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The End of Oposa

In two pervious works I went against conventional analyses of Oposa v. Factoran , a decision of the Philippine Supreme Court that supposedly recognized standing to sue in behalf of future generations to protect the environment. The first piece posited that Oposa is essentially misunderstood in that everything the Court said about standing to sue is merely obiter dictum , and not binding on any court. In fact, the Court merely remanded the case to the trial court saying that the petitioners in that case had a cause of action and that the trial court should not have dismissed the case in the first place. The lawyers did not pursue the case, however. The second piece showed that the rest of the Supreme Court’s decisions affecting the environment are in fact hostile to the environment revealing that the Court’s reputation for environmental activism is undeserved. Oposa raised a question that lingered for years: Is it possible to invoke the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction directly, based sole...
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Gonzales and Gonzalez

The Inquirer's editorial Serving the President on September 3 summarized the worst aspects of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez' stint in the Arroyo cabinet. It enumerated Gonzalez' offensive and outrageous statements that were designed to protect the President, whether she was right or wrong. The Inquirer was generous in its assessment: it left other acts of the Secretary which include Marcos-style surveillance of the media and his defense of the President's campaign to abolish the system of checks and balances in government. Illness has kept Raul Gonzalez out of the loop but his determination not to relinquish his post (at 76) should send chills up the country's collective spine. His record of politicizing his position parallels US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' own troubled record. Gonzales is Gonzalez's counterpart in the US. He is the head of the US Department of Justice. TIME magazine explains his disgraceful exit as a result of his penchant for...
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Justice Puno's Call for Charter Change

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno's call for renewed debate for constitutional amendment was disappointing. Justice Puno made his call during the inaugural lecture of the UP College of Law's Centennial Lecture Series. However, he cited no new reasons for the debate and there was an unsettling JDV-esque ring to his entire lecture. Many of these grounds he cited as reasons for change have already been examined and debunked by scholars . One recycled argument--legislative gridlock is presently being addressed by the Aquino administration by holding a Cabinet workshop to identify priority bills that will be presented to the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council. These steps are being taken precisely to address potential gridlock. I expected more from the first lecture that starts the UP College of Law's centennial lecture series. I thought it should have been a scholarly forum that examines important legal issues and not a venue for political posturing.
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