[ "Ma ma ma my Corona!!!" --- sing to the tune of the 1970s "My Sharona" ]
I am still waiting for my hotshot [ "de campanilla" ] lawyer friends to help me put together an intelligible blog post on this current political maelstrom…
The usual story is that it is all about the Supreme Court decision on the 6,435 - hectare Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac of the Jose “Pepe” Cojuangco Sr. and Demetria “Metring” Sumulong family — Pedro “Pete,” Josephine “Jo,” Teresita “Terry,” Corazon “Cory,” Jose Jr. “Peping,” and Maria Paz “Passy” [ NOT the Eduardo "Endeng" Cojuangco Sr, and Josephine "Nene" Murphy family { Eduardo Jr. "Danding," Mercedes "Ditas," Aurora "Rory," Enrique "Henry," Isabel, and Manuel "Manoling" } NOR the Antonio Cojuangco and Victoria "Toyang" Uychuico family { Meldy O. and her children Antonio "Tonyboy," et. al. } NOR the childless Juan "Itoy" Cojuangco and Lualhati "Hati" Aldaba ] …
Cojuangco clan members, relatives, and associates will tell you that Hacienda Luisita, acquired by the Jose Cojuangcos postwar from the Spanish “Tabacalera” company, was a headache from Day 01.
The city’s elegant lunch and dinner tables have it that at a Jose Cojuangco Sr. family meeting following the Supreme Court decision, a senior family member [ who's left? ] was supposed to have lashed out at the nephew Benigno III “Noynoy,” currently the President of the Philippines, “Kung noong panahon ni Marcos, Macapagal, o Garcia, o sino pa man, hindi nagalaw ‘yan, ngayon pang Presidente ka???!!! XXXX!!!”
Poor President Noynoy. I don’t envy his difficult position within his Cojuangco-Sumulong clan.
And that is supposed to be why Chief Justice Renato Corona has to go…
*************************************
“There were serious legal and ethical issues regarding the appointment of then Associate Justice Renato Corona as Chief Justice of the Philippine Supreme Court during the appointment ban [ "lame duck" ] period of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.”
“However, the legal issue was raised to the Supreme Court and was decided in favor of allowing her to appoint whomever she wanted to fill the vacancy. This matter by virtue of that decision has turned into law, rightly or wrongly.”
“We all know that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of what the law is. If we decided to negate the decisions of the said court, we are going to be facing anarchy simply because everybody will have his own interpretation of the law.”
“This is exactly what is happening right now in the impeachment proceedings. You have the prosecutors and the senator judges who have their own ideas of what the law is. We are, in a way, living in a state of anarchy.”
*************************************
“They’re all these blackened and sooty pots calling Corona the kettle black. They’re all the same anyway. They act as if they don’t have the very same skeletons in their closets .”
*************************************
“So President Aquino wants to replace Renato Corona as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Who will replace him? Antonio Carpio? Maria Lourdes Sereno? Is this a game of ‘Go Back to Square One’???!!!”
*************************************
“No one is above the law. And the ultimate arbiter of the law is the Supreme Court.”
************************************
“It is good that the fine legal minds of Johnny Ponce-Enrile and Miriam Defensor-Santiago restrain them from making fools of themselves, unlike the rest… The two know that the Impeachment Body is already ‘overstepping the bounds’.”
*************************************
“Since no one there seems to be listening to the Supreme Court, those lawyers should return their licenses and just pull out their guns and shoot at one another.”
*************************************
“We are already in a constitutional crisis.”
*************************************
“We are very disappointed with the President and his legal team. The sheer clumsiness with which all this is being handled is frankly embarrassing and demoralizing to the entire Filipino legal community.”
*************************************
IM-PEACH MELBA:
In the meantime, I am enjoying Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s antics immensely. She’s so “bongga”!!! She gives me something to do, and enjoy, while waiting for the traffic to move…
I guffawed like Snoopy the Beagle [ or Muttley of Dick Dastardly? ] at the mock-heated exchange between Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and maritime lawyer Atty. Arthur Lim because it was like Lucy scolding Charlie Brown in the “Peanuts” comics series. The two were classmates at the UP Law School [ Batch 1969 ] along with Senator Franklin Drilon and billionaire entrepreneur and horseracing magnate Atty. Alfonso “Boy” Reyno. Law school contemporaries remember the straightlaced Miriam reporting to her professors in that signature Ilonggo-English-slang twang of hers: “Professor! The boys at the back are cheeeaaating!!!” It’s interesting to note that the UP Law School Batch of 1969 has produced several powerful political players.
