SCINTILLA JURIS

SCINTILLA JURIS http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/ graffiti means writing on the wall, random, spontaneous. it is on the wall of life that i blog about human existence. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tibspalasan" title="Tibs Palasan" target="_TOP" style="font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size: 11px;font-variant:" normal;font-style:http:="" en.tackfilm.se="" ?id="">Tibs Palasan</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tibspalasan" title="Tibs Palasan" target="_TOP"><img src="http://badge.facebook.com/badge/1223525102.334.1859226361.png" alt="Tibs Palasan" style="border: 0px;"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/badges.php" title="Make your own badge!" target="_TOP" style="font-family: "lucida grande",tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size: 11px;font-variant: normal;font-style: normal;font-weight: normal;color: #3B5998;text-decoration: none;">Create Your Badge</a> Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:57:04 -0000 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:47:00 -0000 SCINTILLA JURIS http://multiply.com/mu/tmpjr70/logo http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/ 100 100 Impeachment at the shops http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/192/Impeachment_at_the_shops Defense counsel Serafin Cuevas has shown his mastery of the rules of court.  His objections come out from his sleeves at his command, like a maestro that compels the audience and actors to heed. The prosecution has conversely shown, not necessarily in direct inverse proportion, its lack of skills at the technical rules.  At one time, Neil Tupaz has to beg the Impeachment Court to relax the rules, and allow the prosecution’s clearly leading, and at times, misleading questions.          Before the Impeachment Court, in the Supreme Court, in the halls of Congress, in Malacanang, in government offices, and in corporate boardrooms, the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona has been the daily topic.  For a month now, and the months to come, the airwaves are shut with the arguments for and against, and the faces behind them.             All the lawyers, judges, government and corporate execu... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/192/Impeachment_at_the_shops Thu, 16 Feb 2012 07:47:00 -0000 A Letter to Lynette (on her retreat) http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/190/A_Letter_to_Lynette_on_her_retreat February 3, 2012 Dearest Lynette,             Your retreat is a time for reflection, for looking back, of what you have done in the past, and of looking forward, of the things you have to do, for the greater glory of God.             As you take your retreat now, Mom and Dad, are also reflecting of what we have done to you in the past, and to look forward, of the life ahead of you, which we know, would be more independent than what you have now.             We know you are special and gifted.  It is by God’s design, and your parents’ nurturing too, even as you were yet in the womb.  Your mom had to take a lot of vitamins and fruits, even against her stomach.  It was a torture for her. But it was for you, so she endured.             We don’t know if y... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/190/A_Letter_to_Lynette_on_her_retreat Sat, 4 Feb 2012 02:03:00 -0000 The problem with doing http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/189/The_problem_with_doing I don't exactly recall when I last wrote a blog or when I last wrote my opinion column Spark of Law in a newspaper here.  Maybe I wrote them two years ago or more, but the feeling seems to me that I wrote eons hence. I notice that I lost track of my friends here at multiply. I have not commented to any blog nor did I see anyone saying "hi" to my guest page, except for one soul, a medicine woman. But hers was  "hi" a long time ago. What happened during those lost times? Or should ceasing to write, a lost moment? Is it not a lost moment also when one pounds the keyboard for hours and days and weeks and years, doing nothing but write?  Is it not acting out ones thoughts and ideas more akin to living than just merely writing about them?  where should the boundaries of writing and of doing lie in relation to  living? And should I ask? what happened to me for almost two years when I ceased writing? Did I loss a period of my life? Let me recall and count the ways how I ... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/189/The_problem_with_doing Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:04:00 -0000 happy new year http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/6 http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/6 Sat, 1 Jan 2011 01:51:51 -0000 to my virtual friends who still dropby here, this i commit: this page will breathe life again. http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/4 http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/4 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:53:57 -0000 Footnote to Hostage-taking http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/187/Footnote_to_Hostage-taking               The uproar has not quieted. Police Officer Rolando Mendoza’s hostage-taking turned-out to be carnage.  His body has been buried but the tragedy opened a canned of worms. More questions are left unanswered.             