By Raïssa Robles
When I wrote Marcos Martial Law: Never Again I wanted to warn future generations of the danger of another charismatic leader mimicking Ferdinand Marcos’ moves to put make himself a dictator.
Little did I know it could happen this soon.
Instead of Marcos’ Martial Law remaining as history, the possibility seems to be growing stronger that it could turn into a developing story.
It’s difficult explaining this.
Instead, let me share a Chapter in my book – Advent of the New Society. It contains the sub-chapter The Road to Martial Law, which details what Marcos did to secretly prepare for the declaration of Martial Law.
Then compare Marcos’ moves to President Rodrigo Duterte’s moves.
My publisher, Filipinos for a Better Philippines, has been kind enough to let me share it publicly for free.
You can download the entire Chapter and even share it with your friends and relatives by clicking on this link.
Please keep in mind that Martial Law was simply a means for Marcos to stop all dissent so that he could go to the next and more important step of imposing authoritarian rule, which you can also call a revolutionary government.
Sources have told me that people around President Rodrigo Duterte have been egging him to move and set up a revolutionary government.
One of them is likely his Presidential Communications Assec Mocha Uson, who posted the following yesterday. In all my years of reporting, I have never seen or heard a presidential palace underling utter opinions like this.
When I read it, the impression I got was that Uson was inciting to rebellion. Not rebellion against the President but rebellion against the current Republic. Just like what Marcos did in 1972 — a self-coup.
I was told that there are at least two hold-outs in the Duterte cabinet. One is Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. The other is Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the latter because he is worried about its effects on the economy.
This is one time that it’s hard to predict what will happen next. Will he declare Martial Law? Or there might even be no need to declare Martial Law since he has Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the population cowed and open to to his bidding.
He can simply go right ahead and put up a revolutionary government.
♦ ♦ ♦
By the way, to those in Manila who would want a hard copy of my book, the Bookmark booth at the Manila International Book Fair is carrying it. The MIBF is until Sunday.
Each book has a written message from me.
andrewlim8 says
Very interested ako malaman kung ano na ang posisyon ng mga dating masigasig na commenter dito na lumalaban sa corruption at Marcoses pero pinili si Duterte noong eleksiyon:
1. Rene-Ipil
2. baycas
Ano na kaya stand nila? Dutertroll na sila o may prinsipyo pa rin kahit papaano?
Rolly says
Palagay ko sa ngayon, mga hard core critics sila ni Duterte sa ibang forum.
Rolly says
Mahaba, but worth reading:
Martial law reminiscences and springtime
By: Rene Saguisag Philippine Daily Inquirer 07:15 AM September 18, 2017
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/931373/martia-law-reminiscences-and-springtime
Editor’s note: The writer, who obtained a master’s degree from Harvard Law School after graduating from San Beda College of Law, stood up against martial law and defended its victims. After briefly serving as President Cory Aquino’s spokesperson and legal adviser, he was elected senator in 1987. He was a member of the Senate’s “Magnificent 12,” who voted to boot out the US military bases in the country in 1991.
Major League pitcher Jim Bouton’s 1970 autobio, “Ball Four,” ended thusly: “ … When it’s over for me [in the major leagues], would I be hanging on [in the minors]? I went down deep and the answer I came up with was ‘yes.’ Yes, I would. You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”
I am reminded of Jim because of another anniversary of martial law (ML) being inflicted on Sept. 23, 1972. Not Sept. 21, 1972, Thursday, which was just another day in the office.
I was then assisting the San Beda College law dean, Feliciano Jover Ledesma, who was busy as a Con-con (Constitutional Convention) delegate.
On Sept. 21, I monitored by radio a Plaza Miranda rally with Ka Pepe Diokno, Charito Planas and Bal Pinguel, among others, as speakers.