“The Constitution allows the Senate to promulgate its own rules of procedure. That has been repeated in this instance. This is the end of this colloquy. How dare you raise questions [of] my authority? Be careful because I might request my colleagues to inhibit you and disqualify you from appearing here!”
“You cannot heckle me. You cannot engage in what the law calls a colloquy with me. You cannot engage in a discussion or in an argumentation with me. I’m the judge, I preside here!”
Enjoy the show… just what this whole increasingly ridiculous, imbecilic, hypocritical shebang is supposed to achieve totally escapes me.
Enrique Bustos said,
February 23, 2012 at 2:53 pm
COCKTALES
Victor C. Agustin
Cocktales belatedly learned of one possible reason why Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago made scathing comments on prosecution counsel Arthur Lim, even mocking his maritime practice on live national TV.
Supposedly, the two were not only classmates at the UP Law School, but also went out on dates several times during their Diliman days.
What is unclear is who dropped whom after the brief romantic flirtation.
Larry Leviste said,
February 22, 2012 at 10:34 pm
BRAVA ALICIA
Ipê Nazareno said,
February 21, 2012 at 4:12 am
Amen, Alicia!
Alicia Perez said,
February 18, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Seriously, what is happening???
To be frank, I’m very disappointed with President Aquino. He’s out to lynch all these “offenders” like Corona and del Castillo and that is well and good but the truth is that, in principle, he must start with himself and his Cojuangco-Sumulong clan. It matters little that the Aquino-Cojuangco have divested themselves of their shares of Hacienda Luisita. Hacienda Luisita is still owned by the Cojuangco-Sumulong family and, by law, it is still subject to CARP the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. He must make a man of himself before anything else.
“Daang Matuwid”??? How about “Daang Baku-Bako,” Mr. President???
I didn’t want to have to say this, but President Aquino has no credibility as far as all this is concerned. It is already comically obvious that this whole circus is about the future of his clan’s Hacienda Luisita. “Hacienda my foot!” to paraphrase Miriam Defensor-Santiago. They should have followed the terms which were stipulated during the 1958 purchase of the hacienda — that it be distributed to the tenant farmers after a year. Besides, having a “hacienda” is already such an outmoded, antediluvian way of living. And I don’t care about what Sonny Tinio nor Ado Escudero, nor Inigo Zobel nor the Boy Tuasons nor the Tony Floirendos have to say. There are far more efficient and far quicker ways to make money in 2012 !!!
It was also “very unpresidential” of President Aquino to take personal potshots at Renato Corona in a speech he made a few days ago. It was below the dignity of the President of the Republic. Remember who you are, Mr. President.
And please, have background checks done on the ladies you date. You might be unpleasantly surprised in the future. Your lady might just leave when you’re no longer President.
Alicia Perez
Alicia Perez said,
February 18, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Text message going around:
“There will be a new witness in the Corona trial. A relative. From Japan. His name: TOYOTA CORONA!!!”
Hahahah!!!
To think I got it from a dear friend, a prominent lawyer.
Alicia Perez
paz atienza said,
February 15, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Why was I laughing so loud at your comparison of Charlie Brown and Lucy while Snoopy (you) watched at the sidelines? That was an awesome caricature of these characters in the impeachment trial. I am trying my best to check out who is Linus, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty and Pig-Pen!
Enrique Bustos said,
February 13, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Fast forward to the Present Hacienda Luisita Inc is heavily indebted to San Miguel Corp chaired by Danding Cojuangco according to news report
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusop.htm?f=2011/december/1/rayenano.isx&d=2011/december/1
San Miguel is a stakeholder in Hacienda Luisita after the company lent money to the cash-strapped sugar estate. The largest food and drinks company, which diversified into the power, mining, telecommunications, utility and banking businesses, advanced over P1 billion to Hacienda Luisita Inc. as payment for future sugar purchases.
San Miguel advanced P300 million each to Hacienda Luisita in at least two transactions as payment for the sugar purchases, presumably to meet the requirements of the former’s food, fruit juice and liquor businesses. San Miguel did not take delivery of the sugar purchases, preferring to bide its time and collect the produce at a later period.