Rolando Mendoza was not insane when he took the hostages.  He was fully-aware of what he was doing. His demeanor was not of a deranged man.  That made the gravity of his offense more heinous and sinister.             Police officers deal daily with hoodlums and crooks in the streets and even in the gated houses and towering buildings of the high and mighty.  Over time, the policeman loses his distinction from that of the hoodlum.  Like chameleons, the pursuers cannot anymore distinguish themselves from the pursued. The wall that separates police work from criminal... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/187/Footnote_to_Hostage-taking Fri, 3 Sep 2010 04:45:00 -0000 Corrupting culture http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/186/Corrupting_culture In an anthropology class, our professor told us that changing anything cultural takes generations.  Evolution of culture too takes decades if not centuries to shape. Undoing it takes the same time, if not longer.                                That lecture was in 1986 yet, a month when the fresh air of freedom breezed through the entire country when Ferdinand Marcos was booted out from office.  Almost a quarter century after, our professor may still be right after all.   The legacy of Marcos era was twenty years of evolving culture of corruption, which has been embedded further deep in the national psyche, by the coterie of leaders around Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos with his power barges, Erap with his BW resources, and Gloria Arroyo’s infamy in ZTE deals and fertilizer scams.   While we howl in protest against big... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/186/Corrupting_culture Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:05:00 -0000 P-Noy And Corruption http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/185/P-Noy_And_Corruption From day one, the issue has been corruption. Marcos pillaged the economy through the draconian martial law powers. Others had corrupt administrations either by themselves or through their sub-alterns. GMA had her emergency powers and executive orders to hide the trail of corruption. In varying degrees of culpability, the Pinoys have been led, or misled, by corrupt governments. To paraphrase Bill Clinton, “It is corruption, stupid!”. It is the centerpiece issue of the recent presidential election. It is the dream of the people that P-Noy gets rid of corruption. No sound bites about good economic fundamentals can sanitize the fact that what drives investors away is corruption. If you have a government that deals with a foreign investor not on how the country will benefit but how the pocket would fatten, then you will have an economy that faces a blank wall – neither here nor there. The people obviously find in P-Noy the purest of intentions to govern, and to do so at the best of his abili... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/185/P-Noy_And_Corruption Fri, 9 Jul 2010 06:41:00 -0000 To Hope http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/184/To_Hope How many times one stumbled but rose again to achieve great things? Stories of that theme abound: within your family, community, friends, school, and even in the what appears to be destitute places such as the dumping areas where squatters  scavenge for the detritus  of modern cities , much like the dogs do. But unlike dogs, human beings, particularly Filipinos, they have hope that springs eternal. So we thought. And so we have just proven. President Nonoy, or P-Noy as he wants to be called, was swept to power breezing through the strong wind of hope. Gibo certainly eclipsed P-Noy’s academic credentials.  Manny Villar has stellar records both in the corporate and political landscapes.  Other pretenders to the throne were weighed but found wanting.  Yet the people pinned their hopes in Noynoy, he who was born to power and wealth but never showed any symptom of intoxication of either. His mother was once the president, his father secured a famous niche in Phi... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/184/To_Hope Fri, 9 Jul 2010 06:24:00 -0000 The Past Decade http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/183/The_Past_Decade I COULD write recent events, like the massacre, our new CNN Hero, and even the rumor surrounding Krista Ranillo and the Pacman. That makes me appear like a journalist, or in case of the rumor, showbiz reporter. But to write about a decade demands a more exacting discipline of historian, one who is meticulous in details and yet has an eye for the bigger plot unfolding in history.I am not your mainstream journalist nor do I qualify as historian. But I guess the lack of either does not prevent me from writing about the past decade. Minutes before the clock struck twelve midnight, the first hour of the year 2000, I was talking with my neighbors about the Y2K. The Y2K bug would crash computers, machines, and engines. There would be a global panic. The doomsday was coming. It turned-out there was no major problem except the paranoia that preceded the date. If the 90s saw the breaking down of Berlin Wall, and the epitaph to the Cold War written in the tombstone of history,... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/183/The_Past_Decade Sat, 9 Jan 2010 21:12:00 -0000 Looking back, looking ahead http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/182/Looking_back_looking_ahead If the first few days of the year were the portent of things to come, then 2009 ushered in not so good light. The first few weeks saw the earth drenched in flood, and yes, blood too, of the victims as the raging waters swept across the many low-lying areas in the city. The global warming showed its symptoms. China, Taiwan, Myanmar, and other Asian countries were victims of typhoons of unprecedeted proportions, of death and destruction once unimaginable. Australia had her suffocating sandstorm. Heat waves swept areas in Europe. Typhoon Ondoy submerged most part of Metro Manila and dampened the spirits of the residents who were reeling already from the economic woes, and the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities. How can one argue against the prophets of doom? These prophets have warned the earthlings that without decisive and coordinated fight against global warming, homo sapiens, just like the dinosours, may meet their untimely extinction. As if the natural disasters were not enough... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/182/Looking_back_looking_ahead Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:11:00 -0000 Inspiring feat http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/179/Inspiring_feat MY MOTHER is already seventy-three years old. Ever since, she hates boxing. There is just too much gore and blood. It is a modern day version, one that is commercialized, of the gladiators in the olden times.My daughter too covers her head at the sight of blood. Of the siblings, she is the most feminine and is easily upset with violent.But both shed their phobias last Sunday when Manny Pacquiao slugged it out in the ring against the Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto. My mother jumped, clapped, and shouted every time Manny hit Cotto, but covered her face in worry when Cotto caught Manny's chin. My daughter's delight when Cotto was floored twice could not be contained.Manny's feat has inspired not only the boxing aficionados, the young and old, but even those, who like my mother and daughter, do not naturally like boxing. Special mention is my mother. Even as a child, I recall her aversion to boxing. When I tried to use the gloves in earl years, I received a scolding.But the magic Manny has wov... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/179/Inspiring_feat Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:55:00 -0000 Living And Writing http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/176/Living_And_Writing Why write at all?       To write is to live. Or is it the other way around?   Whether writing is a subject and living, a predicate, or the sentence is structured in some other way, it does not really matter.  Writing and living, these two are sides of one reality.  All men can write, and therefore, can live a life.  Living takes so many forms, one entirely distinct from one another.  Writing too, except if one is a plagiarist - and that is not writing at all - is unique to every individual.              Just as with living, the passion for writing differs.  The zest for life too is unique.  God did not create a unique individual by physical appearance.  Identical twins can dispute that hypothesis.  What makes each man truly different from one another is passion for life.           We can never be the same at the way we look at life.  Yes, we too can never b... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/176/Living_And_Writing Tue, 3 Nov 2009 04:20:00 -0000 Reflections On All Souls' Day http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/175/Reflections_On_All_Souls_Day Sometimes it is interchanged with All Saints' Day. The difference in date and name though is easily bridged with the same nurturing idea of afterlife.          We pray for the souls of our loves ones. We implore for the intercession of the saints. In these two religious acts, we hope that our departed enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Between the living and the dead, eternity takes them apart.  The celebration of the all soul’s day tries to mediate the distance as we troop to the cemeteries and once more show our love and care to the departed.         I once attended the burial of an uncle. My son kept on asking why his "Papa Remy" was sleeping in the coffin.  I said, he is already dead, and would have to be buried soon.  As usual to a precocious child, I was bombarded with follow-up questions.  But the question that jolted me was "What would happen now that he is dead?"  I could not answer.  Otherwise, I ... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/175/Reflections_On_All_Souls_Day Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:31:00 -0000 Unnatural disasters http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/174/Unnatural_disasters Natural disasters, such as typhoons, earthquakes, forests fires, tsunamis, these were once purely caso fortuito, acts of God, over which no man has any hand, and over which man cannot be held accountable.                 Natural disasters come in random, unpredictable in its ferocity even with the advance of science.  We have simply to accept its wrath just as we do come to terms with our fates.        The disasters though that recently frequent man with regularity are not natural.  Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng that recently ravaged most of Luzon, the tsunami that claimed lives in Samoa on September 29 this year, and the 7.9-magnitude earth that struck Sumatra, these are not acts of God,  but of man.  Whether you call Him Allah or God or Budha, there is certainty despite the uncertainty in our faith and belief: He is not responsible for the mayhem wrought by recent disasters.         ... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/174/Unnatural_disasters Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:56:00 -0000 Come to think of it. It is not genius but perseverance and discipline that propel men to greater heights. http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/3 http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/3 Fri, 9 Oct 2009 04:39:18 -0000 I am handling a murder case involving eight persons. They were arrested yesterday. I know that there was no murder nor conspiracy. But the public prosecutor insists that the accused defend themselves in court. The trial would have to proceed. Since murder is not bailable, they will languish in jail for many years. I am pretty sure they will be acquitted. But where is justice here? http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/2 http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/2 Tue, 6 Oct 2009 11:13:06 -0000 The core of life http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/171/The_core_of_life More than two years ago, I was informed of the tragic news: my once tennis buddy, Dodong, died, apparently of car accident. But there is more than meets the eye. At 1:00 o'clcok in the afternoon of March 24, 2007, his car rammed into a truck that was parked at the road shoulder. He must be running at the speed of 120km/hour that his car and his mangled body were beyond recognition. Initial finding points to a suicide. Accordingly, his young wife, called him over the mobile phone to break the tragic news: she was leaving him. One tragic news leading to a more horrific news. We were stunned, numbed. How could he took his life? He was doing well in his business? He was a class "A" tennis player, and for us, tennis players, "tennis is life". So long as there is a tennis court, life continues. And yet, Dodong's case proved that afterall, contrary to our motto, there is more to life than tennis, that behind the grunts for a power stroke, underneath lies the sobbing self, hidden behind the fa... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/171/The_core_of_life Tue, 6 Oct 2009 10:57:00 -0000 October 2, 2009. The traffic in Metro Manila is still horrible. From the Mall of Asia to Paranaque it took us two hours when it should only be thirty minutes. I can never live a life spent on a traffic jam. What a waste of time. http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/1 http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/notes/item/1 Fri, 2 Oct 2009 13:15:41 -0000 Natural disasters http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/170/Natural_disasters <a href="http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/57M/125"><img border="0" class="alignleft" src="http://images.tmpjr70.multiply.com/image/xy-KyreHbQSCj9spCEmCbg/photos/57M/300x300/125/4ebfe41074ac4d5b9a4b01da8810a134.jpg?et=S393QIc3VV7u5m8wvxBPsQ&nmid=0"></a>Hollywood dramatized the consuming fear of our times in movies like the Perfect Storm, Volcano, Hurricane Catcher.  These are riveting films centered on natural disasters. The global climate has gone awry that it is fictionalized in these movies in a way to make sense of our otherwise incomprehensible planet.               But truth is stranger than fiction. Or to say it in another way, reality is sometimes more incredible than fiction. The human tragedy depicted in these movies pale in comparison to actual statistics of death and mayhem whenever there is a tsunami, earthquake, or flood. When a calamity strikes, the fury of nature – howling winds, gushing waters, and gigantic waves – is more horrific than all the cinematic effects combined.        Our planet is getting warmer.  Al Gore’s analogy of a frog in the bottle that is slowly dying of rising temperature in his documentary Inconvenient Truth rings tr... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/170/Natural_disasters Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:01:00 -0000 Recalling Martial Law [Part I] http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/168/Recalling_Martial_Law_Part_I Nightmares are not worth recalling.  That may be true if they occur in the privacy of our rooms, wrap in the eerie silence of the night.   But political nightmares deserved to be reminisced, debated upon, and reflected on, if we have to move forward as a nation.  A nation that has no common historical memory is just a hodge-podge of tribes without national identity.   On a personal level, I did not want to recall life under martial law.  The experiences were bad enough, and defying risks that went with the rallies were chilling to repeat.    But the innocent question of my ever precocious eight-year old boy changed the temper of yesterday’s 37th martial law anniversary.   He asked:  “What is martial law? “  The lawyer in me wanted to parrot the constitutional basis of martial law, and the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court on the issue.  