Yes, just another day in the office. Same as the 22nd, Friday. I drove home in my Beetle. Just before 9 p.m., when I was on Ayala Bridge, a flash report came on the ambuscade of Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile (which he was to admit on Feb. 22, 1986, at Edsa was fake news). The captivating candor attracted support, but in his 2012 memoirs Enrile reverted to the fairy tale.
The next day, Sept. 23, no newspapers and no radio-TV in our rented Sandejas, Pasay City, apartment.
Raul S. Roco, Ninoy Aquino’s right-hand man, called and said if we’d be arrested, we might as well be arrested together. We spent the night in Bel-Air, in the house of a brother-in-law of his. (Raul was my campus contemporary, a year behind me in law school. I was best man in his wedding with Sonia Malasarte.)
Resist, resist, resist
That night, I called Uncle Jovy Salonga (uncle, as his mom, Lola Dinang, was a first cousin of my own paternal Lola Talia, living in the same “looban” and my Daddy sucked from the breasts of Lola Dinang; my own Lola was barren of milk).
He said he was in the Senate, which had been padlocked. He and I made a solemn vow then to resist, resist, resist.
I resisted from Day One. I stood at Edsa beginning then, with the Aquinos, whom I had not really known, and stayed there until February 1986, when millions, including Fidel V. Ramos, JPE and Gringo Honasan, another fellow Bedan, finally joined us on the right side of the highway and history.
No Rene without Dulce
RAM (Reform the Armed Forces Movement) was on the wrong side previously, got trapped on Edsa, and was rescued by the people. Hence, People Power.
I was flattered to be asked to write this recollection, but I always stress “no Rene without a Dulce,” my late wife.
We met when she was working for her master’s degree in social work in the Jesuits’ Boston College and I was working for mine in Harvard Law. (We had full scholarships.)
One’s spouse had better be in support to last in human rights lawyering, which emerged and bloomed after Sept. 23, led by Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno, Jovito Salonga, Joker Arroyo and others.
We — the youth or “uhugin” brigade — were the water boys or gofers (e.g., fearless Jojo Binay). Some lawyers started but backed out when opposed by well-meaning kinfolk.
But Dulce never complained even with my difficulty in bringing up the bread (she was working on government pay in the social welfare department, which she joined as a teenager right after graduation. She was No. 3 in the board exams and started to work with the informal settlers in Sapang Palay).
She never complained, except on Christmas Day 1981 when, after supper, I quietly sneaked out of Palanan, Makati, where I was her star boarder.
I crossed Vito Cruz to see Pops Baskiñas, an April 6 Liberation Movement detainee who was on a Christmas furlough.
When I sneaked back in, Dulce was quietly shedding tears, “Pati ba naman Pasko, talagang wala kang panahon sa amin?”
When asked in open forums how the family was taking it, I’d say half in jest, “Who’s to complain? I am neglecting all of them — equally.” The cross of human rights lawyering.
All over the land
From the mountain fastnesses of Isabela to Cebu, Davao and Kidapawan (where I helped prosecute the Maneros, who killed Fr. Tulio Favali), to the various detention camps and courts, we toiled, all over the land.
It was in Davao in 1976 where one of my pioneer human rights clients was killed by the military.
I first saw Eman Lacaba in 1971 sprawled on the ground, bloodied by police in front of a factory whose workers were on strike.
His case was quickly dismissed by a fellow proletarian, Judge Ben Abalos of Pasig. One day in 1974, Eman visited me in my rinky-dink office in Quiapo and said he was going “abroad,” i.e., underground.
Two years later, he was killed in Davao, in the flower of his youth.
One of my first ML national security cases involved the son of an Air Force officer who came to see me in Sandejas and said he had convinced his son to plead guilty and start anew.
That he did, in early December 1972. I asked Judge Victoriano Savellano if we could have his sentence promulgated between Christmas and New Year, when people’s hearts would be warm and gentle. Granted.
On promulgation, I asked the judge if I could approach the bench with the public prosecutor (fiscal then).
In a lowered voice I said: “Your Honor, the sentence is below the minimum mandated by law.” He snorted: “Bakit, a-appeal ka ba?” I considered myself told. Judges could be very understanding and kind, appreciative of youthful exuberance.
In early December 1972, when a Bolivian madman (Benjamin Mendoza) tried to stab Imelda Marcos, but was subdued, a fellow faculty member in San Beda (Judge Cesar Sangco) remarked, in jest, ML had produced its first hero.
When a US senator supposedly said we were a nation of 40 million cowards and one SOB, I would say “and one B.”
I had proposed that the college of law be closed until ML was lifted. No one voted to support me.
Afterward, a colleague whispered to me that I was right. Years after 1972, I met another fellow faculty member, an authentic Bessang Pass hero, in some court.
He had that faraway look, saying “Ne, keep going. I wonder what happened to that young man who in his youth was ready to die for the Motherland,” alluding to himself.
The advice was to be prudent. I chose to be “imprudent.”
‘Game-changer’
After Ninoy Aquino was salvaged on Aug. 21, 1983, a game-changer, I flew to Davao to join a march-rally led by Soledad Duterte, mother of President Duterte, one admirable charming tough lady.
Resistance spread as the middle class and the elite realized that no one was safe and took the long view, for their children and grandchildren.
Flashback: In January 1971, I had signed up with Ayala. I dealt with Don Enrique Zobel, assisted by my teacher, Bobby de la Fuente (bar grade: 95.95 percent). I had been recruited in the United States by Joe McMicking.
Joe was the visionary who had conceived what Makati business is today. So, he told me, “It is said that it ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.”
After coming down from the Ayala Insular Life building at Paseo de Roxas and Ayala Avenue, I hitched a ride with a fellow Bedan passing by, Danny Ong, also of Bobby’s Class ’54, who was to become Cory Aquino’s BIR chief.
In front of the Supreme Court building, a traffic-clogging rally. Among its leaders was Atenean Roger Rayala, whom I had known as a party animal in our college years.
(He was detained during ML for over a year, charged with Sen. Eva Estrada-Kalaw for “Operation Takip-Silim.”)
I told Danny I was getting off, to join my kind of people. I founded the San Beda Free Legal Aid Clinic. It was in that capacity that I monitored the peaceful Sept. 21 Plaza Miranda rally just in case there would be arrests. Ho-hum, that Thursday.
The next day, again just another day in the office for me but Ninoy Aquino was arrested that night (true) and JPE said he had been ambushed (false).
Human rights addiction
ML caused my human rights (HR) addiction. HR lawyering was unknown when I was in law school. I had not heard of salvaging, desaparecidos, Nawasa and Meralco treatments (torture), San Juanico Bridge (head on one bench, feet on another, to be whipped when one fell — ask Pete Lacaba) and the like.
I joined Ka Pepe’s Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and later cofounded the Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. (Mabini) to take stands on national issues. Our fraternal bonding remained strong.
I thank ML for drawing me close to lawyer-heroes, such as Tanny and Pepe. And valiant journalists like Joe Burgos.
In his We Forum case, I was cited for contempt twice.
The first time, I was fined P50 for saying the civilian court was getting “militarized” with so many uniformed men around. I said I’d gladly pay it and held out a one-hundred peso bill and asked, “Can I say something more for another fifty pesos?”
The second time, a weekend in jail, telling the court that against the advice of our panel, I would not apologize. “A weekend in jail is a very low price to pay for the high privilege of sharing the suffering of our unhappy Motherland.”
My offense: I had called Marcos a “supersubversive,” pointing to his picture on a wall calendar.
Indeed, I have to thank him for making me more than a household word not only in my own household.
I lawyered, spoke, pamphleteered, sympathized, marched, agitated and got detained, shot at, truncheoned, water-cannoned, tear-gassed and chased.
