Apparently, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights had its first inaugural meeting last week and nobody noticed. Or so it seemed. Activists complained that the organization couldn’t even produce working guidelines. You can read more in the Jakarta Globe.
ASEAN human rights asleep at the wheel
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Filed under ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights
The Lighter Side: No due process for beauty queen
Every once in a while, legal institutions in Southeast Asia find themselves in bizarre situations. Last month, I blogged about an Indonesian case involving a certain “pornographic” dance. In The Lighter Side, I’ll highlight more of these odd cases – because with all the bad news about the rule of law in the region, we all need a few laughs.
First off: beauty rights abuses. According to Phil Star, the Philippine Commission on Human Rights ruled that a Filipina beauty queen was “dethroned” without due process. I kid you not…
She was “stripped” of her title when pageant organizers alleged she was not a Philippine citizen. However, it appears she is Filipina (through her mother’s side). That’s Due Process for you.
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Filed under Human Rights Commission, Philippines
More courts and elections shenanigans
The Supreme Court of the Philippines issued another controversial decision this week, one that could have important implications for congressional elections. According to Phil Star, presidential candidate Senator Benigno Aquino petitioned the Court to invalidate R.A. 9716, which creates a new congressional district in Camarines Sur. He alleged that one of the districts only had a population of 178,000 people, below the constitutional thresh hold for congressional districts. He also worried that the move was intended to benefit President Arroyo’s son, Rep. Diosdado Ignacio “Dato” Arroyo, and her ally former budget secretary Rolando Andaya, who are expected to win both seats.
The Court rejected Aquino’s by a 9-5 vote. They found that the constitution only requires 250,000 people for cities, not provinces. In fact, Chapter VI, § 5(3) of the Constitution states:
Each legislative district shall comprise, as far as practicable, contiguous, compact, and adjacent territory. Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative.
At the very least, the drafting is poor and ambiguous. However, it seems that “province” is separated from the 250,000 population requirement. Other politicians have pointed out that the provinces of Batanes, Camiguiin, Siquijor, among others, have less than 250,000 inhabitants, and yet have their own congressional districts.
The significance of this case probably isn’t in the jurisprudence or doctrine – the outcome seems like a reasonable enough interpretation. However, the decision could impact Aquino’s political standing – either striking a blow to his candidacy, or increasing his reputation as the anti-Arroyo (my guess is the latter is more likely).
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Filed under elections, Philippines, Supreme Court
Only for the Supremes
For the past two weeks, I have been discussing the controversy over judicial appointments in the Philippines. I, along with the Arroyo administration and the rest of the country, believed the Supreme Court’s decision in De Castro v. JBC created an exception to the 1987 Constitution‘s prohibition on “midnight appointments” for all judicial appointments. However, yesterday, according to the Philippine Inquirer, the Supreme Court clarified that its ruling was restricted to Supreme Court appointments and did not necessarily allow the president to appoint lower court judges. This certainly isn’t obvious from reading the case itself (which generally refers to the “Judiciary”). In fact, much of the court’s reasoning seemed based upon distinguishing the Judiciary from the Executive. I wonder if the Supreme Court is backtracking due to the public backlash. It would make sense strategically to widen the scope of the Supreme Court’s powers and ability to get a Chief Justice, while limiting the presidency’s powers – especially when Aquino’s lead in the latest SWS polls has widened.
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Filed under Philippines, Supreme Court
Rule of Law as biggest deterrent to U.S.-Indonesia ties
In a recent talk at CSIS, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke cited the rule of law as the biggest deterrent to U.S.-Indonesia trade. This suggests that rule of law technical assistance might be part of the Comprehensive Partnership that I blogged about a few weeks ago. Watch his speech here (the rule of law comment is about 34 minutes in).
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Filed under indonesia
Dominic J. Nardi, Jr. 
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