How much of me am I willing to reveal? How much do you want me to?

Of discrimination and ethics

1,975 OFWs ASK SUPREME COURT TO RENDER DECISION ON THEIR PETITION BEFORE RETIREMENT OF CHIEF JUSTICE PANGANIBAN

By MOMOY CARDENAS

The leaders of the 1,975 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and awardees in the decision promulgated on Dec.3, 2002 by the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) appealed yesterday to the Supreme Court, First Division, to render final decision in G.R. No. 168923, entitled Bienvenido M. Cadalin, et al., vs. Court of Appeals, et al, even as they reiterated that the defendant Kellog-Brown and Root had expressed willingness to pay immediately after a favorable Supreme Court decision.

In the last motion to admit additional submission on May 8, 2006, the petitioners stressed the conclusive admission of their American employer, the Kellog-Brown and Root thru their lawyers, the Godwin-Gruber law firm based in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., that the said employer will certainly abide by the final decision of the Supreme Court of the Philippines regarding this matter, among other admissions in the various documents attached to said motion submitted to the Supreme Court.

We consider the affirmation by the Supreme Court of our previous NLRC December 3, 2002 victory as an early Christmas gift before the retirement on Dec. 7, 2006 of Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban. whom we acknowledge as a model public servant and a world champion of human and economic rights, honor and dignity of the Filipino people, said the 1,975 OFWs.

In their last letters in Pilipino entitled "Huling Liham and Panawagan" personally delivered to Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban on Nov. 28 and 29, 2006, respectively, more than 100 OFWs expressed their gratitude for the grant of due course resolution last June 07, 2006 issued by the Supreme Court.

The twin letters were signed by petitioners Claudio A. Modesto, Jr., Antonio C. Yabut, Arturo A. Poblete, the wives of Rodolfo C. Mana, Domingo O. Villahermosa, Pedro C. Constantino, Olegario B. Francisco, Numeriano San Mateo, Artemio Basmayor, Romulo Balbieran, Edgardo H. Romales and many others.

The long, tortuous journey for the past 22 years - from 1984 to 2006 - to secure justice and compensation for all the marginalized and poor 1,975 OFWs and similarly situated workers has now reached the final race. The OFWs, billed as the modern-day heroes or Bagong Bayani due to their supreme sacrifices to fight poverty in foreign lands for their families and the country to earn the precious foreign exchange remittances to lift Philippine economy, have found salvation through the twin beacons of Liberty and Prosperity, the last book authored by Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban.

Court records showed that the NLRC has awarded more than US$609 million in back wages, damages, discrimination pay, hazard pay, retirement pay, plus 12 percent interest payments, among other awarded money claims. The 2,123 OFWs were hired and employed by Brown & Root International, Inc. (now Kellog-Brown and Root) in their overseas projects in the Middle East, like Bahrain and United Arab Emirates from 1976 to the 1990s. Many of them worked also in Vietnam during the war between North and South Vietnam in the 1960s before their overseas employment in Bahrain and the U.A.E.

Kellog-Brown and Root is an associated company of the Halliburton Group of Companies based in Houston, Texas, USA, the multinational giant where Vice President Richard "Dick" Cheney was the chief executive officer (CEO) for five years. Public records showed that Cheney received at least US$30 million retirement pay and other stock options when he retired from Halliburton Group.

In their petition filed on August 3, 2006, which was given due course by the Supreme Court, the impleaded petitioners assailed the previous decision and resolution of the Court of Appeals which both reversed and set aside the NLRC Decision of December 03, 2002 granting the US$609 million plus awards to all the 1,975 OFWs and awardees.

The said NLRC decision became final and executory judgment when the private respondents/employers grossly failed to comply with the jurisdictional requirements for the perfection of appeal and the posting of supersedeas bond of the actual awards granted by the NLRC.

The modern-day heroes and petitioners argued in their many pleadings, thru their lawyer Gerardo del Mundo, that the Supreme Court shall be the ultimate protectors of all OFWs in dangerous countries of employment, particularly in war-torn country of Iraq, by the promulgation of precedents on hazard pay, equal pay, discrimination pay, moral and exemplary damages among other safety nets against terrorism and suicide bombings which killed tens of thousands in Iraq.

Kellog-Brown and Root employs, at present, 7,000 OFWs in various military camps in Iraq like Camp Victory, Camp Glory, Camp Dragon and Camp Cooke, the last being the employment site where more than 300 OFWs and 500 Sri Lankans, Indians and other nationalities, went on mass strike last May 2005 due to very poor living and working conditions.

