrete, a streetfighter from Dadiangas in Mindanao, whose misadventures in his hometown and later in Manila turned him into a sort of jailhouse “boxer.”

Graziano’s initial at-tempt as a prizefighter

was all right. His style as a slugger drew the raves and attention of American box-ing aficionados.

Navarrete, reportedly, whose mother is a Samare-ña from Catbalogan City, Samar and father from Dadiangas, had a knockout punch that convinced then the late Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, well-known Filipi-no-Cebuano world junior lightweight champion to offer a membership to the Elorde boxing stable based in Sucat, Parañaque City.

But Graziano’s raw ring knowhow, despite his innate ring talent and the trauma of adjusting to the rowdy life of a boxer, doused cold water on his budding career.

Navarrete’s left-handed KO punch drew the atten-tion of the late Doy Jacin-to, a rich sportsman of the Jacinto Steel Corporation, to ask Elorde that he liked to handle the ring career of the former.

As fast as his first tri-umph, Graziano became depressed fired up by easy boxing earnings making him a frequent visitor of drinking bars which the slum streets of the city was noted for.

Prior to Jacinto, Na-varrete was also handled

by the late boxing manager Mamerto Besa, a business-man, whose Besa Shoes was well-known during that time.

Graziano slid from a hopeful boxer to a drunk-

ard that worried his man-ager-trainer and his wife. He was no longer training in the gym and virtually abandoned his boxing ca-reer.

This writer interviewed the tattooed Navarrete in-side the flooded mosquito-ridden old Metropolitan Theater in Plaza Lawton, Manila where the boxing stable of Besa was located.

But the prayers to God of his loving wife like a flash of lightning changed Graziano overnight and his trainer was surprised to see him back in the gym pun-

ishing the heavy punching bag with lefts and rights.

Under Besa’s patience as a veteran boxing man-ager, liquor-loving Na-varrete became a popular Manila boxer. He won the Philippine featherweight crown and later the world junior lightweight title when he knocked Corne-lius Boza-Edwards out in Viareggio, Italy.

The Hollywood film on Graziano ended with the boxer’s return to the ring winning his bouts anew turning his wife and trainer

happy.But, Navarrete’s big

earnings as a prizefighter made him into a habitué of the girlie joints and night-clubs on Roxas Boulevard, a long stretch of well-light-ed tourist area from Manila up to Pasay and Baclaran, Parañaque.

The unsavory image was observed by sports-writers calling Navarrete a bad boy of Philippine boxing. But his bravado inside the ring be it in Ma-nila or in Rome, Italy put the Philippines again to the international ring world as a land of fine prizefighters which Pancho Villa and Elorde started even before the jailhouse boxer.

8 Vol. II No. 72 October 24-30, 2011

Editor’s Brief Review:

Few people may have realized that it is the poetic spirit that is embedded in every heart that has changed the world.

It is not seen apparently because those words that have been uttered that have conquered the world or the moon are usually uttered by persons who are not known poets or whose daily work or profession or vocation are something other than writing poems.

Take the powerful words of Gen-eral Douglas MacArthur when he said: “I shall return.” That was pas-sionately spoken when he retreated to Australia while the Japanese ap-peared winning the war in the Phil-ippines. Given the circumstances, the utterance impassioned those who remained to fight on for the father looked genuine in his pledge. So the children who were the sol-diers fought hard, changing the fate of South Asia then gripped by Ja-pan. Yet, MacArthur was not a poet by vocation or profession.

As soon as Neil Armstrong made his first step on the moon, he uncon-sciously said: “That’s one small step for man, That’s one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, those pow-erful words reverberated through-out the world and the moon lost its myth. And yet, Armstrong was a

scientist.In the year 47 Before Christ,

Julius Caesar uttered his message, “Veni Vidi Vici” and he conquered many kingdoms. Literally, the phrase meant: “I came, I saw, I con-quered.” Caesar was a conqueror politician and not a poet.

Edmund Burke was a politician philosopher but he has awakened many men to break loose from the clutches of oppressors and coloniz-ers. The latest acts of freedom were that of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. These immortal words of Burke are: “For evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” This editor (Berteni “Toto” Cataluña Causing) has modi-fied this to say: “For evil to triumph is for good men to do not enough.”

Mao Chetung changed the course of history of China upon seeing the weakness of communism and he said: “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend,” re-ferring to his command to reopen the universities for the intelligent to bloom. Now, the Red republic has the most powerful economy in the world.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a theologian but he drastically changed the attitude of the White Americans toward the Negroes when he spoke the lines, “I have a dream…Don’t judge the Negro by the color of his skin but by the con-

tent of his character.”Sir Isaac Newton was a young

physicist yet he changed the world with his words: “For every ac-tion is an equal and opposite reac-tion.” Since then the law of physics changed from those developed by Archimedes and Aristotle.

And the latest person the editor can cite is Steve Jobs, the inventor-innovator of Apply II, Macintosh, MacAir, iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Pixar products that were not thought of by any computer nerds but were produced into reality by the genius of him because of the parting words left to him by a magazine publisher through the words printed on the back of the departing bus, which words said: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Indeed, these products changed the world that brought the dreams to bring technology to the fingertips.

