subpoena-of-life

Resolution on the Abduction and Disapperance of UP Students

2006-07-17T05:34:00.000-07:00

Below is the UP Diliman University Council Resolution passed last July 12, 2006 on the abduction and disappearance of two students. The two were forcibly abducted by masked armed men in San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan last June 26, 2006. They remain missing as of this writing in spite of the efforts of their families, human rights advocates and UP authorities to locate them. Please help disseminate this resolution.

Resolution on the Abduction and Disappearance of UP Students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan
Approved by the UP Diliman University Council
July 12, 2006

The University Council expresses great concern that government authorities have not yet produced indications of the whereabouts of two UP Diliman undergraduate students, Ms. Karen Empeno of the Sociology Department of the College of Social Science and Philosophy and Ms. Sherlyn Cadapan of the College of Human Kinetics.

It is now ten days since President Emerlinda Roman wrote a letter to Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno and to the Department of National Defense Secretary Avelino J. Cruz requesting their assistance in locating the two students. In the letter, President Roman described the circumstances attending the abduction of the two students: "According to raw reports reaching my office, six or more masked armed men forcibly took them at about 2:00 in the morning of Monday, June 26, 2006, in Purok 6, Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, Bulacan. The masked armed men were using long guns and apparently did not show any court order for their physical detention. We were also informed that Karen was asked to remove her shirt. They used this shirt to blindfold her. Sherlyn is pregnant. The women were then forced into a vehicle that proceeded in the direction of Iba, Hagonoy."

We would like to emphasize that whatever the motives and circumstances behind it and whether it is carried out by private persons or by persons connected with government, abduction is always illegal and punishable by law, aside from being a violation of the victim's human rights.

We are greatly concerned that they may be victims of the wave of extra-judicial executions and forced disappearances associated with the elements of the security and defense establishments. Indeed, we fear for their lives.

We would therefore wish to support and reiterate President Roman's request to Secretary Puno and other government authorities that they immediately furnish us with information of the whereabouts of Ms. Empeno and Ms. Cadapan, provide them with medical and legal assistance, and release them to the care of the University as soon as possible. We consider the continuing silence of the authorities in this matter of life and death to be inexcusable and a betrayal of the public trust.

In conclusion, we would like to repeat President Roman's words to Secretary Puno: "We know that you share with us a commitment to the spirit of the UN General Assembly's 'Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance' (Resolution 47/133 of December 18, 1992). We also know that the acts done by masked armed men are criminally punishable under our laws. Most of all, as parents committed to teaching the virtues of valuing human dignity, we are certain that you could address the matter with empathy."

Questionable Judiciary

2006-06-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

The Death Penalty has finally been abolished, even PGMA reported such to His Eminence Pope Benedict XVI. But this is more than just what the abolishment is pointing to.

A few weeks back, the Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban was quoted that in regards with Leo Echegaray's case, the Court made a mistake of affirming the death penalty. Panganiban should've kept his opinions or statements regarding sensitive matters such as this to a discretionary level. Because of this, even the decisions of the Court are now being questioned because of possible error or mistakes.

The Leo Echegaray case has long been decided and during the time when Echegaray raped his daughter, to his misfortune, the Death Penalty against heinous crimes was already in effect. There wasn't a mistake whatsoever in the Court's decision as it was merely interpreting the statutes or provisions set out by the legislation who then enacted the said penalty. In law, you apply the law to the facts of the crime and from the better judgment of the lower court and the then Supreme Court justices they found it justifiable to impose the Death Penalty on the crime committed by Echegaray AS THE DEATH PENALTY WAS IN EFFECT AGAINST HEINOUS CRIMES.

Why now is the incumbent Chief Justice saying these things? On the news, the other associate justices reprimanded the Chief Justice for not being discreet in his opinion and as a result the Supreme Court's credibility as to its decisions will be questioned. The honor of the judiciary will be fazed. Panganiban's answer: He's just human with opinions and commits errors.

Yes, we are on that point but with his responsibility as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he has the duty to be firm on Supreme Court's decisions.

First Day Blues

2006-06-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

It's expected, you hear all the same things over and over, year after year on the very first day of classes:

Shortage of classrooms
Overpopulated schools
Shortage of text books
Shortage of teachers
Tuition fee increase

Last week, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo berated DepEd Secretary Fe Hidalgo for reporting that there is a shortage of classroom. I wonder, why? Does PGMA prefer not to hear the truth? It is reality for crying out loud! You see it on the news, you can even see these problems when you visit a public school. The Commonwealth Elementary School in Quezon City is an example of this problem. They even used up parts of the school as classrooms.

Overpopulation seems like a perennial problem in schools, though this is only evident to those schools who charge cheaper than the others. Rizal High School in Pasig who used to have the Guiness World Record of the highest populated school in the world, lost this prestige when they experienced a much lesser enrollment this year. One possible reason is that parents decided to place their children in a much cheaper public school. Another possible reason is that the school itself might have decided to cut down their enrollees to offer better education with a lesser ratio. But then, the very reason JRU lost this title is that their annex schools have decided to go autonomous, with their own set of board of trustees and their own principals. Batasan Hills High School (again) in Quezon City is an example of student overpopulation.

Shortage of textbooks and teachers is just a secondary problem to overpopulation. Why? With the increasing number of enrollees, the cannot be approximated number of textbooks and the deteriorating number of teachers (all because of the mentality of deciding to find better opportunities abroad) these just all boils down to overpopulation. DepEd ought to find a better solution on how to address the textbook problem by monitoring the number of enrollees of the schools and checking their inventory of textbooks. For Pete's sake, some of the books used are 7 years old, probably new findings and editions are already in the market by now, maybe they want to update their reference materials.

The teacher shortage can be addressed by changing our mentality that there are better opportunities abroad. Yes, there are better opportunities but our country needs resources, too! Consider this scenario: You go abroad as a teacher. You teach foreign children. You get paid in that country gross less the tax (which you pay to that country). You spend for your daily needs, paying for the essentials plus the Value Added Tax of that country. You send some money to your family here in the Philippines but before you can even send the money, tax is already lessened in the money transfer service you're sending your money through. Now, the taxes you paid who benefits from it? The country you're in, right? What abou the money you're going to send here in the Philippines? I tell you out of the 100% income you earn abroad approximately only 30% goes into the Philippines. Our country needs much more than that!

Tuition fee increase... this one's better explained by my friend... Expensive Education

BOTTOMLINE:

Our country needs a major revamp. If only we could solve these problems, which all boils down to this problem of all problems in my opinion: GRAFT AND CORRUPTION. If only the taxes we pay are utilized better and not put into the pockets of those no-good election promise-makers, some of these problems could've been addressed by now.

Preamble

2006-06-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

This isn't exactly the Constitution, whatsoever but as the title entails which is defined as "A preliminary statement, especially the introduction to a formal document that serves to explain its purpose", I daresay something about this blog.

This blog is my forum of thought, opinions, frustrations and perceptions on political and social issues and in addition, will be my forum on the discussions and discourses that I will be witnessing in law school. I will see this as an opportunity to voice out what's on my mind.

This is actually my third blog here in Blogspot. For my other rants and ramblings about my experiences in life, I had written them in the first two blogs that I have.