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NEWS
www.hello-philippines.com
August 2014 – No. 15 • UK & Europe Edition
Carpio joins Sereno in blocking Jardeleza’s nomination for SC justice post MANILA - Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal-Sereno and Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio have joined together in blocking the nomination of Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (SC). This was revealed in the petition for certiorari and mandamus of Jardeleza filed before the SC on July 11, 2014. It was Justice Secretary Leila De Lima who acted as the “whistleblower” that Carpio appeared before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to object on Jardeleza’s nomination. De Lima disclosed this fact with Jardeleza that Carpio testified against the Solgen on the issue of West Philippine Sea because the position of the Solgen is allegedly least favorable to the country on its plan for a joint exploration with China. De Lima is the ex-officio member of the JBC and an ally of Jardeleza being a former law partner of the Solgen.
“Department of Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima informed him (Jardeleza) that Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio appeared before the JBC and testified against him,” the petition said. Carpio and Jardeleza were classmates at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law. Jardeleza landed 3rd place in the 1974 Bar Examinations while Carpio landed 6th place during the 1975 Bar Examinations. Carpio graduated one year late due to his involvement in a fraternity war. The SC has ordered Sereno and the JBC to explain the alleged “railroading” of Jardeleza’s nomination for the lone vacancy in the SC. During the regular en banc session, Sereno inhibited herself from the deliberations since she is the main respondent to the case. Sereno and Carpio are the main oppositors in the nomination of Jardeleza which forced the JBC not to include his
name in the shortlist of nominees despite garnering the required majority votes. In his petition for certiorari and mandamus with application for a temporary restraining order (TRO), Jardeleza asked the SC “to declare Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno and the JBC “as having acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in not including [him] in the shortlist of nominees transmitted to the President on June 30, 2014.” He also urged the SC to “direct the JBC to include him in the shortlist of nominess for SC Associate Justice vice Justice Roberto A. Abad.” Abad reached the compulsory retirement age of 72 last May 22. Likewise, Jardeleza also sought a TRO, “ordering the President, through Executive Sec. Paquito N. Ochoa, Jr., to desist from appointing an Associate Justice [vice Justice Abad], pending determination of the merits of the case.”
The JBC, chaired by Sereno, had submitted four names in the shortlist to the Office of the President (OP) namely: Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Jose Reyes and Apolinario Bruselas, Jr., each topping the votes, coming in second is Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan and Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC)
Judge Rogelio Daway with four votes like Jardeleza. The JBC had indicated that while one nominee has garnered majority of the vote, the said nominee’s name was not included in the shortlist because of the invocation of Rule 10, Section 2, of the JBC rules. ■ Perfecto T. Raymundo / Philippines News Agency / July 28, 2014 / 1:35 AM
No augmentation to landowners’ compensation - DAR MANILA - The Department of Agrarian Reform reiterated Monday that no funds outside of what was appropriated by Congress were added to the fund which government uses to pay the cash portion of the compensation to landowners. DAR Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes explained that Congress appropriated a total of P7.932 billion for landowners’ compensation for the years 2010 and 2011, under the 2010 and 2011 General Appropriations Acts, respectively. A Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) for the said amount was released to the Land Bank on October 4, 2011. Of the total amount, the release of P5.4 billion was facilitated through DAP and correspondingly released to the Land Bank as part of the government’s disbursement strategy. Paying the landowners for lands acquired for distribution, in this case out of the P7.932 billion, was mandated not only by the law (R.A. No. 6657, as amended) but also by the Constitution, said the DAR. “Some groups are trying to make it appear that this is the first time that the government is paying landowners. It is not. The DAR has been paying landowners for lands it acquired for distribution under its agrarian reform program for more than thirty years”, de los Reyes said. Secretary de los Reyes explained last week that although an amount was indicated for landowners’ compensation in
File photo of Hacienda Luisita farmers protesting outside the Times Street home of the Aquinos in Quezon City.
