Don't lift total logging ban!
Don't lift total logging ban!
Posted 00:55am (Mla time) Feb 25, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the February 25, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is reportedly reviewing the logging ban she had imposed immediately after floods and landslides killed hundreds of people and destroyed the homes of thousands of others in Aurora, Quezon and Nueva Ecija. The disaster was caused by rampant logging, legal and illegal, on the mountains above the towns and villages. In fact, it was the deluge of cut logs washed down the mountainsides that caused the most fatalities and damage. Now the President is reportedly thinking of lifting the ban at the insistence of loggers and wood processors, members of the Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA).
Here we go again. After the corpses have been buried and the disaster is no longer in the news, public officials change their minds about the remedial measures they have imposed to prevent a repetition of the disaster. Vested interests had time to work on the officials, especially the President, to change their minds and go back to the old ways. Anyway the people have forgot the tragedy. So happy days may be here again for the loggers. And for the public officials, big and small, high and low, with whom they share their profits from the blood of the people.
It is Ormoc all over again. After floods and landslides and an avalanche of cut logs from the mountains rained down and decimated the people below, there was a lot of sorrow and wringing of hands and remedial measures and speeches from public officials. After the corpses were buried, the fatalities, the tragedy, the remedial measures, the promises were forgotten. If Ormoc had not been forgotten, what happened there would not have been repeated in Aurora and Quezon.
Even legislators have forgotten what they have said after the Aurora-Quezon tragedies when almost all of them proposed a total log ban. Now they are largely quiet, no doubt because some of them are loggers themselves. It is now the turn of the loggers to be noisy. They have had time to work on the legislators. It is only Sen. Jamby Madrigal who is steadfastly protecting the environment.
Veteran politician Nene Pimentel has been impressed by the neophyte senator. "I thought Jamby was just a rich spoiled brat," he told me last Saturday. "But it turns out she is a very intelligent person."
Pimentel narrated her performance at the Senate when she interpellated Environment Secretary Mike Defensor. She was well prepared, she knew her subject, she had studied it very well. Her questions made mincemeat of Defensor. "Nagkalat si Mike," he said.
Which is why I invited Madrigal to the Kapihan sa Manila media forum last Monday. I was convinced that she knows by heart the problems of the environment. (More on this later.)
* * *
A justice of the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, Raoul J. Victorino, retired the other day but his retirement was different. Justices and judges retire all the time, so what made Victorino's retirement different?
Well, most members of the bench retire with many of their cases unfinished, leaving it to their overburdened replacement the job of finishing them. I remember the case of former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena who applied for retirement. The Supreme Court ordered him to first clear his backlog of cases, some of which had been submitted for decision for many years. Still, the justice was unable to finish all of them and left many of them behind for his replacement.
Passing cases to new judges causes difficulties and can even cause miscarriage of justice. The replacement judge has to depend entirely on the transcript and records of the case. He has not watched the demeanor of the witnesses during direct and cross examinations. It is basic that an observant judge can determine if a witness is lying or not by his demeanor in court. The new judge is deprived of that chance, and therefore the chances that he would make a wrong decision are higher. And this is one reason we have the slowest administration of justice in the world. Cases take decades to finish.
Victorino was pleasantly different. He left the court without any backlog of cases.
But that is not the only reason he is respected by his peers. He is known not only as a hard worker but also as an incorruptible jurist with integrity. Too bad he has retired. We need more jurists like him.
* * *
Speaking of miscarriage of justice, all the members of the Commission on Elections are facing graft charges before the Ombudsman for the contract to purchase counting machines intended for use in the May 10, 2004 elections. The Supreme Court declared the contract null and void. All the commissioners have been charged: Chair Benjamin Abalos, Luzviminda Tancangco, Ralph Lantion, Mehol Sadiin, Resurreccion Borra, Rufino Javier and Florentino Tuazon Jr.
But in the Comelec resolution awarding the contract, which is a part of the complaint, Commissioner Javier has no signature. Instead of his signature, the initials "O.B." is written over his name and beside it the signature of Abalos. "O.B." means "Official Business." This means that Javier was out on official business at the time the resolution was discussed and passed.
Clearly Javier was not present at the meeting when the decision was made to award the contract for the supply of counting machines. He did not participate in that decision. So why is he included in the complaint?
