The Philippine Supreme Court recently decided that the Ombudsman can remove corrupt officials (within the executive bureaucracy) directly, on its own initiative. That’s frankly a startling new power to just “discover” so many years after the Ombudsman Office began operations. It also potentially makes the Ombudsman a much more powerful player. Interestingly, this decision was penned by Justice Antonio Carpio, notably one not sympathetic to Arroyo (he swore Aquino in). Thus, the Ombudsman could become a powerful too in the Aquino campaign to clean up the bureaucracy of corrupt Arroyo appointees – assuming he’s serious about following through on his pledges. You can read more about the case here.
Category Archives: Philippines
Copycat Court
When comparative constitutional law scholars talk about “borrowing” foreign jurisprudence, I don’t think they meant plagiarizing foreign sources.
The case in question, Isabelita Vinuya of Malaya Lolas Organization vs. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, rejected the claims of 70 Filipino “comfort women”for reparations for sexual abuse suffered during World War II. The decision, written by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, found that prohibitions against sexual slavery and torture did not constitute jus cogens norms.
However, according to Philippine law professor Harry Roque, Justice del Castillo lifted parts of several American law review articles, particularly A Fiduciary Theory of Jus Cogens by Ivan Criddle and Evan Fox-Descent. Roque and others have filed a motion for a reconsideration of the case. For his part, according to his comments on the Opinio Juris blog (see the first comment), Prof. Criddle seemed most troubled that his article was cited in order imply that sexual slavery and torture do not fall under jus cogens.
The Supreme Court is forwarding the allegations to the new 6-justice ethics committee, created late in Chief Justice Puno’s term. This will be the first case before the committee regarding another justice’s conduct. As such, it could be an interesting test case to see whether the new committee has teeth and will clear up some of the problems discussed in Shadow of Doubt.
Comments Off on Copycat Court
Filed under Philippines, Supreme Court
More on Philippine executive-judicial relations
It seems the Aquino administration has begun its term in office not by trashing the judiciary, but trying to tell it what to do. In two recent incidents, the executive has been accused of asking the judiciary to deal with certain cases in a certain way. In many legal systems, this comes dangerously close to ex parte communication.
The first case involves the Aquino family plantation Hacienda Luisita. According to Newsbreak, Supreme Court Chief Justice Corona met with President Aquino’s uncle, Jose “Peping” Cojuangco. It’s not clear what actually happened or if the meeting even took place, but it seems clear that the case will be worth watching.
The second case is a retrial of the alleged Maguindanao massacre perpetrators. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima warned that if the Regional Trial Court did not move to resume the case (after the defendants filed an array of procedural motions), than she would file a motion to resume the case. She said her motion would serve as a “friendly reminder” to the judge…
It seems, if anything, that the bitter acrimony during the campaign is probably going to be forgotten (or at least shelved). The administration depends too much upon the judiciary for too many important cases to attempt anything like an impeachment of the justices (something Aquino had vowed to pursue). However, if the Supreme Court rules against him in an important case, perhaps we’ll see a return of that heated rhetoric.
Comments Off on More on Philippine executive-judicial relations
Filed under Philippines
Aquino sworn in – by Justice Carpio
President Aquino was sworn in today. Notably, the justice conducting the oath of office and inaugural ceremonies was not Chief Justice Corona, but rather Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales (see right – image from PhilStar). This decision stems partly from Aquino’s strident opposition of former president Arroyo’s “midnight appointment” of the new chief justice (see here for a refresher). Aquino’s mother, Cory, was also sworn in by an associate justice, one who had taken a strong anti-Marcos stand. It’s still not clear how much of an impact this move will actually have on relations between the executive and judiciary, but it should be fascinating to watch over the coming months.
Comments Off on Aquino sworn in – by Justice Carpio
Filed under Aquino, Philippines
Witness Protection Poorly Programmed
Last week, a key witness to the Maguindanao massacre, Suwaib Upham (a.k.a. “Jesse”) was shot. This is a very worrying development. Human Rights Watch has demanded the government take action to protect other witnesses. Unfortunately, this type of crime is not unique to the Maguindanao prosecution. When I was in the Philippines in 2008 with the Asia Foundation, I had heard horror stories about the sorry state of the Philippine witness protection program. One set of witnesses was essentially “stored” at an extra office in the National Bureau of Investigations (the Philippine FBI) headquarters building. One judge said he had to hire his own bodyguards because the government could (would?) not protect him from death threats. Unfortunately, witness protection programs tend to fall by the wayside in the rule of law programs of both national and international donor. If you’re interested in these issues, I’d recommend a relatively recent book Support for Victims of Crime in Asia as an overview of different country practices.
Comments Off on Witness Protection Poorly Programmed
Filed under Philippines, witness
Dominic J. Nardi, Jr. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.