the list of DAP-Identified Projects, this item was included in the list only because it was part of the government’s disbursement strategy. However, he pointed out that there was no augmentation of the funds facilitated through the DAP for the said purpose. He clarified that the entire amount released through the NCA (cash)—a part of which was released through the DAP strategy— were appropriated by the Congress under the 2010 and 2011 General Appropriations Acts (GAA). No contradiction with DBM. The DAR also belied statements that it contradicted the explanation of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on the release
of cash for landowner’s compensation through the DAP. According to DAR, this actually complemented the “List of DAP-Identified Projects” published by the DBM in its website, which described the Landowners Compensation item as “5.46B indicated in the memo to the President but only indicated as cash release…”, and where the following statements were provided for as remarks: “This item was included in the DAP as part of the disbursement strategy since it only required the release of the NCA (cash). It already has an appropriation in the FY 2010 and FY 2011 GAA in the total amount of 7.932B. The cash requirement
19 civilians slain in Sulu Abu Sayyaf ambush MANILA – At least 19 civilians, most of them women, were killed and 13 others, including children, were wounded when Abu Sayyaf gunmen ambushed the vehicles they were riding in Barangay Upper Talipao in Sulu early Monday morning, the military said. The apparent target of the ambush were members of the Barangay Police Action Team “reportedly involved in a rido (clan feud)” with relatives of Abu Sayyaf members, Brigadier General Martin Pinto, commander of the 2nd Marine Brigade, said in an earlier phone interview. Initially, Pinto said 16 had been killed,
including children in the ambush that happened around 8:30 a.m. The Armed Forces of the Philippines public information office later updated the death toll and clarified the initial reports about the fatalities. It said the ambush was carried out by around 50 gunmen led by Indang Susukan and Sibih Pisih on “a convoy of 40 civilians and 10 barangay police aboard two public utility jeepneys.” Pinto said troops have mounted pursuit operations against the gunmen while the bodies of the dead have been returned to their families.
“We’re still in (coordination) with the barangay officials and also with the mayor and vice mayor. We’re assisting them in securing the families of the victims and bringing the wounded to the hospital,” Pinto said. ■ Jaime Sinapit / InterAksyon.com / July 28, 2014 2:01 PM
was released on October 4, 2011 to beef up disbursement alongside disbursements under DAP.” The Department emphasized that the fund for landowners compensation was validly appropriated and allotted under the 2010 and 2011 GAAs; with the actual cash release of a portion of the amount merely facilitated through the DAP. DAR reiterated that it was the Supreme Court decision on the case of Apo Fruits Corporation and Hijo Plantation, Inc. vs Land Bank of the Philippines in April 2011 which prompted the Land Bank to seek the immediate release of the cash appropriated for landowners compensation. Militants’ claim: DAP approval driven by Hda. Luisita compensation. “We must also remember that the Supreme Court had not yet decided with finality the Hacienda Luisita case when the acceleration of the cash release for landowners compensation was approved in 2011,” said DAR Undersecretary Anthony N. Paruñgao in refuting statements that the DAP was approved to pay Hacienda Luisita, Incorporated. The Supreme Court decision in the Hacienda Luisita case became final only in April 2012, six months after the NCA for the landowners compensation was released to the Land Bank. “HLI is just one of the more than 4,000 landowners who were paid just compensation from the Agrarian Reform Fund which was partially funded through the DAP strategy”, added Paruñgao. “Let me add that if there are groups who believe that the Land Bank has made a mistake in its appraisal of the just compensation of the HLI, the proper forum to question this amount is the DAR Adjudication Board or the special agrarian courts (Regional Trial Court).”, Undersecretary Paruñgao stressed. The DAR officials were reacting to Sunday’s statements by militant group leaders and party-list representatives that the family of President Aquino became among the main beneficiaries of the DAP even before their clan-owned Hacienda Luisita has yet to be distributed to farmer beneficiaries.
Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate said this on the eve of endorsing an impeachment complaint against Aquino by concerned individuals and members of several people’s organizations. Colmenares said DAR had admitted that in October 2011, a Notice of Cash Allocation in the amount of P7.932 billion, corresponding to appropriations in the General Appropriations Act of both 2010 and 2011, was released to the Landbank. Included in the released amount was P5.432 billion, which the DBM later admitted was released through the DAP, as part of its disbursement strategy, said Colmenares. Surprisingly, added the party-list solon, DAR Secretary de los Reyes claimed that the P5.432 billion “was not an augmentation of the fund for Landowners Compensation” and that the “entire P7.932 billion corresponds to the 2010 and 2011 appropriation for Landowners Compensation in the GAA for those years,” “Which is which now? The DBM claimed that DAP-released funds is an augmentation. Yet, Sec. De los Reyes is now saying that what his department received is not an augmentation but a part of appropriations under the General Appropriations Act (GAA). If so, why did the amount of P5.432 billion come from DAP and not from the National Treasury?” asked Colmenares. Rep. Zarate meanwhile said that “it is obvious now that that compensation for the landlords, including the AquinoCojuangco owned Hacienda Luisita, is a major beneficiary of the DAP. This adds insult to the farmers’ situation, who have had their crops destroyed, and have been monitored, harassed and killed at the hand of the military and police operating in the area. The support services for farmerbeneficiaries has even been slashed by P475 million. It is also clear that the Aquino administration has an overwhelming bias for landlords and utter disregard for farmers.” ■ InterAksyon.com / July 21, 2014 / 6:18 PM