In every rally I imagined or smelled gunpowder and knew that it could be my last. But, I survived, by the grace of a compassionate Providence, and the people, appreciative and grateful, elected me senator in 1987 without my cash-strapped family having to spend a single “singkong duling” of our own.
Conversion
I was 32 when I came home in 1971, a leftist. I was a hundred miles to the right of Marcos when I left in 1967 for the United States, where there were rallies, tear gas, gunfire, assassinations, Black Power and news from home about the infectious First Quarter Storm.
I had argued that the business of a student was to study and not to tell Marcos how to run the country. Was I ever wrong.
Had I stuck it out with Ayala — a finer organization would be hard to find — I would have been in some plush enclave today instead of being on, what may be said, in one sense, the wrong side of Makati.
At times, there would be several wakes simultaneously on our streets. I was not a good provider in not even being able to give the family a home.
But, one thing I learned in Harvard is that poverty could be respectable, a takeoff from the biblical lilies of the field that neither toil nor spin but survive.
Yes, I would
So if I, ailing with medical bills, aches and pains, had to do it over, would I? Like Jim Bouton, I would go deep down and the answer I would come up with is “yes.”
You see, you spend a good piece of your life helping the poor, obscure and powerless, pro bono (“puro abono”) and you will realize that law is a jealous mistress indeed and that psychic income is fulfilling, the dream that drives one to law school in the first place. To help give our people a shot at a just, better life.
I wish no American official would again say we are a country of millions of cowards and one SOB. And as I would add, “and one B.” The Marcoses ruined our values, institutions and processes. This lesson we must remember. Jorge Santayana warned that “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Imee says the Marcoses are in their winter. Politically, may they stay there forever.
Imagine marking last Sept. 11 as the centennial of Marcos. He was born in 1916 as he testified under oath in Honolulu. My San Beda Law Alabang students have produced his birth certificate confirming his birth in 1916. But how he was obsessed with 7 (and 11) and falsified his age. His epitaph should read: Here a lawyer lies still.
Today, we have a Prez who sandbags his guests to do the clenched fist gesture with him, very much like Hitler and his troopers, and sees human rights addicts as a lower form of animal life. Yet he remains popular and populist. But I do wish him to succeed as his success is yours and mine, everyone’s. But ML?
Again?
Never Never Never Again! Non, je ne regrette rien.
No, I regret nothing. —CONTRIBUTED
arc says
I am humbled, utterly, utterly humbled reading the article. thanks po, rolly.
there is dignity in poverty. sure, bills still have to be paid, children sent to school, food must be put on the table, a roof preferably not leaky over one’s head – but excess? mansions that cost nearly 100 millions to make! imported chandeliers that cost nearly as much a township in not only one by several in their living rooms? properties bought not only here but also abroad, billions in the bank, the excess is frightening. not to mention the collection of jewelries that could put marie antoinette to shame! it’s a hoarding sickness, I reckon.
and to top it all, she who collects and plunders, is often seen at church, walking on her knees beseeching god for yet more and more blessings! and god give her blessing, she got diabetes! ah, the good life.
arc says
aye, he remains popular, much like bird flu, both popular, both famously grabbing headlines. the traffic in manila is popular too, discussed all over the nation. pork barrel is also popularly resurfacing, almost everyone wants it now! and the crazy man is popular for the wrong reasons.
arc says
ailing with mounting medical bills you say; I say, sickness and ill health are the bane of both rich and poor. the rich suffers in luxury, languishing in private hospitals with best of medical care 24/7, and yet still they die. there are doctors that give unnecessary treatments just because the patient is rich and can afford to pay. the longer rich patients stay in hospital, the higher the medical bills, the richer the doctors. and the patient’s family none the wiser. lives can be prolonged, but what a life! when you’re under the haze of strong pain killers like morphine, in and out of consciousness and barely able to make decisions, let alone cognizant and able to talk. lives are prolonged because that’s what families want, never mind what patients want: they’re immaterial now.
the poor on the other hand receives the very basic medical care, lumped in in crowded wards of public hospitals, and thinks have they been rich, outcomes would have been different. if only they knew. cheers, rolly.
sam says
i don’t know what kind of thinking is this
Duterte to CHR’s Gascon: Are you a pedophile?