Posted 00:55am (Mla time) Feb 25, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the February 25, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is reportedly reviewing the logging ban she had imposed immediately after floods and landslides killed hundreds of people and destroyed the homes of thousands of others in Aurora, Quezon and Nueva Ecija. The disaster was caused by rampant logging, legal and illegal, on the mountains above the towns and villages. In fact, it was the deluge of cut logs washed down the mountainsides that caused the most fatalities and damage. Now the President is reportedly thinking of lifting the ban at the insistence of loggers and wood processors, members of the Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA).
Here we go again. After the corpses have been buried and the disaster is no longer in the news, public officials change their minds about the remedial measures they have imposed to prevent a repetition of the disaster. Vested interests had time to work on the officials, especially the President, to change their minds and go back to the old ways. Anyway the people have forgot the tragedy. So happy days may be here again for the loggers. And for the public officials, big and small, high and low, with whom they share their profits from the blood of the people.
It is Ormoc all over again. After floods and landslides and an avalanche of cut logs from the mountains rained down and decimated the people below, there was a lot of sorrow and wringing of hands and remedial measures and speeches from public officials. After the corpses were buried, the fatalities, the tragedy, the remedial measures, the promises were forgotten. If Ormoc had not been forgotten, what happened there would not have been repeated in Aurora and Quezon.
Even legislators have forgotten what they have said after the Aurora-Quezon tragedies when almost all of them proposed a total log ban. Now they are largely quiet, no doubt because some of them are loggers themselves. It is now the turn of the loggers to be noisy. They have had time to work on the legislators. It is only Sen. Jamby Madrigal who is steadfastly protecting the environment.
Veteran politician Nene Pimentel has been impressed by the neophyte senator. "I thought Jamby was just a rich spoiled brat," he told me last Saturday. "But it turns out she is a very intelligent person."
Pimentel narrated her performance at the Senate when she interpellated Environment Secretary Mike Defensor. She was well prepared, she knew her subject, she had studied it very well. Her questions made mincemeat of Defensor. "Nagkalat si Mike," he said.
Which is why I invited Madrigal to the Kapihan sa Manila media forum last Monday. I was convinced that she knows by heart the problems of the environment. (More on this later.)
* * *
A justice of the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, Raoul J. Victorino, retired the other day but his retirement was different. Justices and judges retire all the time, so what made Victorino's retirement different?
Well, most members of the bench retire with many of their cases unfinished, leaving it to their overburdened replacement the job of finishing them. I remember the case of former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena who applied for retirement. The Supreme Court ordered him to first clear his backlog of cases, some of which had been submitted for decision for many years. Still, the justice was unable to finish all of them and left many of them behind for his replacement.
Passing cases to new judges causes difficulties and can even cause miscarriage of justice. The replacement judge has to depend entirely on the transcript and records of the case. He has not watched the demeanor of the witnesses during direct and cross examinations. It is basic that an observant judge can determine if a witness is lying or not by his demeanor in court. The new judge is deprived of that chance, and therefore the chances that he would make a wrong decision are higher. And this is one reason we have the slowest administration of justice in the world. Cases take decades to finish.
Victorino was pleasantly different. He left the court without any backlog of cases.
But that is not the only reason he is respected by his peers. He is known not only as a hard worker but also as an incorruptible jurist with integrity. Too bad he has retired. We need more jurists like him.
* * *
Speaking of miscarriage of justice, all the members of the Commission on Elections are facing graft charges before the Ombudsman for the contract to purchase counting machines intended for use in the May 10, 2004 elections. The Supreme Court declared the contract null and void. All the commissioners have been charged: Chair Benjamin Abalos, Luzviminda Tancangco, Ralph Lantion, Mehol Sadiin, Resurreccion Borra, Rufino Javier and Florentino Tuazon Jr.
But in the Comelec resolution awarding the contract, which is a part of the complaint, Commissioner Javier has no signature. Instead of his signature, the initials "O.B." is written over his name and beside it the signature of Abalos. "O.B." means "Official Business." This means that Javier was out on official business at the time the resolution was discussed and passed.
Clearly Javier was not present at the meeting when the decision was made to award the contract for the supply of counting machines. He did not participate in that decision. So why is he included in the complaint?
posted by Dante at 7:10 PM
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