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And so goes my dad's article due for release tomorrow in the Manila Bulletin. But what this article doesn't state are the actions of Kellog, Brown and Root's Filipino lawyers representing them in the Philippines. For the 22 years that the aforementioned case have been lodged in Philippine courts for charges of discrimination and abuse, the actuations of the Romulo-Magbanta law firm in stopping Kellog, Brown and Root from finally releasing the cost for damages indeed need to be cast with a doubtful and suspicious eye.

For why would a law firm, or its representative lawyers for that matter, stop its client from its willingness to settle its criminal and civil obligations? Could it possibly be surmised that these lawyers are still acting within the ambit of the Code of Professional Responsibility that states that lawyers should defend the best interests of their clients? Or do we smell the end for the millions of dollars worth of retainer's fee these lawyers have been receiving for more than two decades from Kellog, Brown and Root?

Tsk. Tsk. To think that they, themselves, are Filipinos. I just wish that they would come clean with a convincing justification with regard to their questionable acts, as, after all, before I scream in utter disillusion over my legal ethics cases, I still would like to very much believe that these lawyers, in the discharge of their duties, could still be afforded the privilege of the benefit of the doubt.

9-11: All in a day's work

While I was lazily forcing myself to finish the layout project dad gave me, the National Geographic Channel's special documentary on 9-11 hit me: It's been almost five years since dad and I stayed awake the whole night to monitor what had been going on at the World Trade Center.

During that time I was preparing for an exam and I recalled stopping in my tracks as I was overcome by excitement over what was unfolding right before my very eyes through CNN's coverage. I had no idea or personal realization of the gargantuan impact even as dad and I caught on CNN, live, the second plane that ran smack through the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

I had no idea, definitely no idea, that I would be caught with so much emotion over what happened almost five years ago.

Direct victims and their families, including people living in the United States, I know, would be shocked at this admission of the indifference I felt during that time. God knew I did try to empathize. I prayed until I could I pray no more. But no personal significance, no personal realization hit me even as I continuously read and heard news after news, stories after stories, days, weeks, months, years after the tragedy that forever scarred American history.

Then again, it's never really too late is it? It's never really too late for a seemingly ordinary documentary of a cable channel to touch lives, lives like mine that really had no idea.

Two months ago, the building where I used to work at held a fire drill. My office was at the 32nd floor and the building had 41 floors, less than half the number of floors the Twin Towers had. I remembered complaining incessantly over what the local city firemen instructed us to do. They had us descend the building through the emergency stairwell, all 32 floors. I wasn't able to go to work the next day due to leg pains. In my blog I posted: "The drill procedure was so wrong. They (the firemen) should have instructed us to go up, not to go down as we are closer to the rooftop. My officemate was right in recalling what happened at the World Trade Center. Had our building also collapsed, those at the rooftop would be the first ones to get dugged out."

Though I still maintain that our local city firemen would have committed a fatal error had there been a real disaster and considering that the entire drill was, but naturally, scripted, I know now that it's really more than that.

Over my efforts not to slip as I was carefully descending the stairwell in my new pair of stilettos, people at the World Trade Center, five years ago, cared less if they were to slip or get their bodies bruised so long as they could get out of the buildings.

Over my complains of feeling faint due to the heat at the emergency exit, direct victims at the World Trade Center were breaking glass, scrambling for fresh air, even as it stung them, just to get temporary relief from their burned and bruised bodies.

Over my excuses of suffering from leg pain from the very time I descended the 32nd floor stairwell to the time I woke up the next day, hundreds, thousands of people from the 89th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center were not minding anymore any body pain they're feeling just so they could speed their way down.

Over my exchange of jokes with my officemates and other building tenants and smug remarks about our local firemen while descending the building, no fireman, no police, no unnamed and faceless hero who ascended the twin towers of inferno while bumping into people who had nothing else in mind but to go down smiled and said everything's gonna be okay. They knew the stark reality they were all facing. It was not okay. Even if they lived right after, it would never be okay, for them, for their family, for the people who loved them. It was all but in a day's work. It's a tall order. But they had a deadline. A DEADline looming on them, fast.