——————————————————–
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/626077/duterte-to-chr-s-gascon-are-you-a-pedophile/story/?just_in
Gaston was just concern with the recent killings of teens and yan ang sasabihin ni Do Dirty
arc says
e di pedophile din ang gabriela org dahil concern din ang org na ito with the welfare of children, ganon din ang dswd and orphanages: they all look after children too, girls and boys alike, walang pili. digong is just crazy, super crazy.
maybe teachers are also pedophiles! concern sila sa nga bata.
arc says
digong is trying ulra hard to divert the attention away from son, polong, his connection to chinese triad, his role in the importation of containers load of shabu from china, his hidden wealth, etc. and digong’s minions with vested interests are enabling him, helping create diversion, undermining the righteous. hail, hail, the bad gangs are here, they’re all together . . .
arc says
digong has cheapen the office of the president of the philllippines.
leona says
1. Martial Law?
2. Revolutionary Government?
Which would it be?
No. 1 above has too many
‘checks’ in the 1987 Const.
But No. 2 above will have
none!
Which would it be again?
For worst or better No. 2
above would be better.
Why and How for No. 2 above?
Under a Revolutionary Goverment
it will be a TOTAL. Anything goes.
At its beginning it might
look good. As it plugs along
and up to its never ending
phase there will be No Nothing.
Or All everything.
But No. 1 above
can be started to creep
along. But the ‘Checks’
under it will be with
legal obstacles. So, as
it creeps along, No. 2
above will have to
be done.
Revolutionary Government
is a better choice for the
worst of the worst.
Who will be the worst
LOSERS under No. 2
choice?
Answer: the worst in
our society muna.
Next will be the middle
class who will become
the next worst in society.
Last next will be the elite
and rich, the VIPs, the
corrupt RICH and those
others who are Nothing.
Everything goes under
choice No. 2.
The No. 2 choice
will put this Christian
Bayan in shackles. In
chains!
Scary!
Under No. 2
Choice could
only be avoided with
another event. What is
that event? Counter
No.2-Event.
In the history of USA
it was a civil war.
Thus, what looms ahead
here will be TWO
revolutions fighting
each for TOTAL or
all for something or nothing.
Raising the scare gauge.
It could be very bloody
under TWO revolutions.
The ‘rule’ will be survival
of the fittest. No holds
barred as there will be
no definite rule of law.
Indefinite rule but no law.
Where will this Bayan go?
Firstly, it could be Hell
In Eternity.
Secondly, many souls
of innocents will go
to somewhere. . . heavens?
Millions will all lose
their wits.
Losing our wits will
make everybody into
a suicide phase.
Kami kaze!
The good people
will not prefer for either
of No. 1 or No. 2
choices!
But it is becoming
obvious in our TIME
now that it can
be either.
The leaders who will
LOSE THEIR WITS can
do Kami Kaze
to this Bayan.
The zeros will be back!
A zero Bayan to come.
Pray. Act. And PRAY!
No amen yet.
arc says
dalawa ang mukha niyan, dalawa ang opisina. he’ll do both, take both, and impose both martial law and rebolusyon, simultaneously. the squiggles on the walls are all there, luminescent: president kuno, but then sold out his self. the highest official of the land stoop low to become quasi investigator; unlicensed and inexperienced, and chasing after trillanes mythical millions, billions all traced back to china. lutong macao, lutong durian, lutong dabaw.