San Miguel, in the first place, could not call on the sugar purchases because the estate has stopped production. Hacienda Luisita farmers staged a strike to press their demand to redistribute the farm to them as part of the government’s land reform program.
With the non-delivery of the sugar at an agreed price, Hacienda Luisita owes San Miguel at least P1.5 billion, including interests. How Hacienda Luisita will repay the advances to San Miguel remains unclear, especially in the light of the Supreme Court ruling.
Hacienda Luisita itself is in a financial quandary. It could lose entirely the sugar produce from the estate if, say, farmers decided to plant rice or other crops. Hacienda Luisita and sugar refinery Central Azucarera de Tarlac will have the costly (and unlikely) option to secure sugar canes from other fields.
The Supreme Court ruling has also put San Miguel’s ambition plan to make part of the sugar estate into a modern logistics hub. A stock distribution plan would have smoothened the conglomerate’s formal entry into Hacienda Luisita.
Hacienda Luisita had committed about 1,000 hectares of land to San Miguel to support the company’s plan to build an agro-industrial enclave right at the heart of Luzon. The site would have served as the center of the company’s Luzon operations and address San Miguel’s need to integrate its agricultural and industrial operations.
The grapevine said it had been San Miguel’s long-term corporate plan to integrate the bulk of its operations into one hub to boost its status as a regional and global company. Hacienda Luisita, with its sugar plantation nearby to supply the requirements of San Miguel, was the ideal host to San Miguel’s integrated operations. The completion of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway that cuts through the sugar estate has partially provided the infrastructure requirements of the future industrial center.
Myles Garcia said,
February 13, 2012 at 4:32 am
I am curious. Why is Sen. Santiago still there? Has her nomination for…is it the ICJ or the World Court…stalled? I doubt that her ‘butangera’ style will put her in good stead amongst her international colleagues. Hers is a very difficult accent to listen to — even more so than say, the most English-unfriendly African dialects. She is so hung-up on procedure and technicality that it almost looks like an ego trip for her. I mean she ain’t no Judge Judy. She’ll be the laughing stock of the International Court and. hopefully, most of it behind her back. Hasn’t she heard of “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”? She’s almost like a clown.
toto gonzalez said,
February 12, 2012 at 5:38 am
Enrique:
Yes, according to the Cojuangco-Murphy daughters, their uncle Jose “Pepe” Cojuangco Sr. invited their family [ his late brother Eduardo Sr.'s "Endeng's" ] to invest in a 10 % stake at the Hacienda Luisita during its 1958 purchase. However, Eduardo Jr. “Danding” declined, as he preferred an independent direction for their family.
Toto Gonzalez
Enrique Bustos said,
February 12, 2012 at 5:04 am
When Don Pepe Cojuangco bought Hacienda Luisita from Tabacalera he invited his nephews Monching and Danding Cojuangco to invest in his new company only Monching Cojuangco invested in Tarlac Development Corp he acquired 10% in equal footing with the children of Don Pepe Cojuangco but after the 1963 split of the Cojuangco family there was an agreement that Don Pepe Cojuangco’s stake in Philippine Bank of Commerce will be exchanged with Monching Cojuangco’s stake in Tarlac Development Corp. S.G.V made the valuation of the Philippine Bank of Commerce share of Don Pepe Cojuangco and Share of Monching Cojuangco in Tarlac Development Corp it was divided equally by Monching and Danding Cojuangco
cecil lima said,
February 10, 2012 at 5:44 am
please open The Daily Tribune today. very interesting.
Larry Leviste said,
February 1, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Yesterday I was at work at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, naturally there are flat screens all over with the impeachment trial buzzing by. Suddenly the whole floor erupted with laughter. When I asked what happened, they said Lito Lapid made some remarks.
For this senator who didn’t finish high school and whose wife has a police alert bracelet strapped to her ankle, he shouldn’t have opened his mouth.
Miriam is an old barn yard dog who for now is still a Gloria loyalist and therefore pro-Corona.
Impeachment, it’s more PUN in the Philippines.
Presy Guevara said,
January 27, 2012 at 8:36 pm
The proceedings clearly convey that no one is above the law – not even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. I fervently hope that fairness prevails, for in the end, the people of the Philippines stand to gain or suffer from this impeachment, the final outcome of which shall dwell among us for a long long time.