Hearing the accounts of people who managed to survive and at the same time seeing the documentary of the National Geographic Channel really had me almost breaking into tears. Realization of the magnitude finally hit me. As one male survivor, a bank executive at the South Tower, if I was not mistaken, narrated how building staff assured them that they need not panic and that they could go back to work as the tragedy was only at the North Tower, I could not help but have tons of emotions suddenly rushing and pouring out of me. Had I been in that situation, I would not go back to work as I would have known instantly that I had every reason to panic. And that's just not my intuition talking. Maybe I would have gone into an argument with the building staff over the urgency and severity of the situation of the building just right beside us. Maybe I would have made my officemates and other building tenants realize that I was not just being my usual me, panic-stricken and a scaredy-cat; that there really was cause to fear for our lives. Maybe I would have given cause for my brain cells to finally work as I debated on whether or not I should save my other personal belongings and help others at the same time. Maybe I would have thought of my parents and my other loved ones and instantly call them to both ask for help and at the same time assure them that I would be okay. Maybe I would have sent text messages after text messages to friends in a horrifying adrenaline of excitement that I was in the middle of it all, at Ground Zero.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

"Dad, I think the hijackers are going to crash the plane into a building or something. DON'T WORRY. IT WOULD JUST BE FAST."

Fast. All in a day's work. Somehow, some way, it's all in a day's work, with deadlines to finish and roles to play whether these people desired it or not. Per force, one surrendered to the fate of having the position of the victim. Per force, one accepted the principle of martyrdom for Allah and took the initiative of accomplishing his suicidal task for the position of hijacker and terrorist.

In A Parallel Universe When The President Is Overthrown: A Proposed Constitutional Amendment

For our final exam in Constitution I, our prof, who is questionably merciful (?) when he released our block's final grade, asked us to propose a constitutional amendment and I quote: "Suppose you are a member of a Constitutional Commission created by a revolutionary council that had just recently ousted the present government with instructions to write a charter that will truly respond to the needs and problems of the Filipino people."

Just in case you'd like to blame him for what I've chosen to write, just take note of the following clues: He's one of the younger profs in UP Law who topped the bar in the past five years or so and his undergrad was from UST. Hehehe.

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A Proposal Amending Section 4, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution

The ouster of the Arroyo government (2001-2004, 2005) and the events that preceded thereof called for please from the different sectors of society to amend the present Constitution, which is, after 18 years in existence, not fool proof after all against abusive officials led by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who could be distinctly remembered as running for the 2004 Presidential Elections after having succeeded another ousted President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

For such reason, it is deemed best to start the amendment of the Constitution in the provision covering the term of the President.

Section 4 (1) of Article VII (Executive Department) is read as follows:

“The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date six years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any reelection. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time.”

Said provision was included in the 1987 Constitution after the ouster of dictator and former President Ferdinand Marcos. It could be remembered that he served for a total of 21 years until his ouster through the first EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986. It should be noted that when Marcos assumed the presidency in 1965, he was under the provisions of 1935 Constitution which provides, under Section 5 of Article VII (Executive Department) that “no person shall serve for more than eight consecutive years”. Marcos clearly intended to serve more than the allowed time and for that reason, imposed Martial Law in 1972 and a year after, replaced the 1935 Constitution with the 1973 Constitution. Such move extended his term of office which should have ended in 1973. Furthermore, the people were removed of the right to suffrage as, in the 1973 Constitution, it was provided that the President shall be elected from among the Members of the National Assembly by a majority vote of all its Members. Note that these assemblymen were just puppet legislators during the Martial Law era.

The framers of the 1987 Constitution, with the obvious intent of never letting such event in history happen again, provided for a six year Presidential term with no reelection. However, the seemingly innocent last sentence of the first paragraph of Section 4 of Article VII provided Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a loophole to circumvent the law.

Arroyo was remembered for her Rizal Day statement that she would not run for the Presidency after having served as successor for the remaining four years of ousted Estrada. Notwithstanding questions of constitutionality regarding the involvement of the Judiciary in Arroyo’s oathtaking during the second EDSA People Power Revolution, she justified her acts, remained in the Palace and thereafter broke her promise not to run for the 2004 Elections to further extend her stay.

After her election, amid calls from the opposition that she should resign because of allegations of impeachable offenses, she went on proposing for reconciliation through a change of the system of government from Presidential to Parliamentary and a consequent amendment of the 1987 Constitution. Many people believed that this was just a ploy, a circumvention of the law, to once again extend her stay in Malacañang.

With the suppression of the freedom of speech through illegal arrests of protesters and rallyists and the killing of the impeachment trial through the cohorts of the Administration in Congress, people feared an impending declaration of Martial Law, an alternative scenario that gives the President, through the approval of Congress, the reason to extend her stay in Malacañang.

For this, I am proposing the amendment of Section 4 of Article VII.

