spot_img
28.6 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Final and executory

- Advertisement -

The motion for reconsideration of ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was denied with finality by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The high court voted to unseat Sereno by 8 to 6 vote via a quo warranto proceeding filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.

With the Supreme Court striking down Sereno’s petition for reconsideration, the search starts for her replacement. Will President Duterte choose from the current associate justices or will he pick an outsider?

Sereno is the first woman chief magistrate; she was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III.

Supporters of Sereno are urging her to seek a senatorial post in next year’s midterm elections or in the 2022 presidential polls. Legal observers are of the opinion she is not barred from seeking public office in the future. Since Sereno was removed via quo warranto and not by impeachment, she is not banned from holding public office.

If Sereno wins either as senator or as president, it would be a vindication for her. The question is if elected president, will Sereno go after President Rodrigo Dutere whom she claims was behind her ouster?

- Advertisement -

Next year and 2022 will be interesting times.

Asserting our right in WPS

While most of his colleagues would rather keep silent on the issue, Senator Richard Gordon is demanding the government assert its right in the West Philippine Sea. Gordon, a known ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, wants the administration to protect Filipino fishermen who are being harassed by Chinese gunboats.

Senator Panfilo Lacson also fumed over the Chinese statement that Filipinos were allowed to fish in the area out of the “goodwill” of the Chinese interlopers. The area near Scarborough Shoal known locally as Panatag is within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The latest incident in Bajo Masinloc off the Zambales coast involved Chinese navy men who boarded the Filipinos’ fishing boat and confiscated their catch. A video taken by one of the fishermen on his cellphone camera recorded a Chinese choosing the best and biggest of the Filipinos catch from a fish container.

The Chinese embassy in Manila said the incident was merely a barter for cigarettes and there was no force nor coercion used by their navy. The Filipino fishermen, however, claimed there was no barter made and they were intimidated by the Chinese who were armed when they boarded.

While we certainly are not capable of engaging China in a war, our government should make noise so the word community can hear our complaints of Chinese bullying in the disputed parts of the South China Sea.

Gordon pointed out that the Vietnamese are more confrontational against Chinese encroachment in the Paracels claimed by Vietnam. In my case, I keep writing about this Chinese aggression because China keeps on pushing its boundaries beyond the limits of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. China and the Philippines are signatories to Unclos. Beijing, however, is ignoring the UN convention and The Hague arbitration tribunal which ruled that China does not have any right to its sweeping claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.

It’s all about the prospective, gas and mineral resources underneath the South China seabed.

Secrets of the altar

A priest in Camarines Sur is being eyed by the police as a person of interest in the murder of a woman. This came in the wake of three separate killings of priests which had raised concern that there might be a conspiracy to silence the clergy from criticizing the government’s brutal campaign against drug traffickers and the alleged extrajudicial killings of suspects.

I’m not going to mention the name of the priest nor the victim in the Camarines Sur case. A close friend of the woman confided to the police that the victim revealed that she had an illicit relationship with the priest. She served as a house helper in his house for 10 years.

The person-of-interest priest gave police the alibi he was in another CamSur town where he spent the night. Police are still checking his alibi. If found to be true and that he does not have anything to do with the woman’s death, then he still must explain to church superiors his alleged violation of priest’s vow of celibacy.

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles