The cop out of Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 84 Judge Luisito Cortez from the multiple murder case against suspected massacre artist Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. mirrors the desperate state of the justice system in which arbiters of law on whom the people rely for justice, are either cowed by criminals or syndicates or are easily bought off. The courts have been embroiled in many other situations that cast a cloud on the reputations of most judges in the country, including the recent tussle about big business bribery where, as opposed to the Ampatuan case, judges are on each other’s neck to have the case assigned to them. The judiciary, nevertheless, is rich with stories of exemplary judges, and there are many who would defy all odds just to uphold the rule of law. A handful has been killed in recent years by those whom the judges had passed their verdict.
France urges RP to back disappearances treaty (tags)
France appealed to the Philippine government to sign and ratify an international treaty on forced disappearances in view of the pending assistance of local authorities by human rights experts from Europe in solving the unabated political killings in the country. French Ambassador to the Philippines Gerard Chesnel yesterday stressed the need for all democratic governments to support the treaty on disappearances, which will criminalize and put an end to rampant state-sanctioned abductions.
Philippines: Lifting of PP 1017 - The beginning of Arroyo’s downfall (tags)
March 3, 2006 The lifting of Presidential Proclamation 1017 is a victory for the Filipino people! It was not the will of GMA, but the will of a determined people, who had continuously fought and challenged the proclamation and held protest actions to oust her from office, that made such lifting possible.