Section 4 of Article VII (Executive Department) shall be amended as follows:

“Section 4. The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by direct vote of the people for a term of six years which shall begin at noon on the thirtieth day of June next following the day of the election and shall end at noon of the same date six years thereafter. The President shall not be eligible for any reelection. No person who has succeeded as President within the six-year term or whether the remainder of the term is four years or one day, shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time in order to avoid the abuse of the newly-assumed President in using his vast powers and authority to ensure his election to the presidency.

“In the event the Vice-President wishes to run for the presidency in order to serve for a full six-year term in the next presidential election, he shall waive his right to succeed as President, and let the Senate President assume the presidency.”

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Given such amendment, any successor to the presidency will be prevented from abusing the powers given to the President. It should be remembered that regardless of the nature of ascent to the presidency, the elected or the successor enjoys the same rights and privileges. Under the 1987 Constitution, a successor, even if he serves only for one day as President, may possibly abuse his authority and declare Martial Law, a worst-case scenario, that as mentioned earlier, gives the abusive President a reason to wallow in Palace.

Kung Ang Buhay Ay Parang Legally Blonde: On Congress Impeachment Proceedings (A Sequel to "An Utterly Bad Habit")

I wrote this piece during the height of the impeachment proceedings. My stint as legal researcher for Laguna 2nd District Congressman Justin "Timmy" Chipeco of the opposition opened my already passive and apathetic thoughts on anything that concerns politics. The reader would notice a stark difference from my previous article previously posted in this archive. Better late than never. The pseudo-dictator's days are numbered. Read on:

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I went to law school with no motivation whatsoever but a film called Legally Blonde. Sa tingin ng karamihan, Elle Woods is nothing but "a dumb blonde who feasts on daddy's plastic", sabi nga ng isang mapangmatang saleslady sa part 1. Being the heroine, of course we viewers expected more of her. She was a freshman and by technicality, she became a student attorney, who, by a stroke of luck, won a case.

In part 2 she got fired for believing in something outrageous. She nevertheless bravely showed that she has to be heard. Isang parang napakasimple at para ring napakawalang kwentang bagay, she successfully drafted into a bill amidst challenges of people pulling her down. And of course, like in part 1, with the help of luck on her side, she was able to charm her way into getting the number of votes she needed to win.

Pero ang hirap palang magpretend na ikaw si Elle Woods at ang buhay ay parang Legally Blonde. May Emmett nga ako pero nasa kabilang law school at commitment phobic siya unlike Elle's beau. Napanood natin si Elle na nagbabasa ng deposition ng cases ng 20x! E yung mga reading assignments nga, hindi pa umaabot sa 70% ang natatapos ko at laging kailangan kong magdasal para hindi ako matawag.

Sa ngayon, nagtatrabaho ako sa House of Representatives. At lalong akala ko, nag-increase ang feeling ko na Legally Blonde ang buhay, except for the technicality na dark brown ang kulay ng buhok ko. At ito na nga ang kaso ni President Gloria Arroyo. Everybody knows three impeachment complaints were sent and verified to the House Secretary-General so she could be tried for mainly for an impeachable offense - violation of public trust.

In the past, I was apathetic to such proceedings. Hanggang salita lang ako. Ang emosyon ko lang ang pinanghahawakan ko kapag nakikipagdebate ako. Pero ngayon, iba ang feeling. Iba talaga pag nalalaman mo ang batas. Iba talaga kapag alam mo na literally and technically involved ka most especially sa impeachment proceeding.

While monitoring the hearings in the Plenary Hall, I took note of the issues. Chronologically, ang issue na pinagdebatehan ay una, when is an impeachment initiated? Hindi ba malinaw sa Constitution, correct me if I’m wrong, that the one-year bar refers to the impeachment proceeding which is initiated when the complaint is endorsed and referred to the Justice Committee?

Second issue, kung alin talaga ang naunang tanggapin ng Secretary General. One pro-impeachment congressman thought it very much absurd that on that fateful day of July 25, impeachment endorsers would camp out of the Secretary-General's office just to make sure their version will be the one to be deliberated on.

And third issue, does the amended complaint supercede the original? My Crim prof, Ibarra Gutierrez III, who happens to be one of the legal counsels of the amended Lozano complaint, explained that according to the Rules of Court, the amended can, indeed, replace or substitute for the original. Anyway, it is the same Atty. Lozano of UP who is the author and main petitioner of such complaint. Dinagdagan lang ng ground which is considered to be not in conflict with the original grounds; that, in fact, the three impeachment complaints could be consolidated.