Barrack Obama powerfully ut-tered his words, “Change that we can believe in,” and he made the im-possible to happen: for a Black man to be elected president of a predomi-nantly White country.

In fields of battles, generals and leaders convinced the people to go to war by the power of their words uttered with force and passion.

This simply means that once the spirit of poetry grips any man, his discernment goes very deep, his

ability to see the future becomes powerful, his adrenaline is pumped up, his passion becomes powerful-ly-charged, unconscious he may be, he is driven to utter words that change the course of time and gets what he wants. It is also that power that makes a young man win the heart of his apple of the eye.

Of course, at times, the mes-sage is too powerful even without ut-tering any word. One song even goes this way: “You say it best when you say noth-ing at all.”

The examples are un-limited but the essence is the same.

The message is right clear in first lines alone of this poem of Ed Cordevilla, an excerpt of his poem-in-progress project entitled: “Ten Thousand Lines Project For World Peace.” This is an epic that is now on its 7,000 lines.

The purpose of Mr. Cordevilla is to see things with passion, give them love and emotional importance, dis-

cern deeply to see the unseen, think of what should be d o n e , and ex- p r e s s t h e m e s -

sage to m a k e m o u n -

t a i n s move to win

peace.Thus, he be-

gan with the lines “the unseen is seen in

new light, and the seen is unseen.” And when the

power to see is there, one is able to see his ironically familiar dream but he has

never seen before because it has been hidden by blinds as referred to by the word “shoul-der” that he used.

The rest of the lines put empha-sis on the same logic in order to bring to light what he meant to say.

So meditate and read this poem. Enjoy!

PRoetryeality

The unseen is seenIn new light, and the seen Is unseen, the shoulder conceals What was known, it is a dream Familiar, it is there and not thereAmong the crowd, within the rushOf blood, the pumping of the heart,In the drumming. The wing hidesThe other face of truth, and you swearYou have dreamt about it, You swear you have heard its music,Its voice, its own dream pressingAgainst your skin, there only the eyeMirroring, only the eye giving The clue of what was visibly there,And that is still there although unseen.The same principle applies to the desertWhere grains of sand own and hideMany of your stories, no wonderYou hear the sea in a shellBecause it remembers what is already

hidden,In metaphors you find memoriesThat remember you.

The true poet must be able to writeEven in the most impossible of circum-

stanceAs poems happen anywhere everywhere,The capturer of that essence needsTo shape-shift like water, to be liquid,To mirror that condition, to be involvedAnd yet distant, to be within and without,To be the experiencer and the documenter,To be the opinion of eternity.

The true poet must be the meaningAnd the meaning-maker, the utteranceAnd the speaker, he or she must be Both master and servant of the word.

To capture the speed of lightIn one’s palm and shape light into a word,

PoeticTo give breath and voice,To give flesh even and allow it to mingleAmong the crowd, and even with eyes closedPin-point its location in the great mapOf existence, order its directionAnd to follow it as well,To let it walk in and out of the page,To make it dine with the godsAnd converse with the damned.

The true poet needs to be the poetOf poets, as a poem should be the threshold of consciousness,It should also be the walker, the traveler, As a poem is an adventure it must also beThe adventurer, this much the poetShould perform through this sacred art of utterance,This much the true poet must accomplish,To be the angel and the envy of angels,To be mortal and immortal,To be able to capture the light of joyIn one’s palm and turn it into a word;While allowing it to walk among the crowd,To be able to say without saying,To be able to untell without telling,To be able to kill the assassin With the precision of life,To be able to give lifeBy daring and summoning death, the true poetHas to perform these deedsIn the stillness of a roomOr amidst the chaos of desert war,The true poet is the logicOf the world’s survival,From his or her pen flowsThe truest essence of living.

The act of writing a poem is as sacredAs going and worshipping in a church,For every single line in a poemIs a triumph of the world’s humanity,And every single poem victory for the human spirit,It is therefore truth and fact

That poetry assures the universe of its integrity,

Despite the changing times poetry holdsCertain principles of existence that will

never Change till forever, as a petal reminds The beholder that life performs her miraclesEven when no one’s lookingOr even when the one staringDoes not really see.

Such is poetry, she happensBecause she’s meant to happen,She is deeply rooted in the tectonicPlates of consciousness, and when she

movesHow she moves, and on that train of historyThe poet recites her, so that men and

machineDon’t miss the essence of their next stop.How the heart that loves shall prevail over

history,How the soul that embodies livingShall wield the grace that is kind to many.

Who creates the secret codes of the uni-verse

And who is tasked to decipher them?The poetic spirit bends metalsAnd explores universes far beyond the ho-

rizonOf the naked eye. Reason follows its path,Not the other way around. A single poetic Utterance is always man’s first step Over the moon, the Poetic advancesCivilization into the light of courage and

knowledge,Deeper into the unknown, deeper intoThe tunnel of spiritual metaphors and

eventual intellectualComprehension, man’s destiny storedIn the dark, with civilization armedWith the flashlight of the Poetic.

Edwin Cordevilla