nbi is not good enough, it has to be digong doing all the diggidigs on trillanes. not doing presidential work but doing investigative work well suited to investigative journalists. and while digong is playing investigative journalist, huffing and puffing at trillanes, the country is left in limbo, limbo, limbo, rocky, rocky road, he, he, he. no one is managing the country! everything goes: plunderers are back, criminals are back, rebels and terrorists are back and reigning supreme. church bells are ringing, the dead cannot come back to life.
greenpea says
I do not understand why we should be worried about the formal imposition of Martial Law or a declaration of a Duterte Revolutionary Government. We have crossed that line a long time ago when this administration was able to jail an innocent Senator on the basis of false charges backed by tainted witnesses. What many of us do not realize is that the day they put Senator De Lima in jail, it was our whole nation that was thrown in prison.
All those who were complicit in this evil and heinous political crime are accountable and deserve to be punished. But if we the people can not get our act together and if we prefer being in denial of our burnt constitution and lost freedom, then we deserve the leadership of our conquerors.
Du30 rose to power not on the sheer strength of his charisma. His rise was the result of a well planned and funded covert PR and propaganda campaign that was years in the making. It was immensely successful not because the campaign was brilliant but because it was, in the beginning undetected and unopposed. Even at present, people acting individually can only mount a feeble resistance to the systematic razing of our democratic institutions.
Sadly we have no country to save anymore. We must face the hard reality that the task for us is to rebuild a new one.
arc says
agree po ako. we’re already under martial law, undeclared lang. if indeed declared, it will only be formality.
our country is there somewhere, trampled not by invaders but by its own ultra greedy people, power hungry politicians concern with influence and status, conniving thieves and opportunists many of them lawmakers, weaker military pandering to the whims of a crazy man, non existence law and order, citizens in disarray bombarded by fake news courtesy of govt officials themselves, etc, etc, etc. so many scavengers descending on the hapless country and feasting on its demise.
greenpea says
@arc
Thanks for giving your thoughts on my comment.
I wonder what this line from a popular Filipino song mean to many people who sing or hear this almost everytime –
“Aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi,
ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo…”
arc says
I understand po kung bakit ayaw niyang umatend ng independence day celebrations, at absent yan sa flag raising ceremonies. cant be bothered to get up early, his sleep more important.
I look forward for schools and colleges stopping short and not finishing the national anthem each time there is flag raising ceremonies. it is only apt and proper. kampai!
canadadry says
Could it be his allegiance is not really Philippines for how else can one explain his giving away of Philippine territories to China…
leona says
Bagong ending dyan:
‘Aming mga buwaya na pag mang-aapi
Pinapatay kami dahil sa demonyoooo!’
. . .how’s that?
Pantalong, Rudy, Pdutz, Agui & Aberiya?
arc says
have you noticed the rounded black beads (bracelet) pantalon is wearing? lucky charm niya yan. aquirre has wig, pantalon has black beads like, black beans? frogs eyes? hematite? aba, with the amount of lies he banded around, he needs that black a lucky charm, he, he, he. baga thor’s hammer niya. problems with hammers is that they boomerang, rang, at bumabalik. hit him on the head, and off he goes again, telling porkies! big headache.
sam says
Mr Sison said that DoDirty truly is planning to declare Martial Law on the big day.
There just might be paid people to create a scene to day that would make it seem that it was doing of the left and the yellows.
What if lang naman …. everyone stayed home, and not let him have his fun? Do Dirty is almost certain the declaring Martial Law is in his hands .. and expecting a huge number of people will march to the street to protest. .. if no one goes out .. then mapapahiya lang siya
Ray says
We can’t be silent all the time. Soon he will still declare ML
arc says
sooner or later, whether we’re ready or not, the crazy man will declare martial law. he likes torturing people: he’s impulsive, whimsy, unpredictable, undisciplined, prone to flight of fancy, etc. whether we behave or not, quiet or not, is immaterial to him. dalawa ang mukha niyan, nagsasanga ang isip, no pleasing this man of unsound mind.
no point with walking on eggs around him too, softly, softly so as not to make him angry. he’ll get angry anyhow, lash out and cuss, depending on fentanyl use. those that walked on eggs around him are probly finding themselves to be walking on broken bottles now, and if they progress to walking on hot live coals . . . no, I wont go that way. there has got to be a limit.
tama ka, ray, we cannot be silent all the time. the more we stay silent, the more gruesome our country becomes. and the more the corrupts and the plunderer roams free!
arc says
jinggoy, the man of steal, is free!
leona says
[T]he plunderer roams free!
jinggoy, the man of steal, is free!
