In Legal Terms
Tried and Tested
February 25, 2023
LAST year, Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. was appointed as secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. could not have chosen a better person for that sensitive portfolio. At age 60, Benhur has shown that he is a public servant par excellence; he gives politicians a good name.
Balloons over Marawi and Mayon
February 18, 2023
IN 1783, the brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier wowed the crowd gathered at Annonay, France with their invention. A year before, they had discovered that when heated air is collected inside a fabric bag, it causes the bag to rise: They invented the hot air balloon.
Why I Write
February 11, 2023
IN Greek mythology, there were three aged and unsmiling women who ruled one’s life. They hardly ever changed their prophecies. Not even Zeus could make them modify their iron-willed resolve. They were the three Fates, also goddesses, whose purpose was to determine what happens to a person from cradle to grave. Clotho, the spinner, spun the thread of fate; Lachesis determined its length and Atropos cut the thread which was a human being’s moment of death.
The Supreme Court in Terra cognita
February 3, 2023
LAST Friday, Dean Perry Pe invited me to dinner at Raffles Hotel which I gladly accepted because the guest speaker was Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, a man of humble beginnings who worked hard to pay for his own education. The event was organized by Tony Lopez and the Manila Overseas Press Club.
A Monumental failure of memory
January 27, 2023
MONUMENTS are tributes to people who have done us great good. Historical markers are attached to structures to remind us of decisive events that occurred in a certain place, like a mountain pass where a gallant battle was fought, the birthplaces of heroes, or where they gloriously offered their lives for love of country. Monuments and historical markers should honor those who tried to save us, but never those who wanted to destroy us.
When “lawyers” become illegal
January 21, 2023
A FRIEND of mine consulted me about a problem: For several months, he was consulting a “lawyer” who turned out not to be a lawyer at all. To make matters worse, he was conducting his business on the basis of the impostor’s advice.
Klepto Currency
January 14, 2023
THEY used to say that cryptocurrency is the wave of the future and that your block chained account will be well protected by a system of unbreakable codes. Your money, which will be converted into cryptocurrency, will be backed by an anonymous CEO (chief executive officer) operating the “banking system.” There is no need for any law or regulation to protect the public.
Why the Philippine Navy is the most powerful navy in the world
January 7, 2023
YOU got me right. The Philippines is not only the richest Catholic country in Southeast Asia (because we are the only Catholic country in Southeast Asia), our navy is also the most powerful blue water navy on the planet.
Santa in the Hot Zone
December 31, 2022
LONG before the war in Ukraine, I went to a place nearest to the North Pole together with my classmate Perry Pe and a few bosom friends. The North Pole as you know is the bailiwick of Santa Claus, the kingpin of Christmas mornings, even in a country as hot, as humid and as sultry as our sweltering republic.
Keeping and Breaking the Faith
December 24, 2022
PACTA sunt servanda is a brocard which in English means “agreements must be kept.” It is a maxim or rule which states that the provisions of treaties should be honored, that “every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good faith.”