While typing this, hindi pa rin tapos ang botohan sa Kongreso. 40+ pa lang ang bumoboto against the Committee on Justice report. Nakakarindi na ang pinagsasabi ng magkabilang panig. Paulit-ulit, wala namang nakikinig.

Again in the past and in the most recent past which includes news of the Hello Garci tapes, I normally would have supported Gloria Arroyo simply due to the fact that I believed she deserved a chance. She was the best, at least for me.

Now I think and firmly feel and believe she deserves a day in court. Most recently, when the pro-impeachment bloc convened for a symposium in College of Public Administration, I asked the congressmen present, namely Congressmen Sonny Angara, Rolex Suplico and Justin Chipeco (my boss), that since their voices were being suppressed by the Justice Committee led by its very biased Chairman Simeon Datumanong and since parliamentary procedure rules were being violated (I should know, I took the subject parliamentary procedure as a Speech Communication undergrad), why shouldn't they take the case to the Supreme Court for grave abuse of discretion on the part of said committee. My boss and Suplico reacted as if it was something they have never thought of. Unfortunately, Angara, who responded to my question answered flatly that it was a political question and that Supreme Court will never deal with it. Sayang, I thought. UP Law graduate pa naman siya. Hindi ba sa UP, itinuturo ng mga Constitution professors na in many Supreme Court cases, the justices upheld their jurisdiction over certain cases if, according to Sec. 1, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, there exists what amounts to grave abuse of discretion? And kagabi, habang tuwang-tuwa akong barado to the point na napapaamin sa sariling flaws sina Congressmen Datumanong and Villafuerte kay Chiz Escudero, nagsalita si Cayetano. And I heard the very words I explained in the symposium...Stroke of luck? Maybe. But not quite.

As of 1:17 pm, the vote is 140-43 in favor of those who support the Justice Committee report.

How ironic isn't it? Justice Committee...Justice...asan ang hustisya? Will we just accept that these congressmen are clearly twisted in words and deeds? They owe to us, their constituents, their days of corruption in Congress. They must pay their dues now and as soon as possible.

An Utterly Bad Habit (On PGMA's resignation call)

It's a vicious cycle, an irrepresible bad habit that has become a neverending dilemma for the Philippines.

I've witnessed two "legitimate" People Power Revolutions that ousted presidents-cum-criminals. I was barely two years old in 1986 but I could clearly recall how different I felt that time. My dad carried me on his shoulders and together with my mom, we walked from our house in Boni to where Robinsons Galleria now stands. In the same place in 2001 was where I literally rubbed shoulders with prominent personalities. A sweaty JoeCon was pushing his way towards the stage. But I didn't care. Erap had resigned. Or so all of us thought. The Supreme Court justices went to EDSA in haste (and later had to justify their actions) to swear in Gloria Arroyo that very day. I felt like I was contributing something to history. I was part of history.

But now the novelty has worn out.

Barely five years after EDSA 2, the people are back in the streets. But not in flyover-dotted EDSA. Ayala Avenue, the prestigious business district in the country where restless investors are huddled, is, as I'm writing this, littered with people from all walks of life  -  actors, communists, politicians, student groups, activists, trade union groups, even those whose locus standi is nothing but a crisp P100 promised if they would just call for Gloria to resign.

I couldn't care less. I have become indifferent. Maybe it was out of irritation that for this hell of a week alone, I've attempted, three times, to redeem myself in my evening law classes in UP Diliman only to find out, after spending P30 and two hours in a bus with dusty airconditioning, that our classes were suspended. Maybe it was out of extreme despair that I'm spending my dad's hard-earned money to go to Diliman from my boarding house in Buendia only to return like a loser in a battle (I'm not encouraging apathy but look at how much time is wasted by these people who could just be spending their time at work. Nandamay pa sila sa mga gustong magtrabaho na walang magawa dahil they were dismissed early).

I am apathetic, my indifference caused by my disappointment in a country whose president should be upholding the truth and not protecting her vested interests.

I am indifferent, my apathy caused by utter dismay at politicians who should be the very first ones to encourage constitutional means of providing solutions to problems but who are, instead, making a Mt. Everest out of a Mt. Apo thereby causing miscommunication and dissemination of misrepresented details of truth among their manipulated and cajoled constituents.

Still I care.

I care for how this country will be represented on the time that I among those who carves its image  -  whether or not the international community, yes, the global village, will detest it or look up to it.

The latter being obviously what I am in favor of.

I still care because I still believe that someday, I'll join once again a mass rally with the same feeling I had when I was two and proud.