Why is that happening?
Answer: 1. Because of a SC decision on
plunderer(s) ordering the immediate
release of the detained.
2. Because of the failure of the information to sufficiently charge conspiracy to commit plunder against the petitioners; and ignored the lack of evidence establishing the corpus delicti of amassing, accumulation and acquisition of ill-gotten wealth in the total amount of at least PS0,000,000.00 through any or all of the predicate crimes.
3. Because the Prosecution fail to show where the money went but, more importantly, that GMA and Aguas had personally benefited from the same. Hence, the Prosecution did not prove the predicate act of raids on the public treasury beyond reasonable doubt.
4. Because personal benefit as
a requirement in plunder was
not proven.
5. Because the raids on the public treasury
by all or any of the accused was not proven to
have been used.
6. Because the 11 Justices do not share the Sandiganbayan’ s contention that
the Prosecution need not establish that the public officer had benefited from such act; and that what was necessary was proving that the public officer had raided the public coffers.
7. Because Lastly, the predicate act covering “raids on the public treasury” is lumped up with the phrases misappropriation, conversion, misuse and malversation of public funds.
7.A. And because where the money eventually ended up were all not proven.
Thus, all accused ordered released. Freedom.
So, goes all other plunderers
will be free. Bong Revilla will
be free soon too.
Since R.A. No. 7080 on Plunder
Law is finally interpreted like this
requiring evidence/proof
beyond a reasonable doubt
on Nos. 1-to-7 and many more,
the Plunder Law is a dead law
for now.
Conspiracy is not enough.
There must be clear proof
of the identity of the
main plunderer.
Poor prosecutors at the
Ombudsman Office
and their witnesses!
In conspiracy the act
of one is the acts of all
conspirators.
But under Plunder Law
main plunderer must
be identified beside
proving the other elements
the crime. Added to this
element is Where did
the money go or was it
misuse.
Cases under the
Plunder Law will
now be outright
dismissed. No
more trials to
happen unless
for one: the Bank
Secrecy Law is
repealed -to know
where the money
went.
. . . ‘it went to his/her
Bank Accounts’
The Plunder Law is
plundered.
leona says
Read the SC decision
http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/pdf/web/viewer.html?file=/jurisprudence/2016/july2016/220598.pdf
bcoolman says
It is precisely my apprehension too, considering the special attention and consideration the President showed to the police and military over time and even to the point of using Ms. Uson to provide additional relief and comfort in the battle zone. Because of the recent development that is slowly unfolding, he has to act faster enough while the 16M still has to wake up from their deep slumber. He cannot declare ML without the required justification. Instead, the shortest way to do it is form a revolutionary govt. Let us remind then our supposed to be protectors and plead with them of the consequences if they allow someone to lead us who encourages killing, cussing, having several women, to name a few. Until then, let us all remain vigilant or we will be damned much worse once again.
arc says
I dont think the situation in our country will get better. it can only get worse whether we’re vigilant or not. there are circumstances out of our control. sure, we were vigilant, but the crazy man declared martial law in moscow, far from the reaches of our collective vigilance. for overseas trips, digong habitually took with him both the top brasses of the military and kapolisan, leaving our country with depleted defence. and sure enough, in thier absence, 500 terrorists entered the country unchallenged. so much for our vigilance!