Of course, I would not have to discuss with my boy in a grandiose manner. ... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/168/Recalling_Martial_Law_Part_I Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:32:25 -0000 Trade-offs of a Diaspora http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/167/Trade-offs_of_a_Diaspora The government, under past and present administrations, has been proud of its deployment of around eleven million Overseas Filipino Workers. Almost all administrations trumpet this exodus of Filipinos abroad. Without this deployment, the Philippine economy would have sunk in the pit long ago. What help us tide over the financial global crises are the remittances of our overseas workers.  This Filipino Diaspora is more of an indictment of how Philippines had been badly governed. Instead of being proud, any administration should bow its head in recognition of its failure at governance. There is nothing to be proud about of having to send Filipinos abroad for greener pasture since there may be no pasture to speak about back home.  The foreign currency remittances have been the price tag of the trade-offs these modern day heroes have to endure. In some countries such as Hong Kong, the word Filipina is synonymous with domestic helper. We have heard of tales of the cruelties our new ... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/167/Trade-offs_of_a_Diaspora Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:35:45 -0000 Electing a president http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/164/Electing_a_president Election to the presidency is not based on self-worth or sheer will. Cory was swept into the presidency not on her own merit. Take away Ferdinand Marcos from the equation, and seeing Cory as just plain housewife fits the picture. Barack Obama, no matter how many claims that he is just too charismatic to lose in the election, missed the entire context. Imagine Obama without the monumental failures of the Bush administration. Being a president is a product of the confluence of events, of historical milieu. True, there are those who won elections against the historical tide: these are exceptions rather than the norm. Gloria Arroyo may not have robbed Fernando Poe of the presidency. That is a serious indictment. She simply blanked-out Poe in Cebu and Muslim Mindanao, and Garci too fitted perfectly in the story. Noynoy’s presidency, barring the likes of Hello Garci and the flood of money politics from Manny Villar, is pushed to the crest in the historical tide.  The Arroyo adminis... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/164/Electing_a_president Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:21:18 -0000 Selective prosecution http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/163/Selective_prosecution Selective prosecution, this comes to mind when an individual or a certain group is singled out in the enforcement of a law. Selective prosecution, this we recall when then President Ferdinand Marcos not only prosecuted but persecuted his political opponents.Selective prosecution, too, occurred when Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Juanito Manzano raided three small-mining operators in Taglimao, Cagayan de Oro City but allowing the others numbering almost 300 operators to mine the hinterlands with impunity.Selective Prosection, too, was applied to Jetti Oil, a relatively new oil company competing with the Big Three - Caltex, Petron, and Caltex - is being hounded with law enforcement ranging from the serious charge of technical smuggling to criminal prosecution for failing to submit reports on time. There is nothing really wrong with this. But there is something terribly wrong with this, when it is only the small oil players like Jetti, is being run after.It turned out Jetti, at le... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/163/Selective_prosecution Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:11:52 -0000 Heroic Act http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/162/Heroic_Act Heroes, I mean those who are publicly recognized, are men who liberate the nation. National heroes have their feats granted an imprimatur by the state. Yet, no hero, not even the only national hero, Jose Rizal, could claim to be the sole author of freedom from Spain. Neither Cory Aquino nor Cardinal Sin could be attributed as the only pillars of EDSA I. If at all, the recognized heroes earn their stature for being the rallying personalities during upheavals. This is not to downplay the sacrifices these heroes endured. But any change, to effect at all, needs the heroic acts of the people themselves. Imagine Cory and Cardinal Sin without the people gathering at EDSA. Sporadic acts of heroism, though unrecognized, more often, spell the difference between success and failure of any upheaval. Unfortunately, history has been written in the prism of the macro, of the big names in our history. The Juan de la Cruces, they who after all, decide the outcome of the struggle deserve the accolade or... http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/journal/item/162/Heroic_Act Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:22:11 -0000 www.palasanlaw.com http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/links/item/11/www.palasanlaw.com http://tmpjr70.multiply.com/links/item/11/www.palasanlaw.com Sun, 8 Mar 2009 11:23:40 -0000