anyhow, instead of just being vigilant, it would be best if families commit themselves to drills in case of rebolusyon at magkahiwalay ang pamilya. talk about where and when to meet: time and place. also start thinking of places to hide valuables, important documents, etc.
hope for the best but prepare for the worst. history is repeating itself, pls dont be willing victim this time. plan ahead and do something. ensure survival of the specie.
arc says
digong’s govt is made weaker by mocha loca herself! she is the main destabilizer. instead of treating dilawans well and with respect so they’ll all be supportive of digong and conducive to his policies, she’s inciting hatred and making dilawans the more oppose to digong.
justice ay siyang hinahanap ng mga bleeding hearts. give them justice and listen to their concerns, end the killing, the lies and fake news. end hunger! mocha should give a percentage of her salary to charity, help the needy and the sick.
at saka, digong should be flattered. all president past and present, at one time in their lives and no matter how well loved, was threatened with death: decapitation, assassination, hanging, etc. even the lowest of the low, the drug addicts, prostitutes; newsmen and women, children, teachers, politicians, polis, military, etc. are all threatened with deaths.
death is everywhere, even leaves die, animals die, love dies.
macspeed says
Pres DU30 will not and shall not impose martial law, its a negative action if he do it for his fight against drugs and corruptions free Philippines. I support Pres DU30 but will not support marcos at all. I will continue perhaps those anti-marcoses to keep posting on DDS FB page about the bad doings of marcoses, their souls shall be burned in HELL of fire, not even a cents they can spend 6 feet under nor their ransom be accepted so they can be forgiven…Devil family!!!
raissa says
And if Duterte does?
wbar says
Anti-Marcos and supporting Pd30? nakakahilo yata yun ah???Corrupt-free or free the corrupt?
drill_down says
maybe this is why history repeats itself…
leona says
If PDutz declare
ML throught the
country or a revolutionary
government
there will be maxspeeding
on EJK!
huh huh HUH!
Rolly says
I would think by now that @macspeed has already awaken from deep slumber.
andrewlim8 says
hindi uubra yung pro-Duterte but anti-Marcos. Kasi si DU30 nga yung nagpalakas sa mga Marcos ulit:
1. pinalibing niya sa Libingan ng Bayani at binigyan pa ng holiday
2. madalas na niyang sinabi na hanga siya kay FM
3. payag siyang magsauli ng kaunti sa nakaw na yaman basta patawarin na sa lahat
4. tumanggap siya ng donasyon sa kampanya mula sa Marcoses
5. marami sa taga-suporta ni DU30 ay Marcos loyalists – Panelo (KBL candidate), mga tauhan ng PCOO, etc.
6. sinubukan na nilang baguhin ang records ng kasaysayan
kaya nonsense yung “pro-Duterte ako pero anti-Marcos”
MS Tilit says
Mocha Uson has become the worst woman in government taking advantage of the stupidity of Duterte million followers. She lit the bleak light of ignorance with her fake news and moronic claims. Her slutty background and insane blind loyalty to her crazy President is an icon of intelligence gone wrong. Her teachers and the school where she came from should take a stand to whip her arrogance with disownership. She should be sacrificed to an angry volcano for her repeated claim to fame which made her entitled to fat salary from the people’s taxes. She should be lashed out of her ASec stature. How can she compare to anyone of us who toil decent job just to pay her office… she should be fired by the CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.
arc says
a govt that is stable should be able to withstand any kinds of destabilization, both internal and external. only a weaker govt fears destabilization.
raissa says
It’s merely using it as an excuse
bcoolman says
You think civil service commission can do that? Papano kung bigyan din sila ng 1k budget for operational expenses the whole year?
arc says
sorry po, I think, civil service com should take that risk even if they’d be threatened with 1k for the whole year 2018. winners win because they take risks, come calculated, some not. there’s no telling that after chr is done, civil service com wont be targeted.
orlanmau says
How can I LIKE this 16.5M times and share it to all Filipino Facebook users.