Sharon-Kiko-style pre-nups and the injustice of our laws

The father-and-son tandem of lawyers Ping and Jopet Sison is back with the popular show ‘Kapag May Katwiran, Ipaglaban Mo,’ tackling issues such as adultery, inheritance, and how some laws are truly unfair to women

What is the true state of Philippine justice today, those issues involving annulment of marriages, family squabbles over inheritance, marital infidelity and others? How can we rectify antiquated double standards in Philippine laws created by male chauvinist politicians of the past, such as in laws making it difficult to penalize philandering husbands but making it so much easier to punish unfaithful women?

Is it true that the Philippines has more lawyers than the rest of Asia, in the same way that our former colonizer America has more lawyers than the rest of the world? How come with our surfeit of lawyers and laws created by generations of politicians, Philippine society today suffers from so much social injustice and our notoriously corrupt judicial system is clogged with so many unresolved cases?

Philippine STAR legal columnist Atty. Jose "Ping" Sison and his son, National Housing Authority Acting general manager Joseph Peter "Jopet" Sison, also a lawyer, recently revived their long-running legal drama show Kapag May Katwiran, Ipaglaban Mo (If you’re right, fight for it!) on RPN-9, Saturday, at 2 to 3 p.m. The drama episodes are based on real-life Supreme Court cases, portrayed by top actors and actresses, then explained in layman’s language by the Sisons. Here are excerpts from a casual dinner conversation that turned into an impromptu interview on Philippine-style justice:

THE PHILIPPINE STAR: Ever since you first came out with Ipaglaban Mo TV show in 1989 up to its revival now, what have been the most common legal problems that trouble people in Philippine society?

ATTY. PING SISON and ATTY. JOPET SISON: The most common problems in Philippine society deal with family law, criminal law, civil law, bouncing checks, estafa, inheritance, husband and wife relationships such as spouses committing infidelity – and getting caught (laughs).

Can you cite an example of these husband-wife conflicts, and legal situations that we don’t normally know about?

Ping: For example, if a man catches his wife in an act of sexual intercourse with another man and he kills her, then the husband is liable for this act but he will not be incarcerated or imprisoned. But he will not be permitted to enter certain areas called "destierro."

Was the controversial 19th-century case of the famous painter Juan Luna killing his wife Paz Pardo de Tavera in France – described as a "crime of passion" – similar?

Ping and Jopet: That was mitigating. This crime of passion situation mitigates the liability.

When you relaunched your TV show on February 7, you had actress and QC Councilor Aiko Melendez playing the battered wife of actor Joko Diaz, and she kills her husband. Why was the wife released immediately?

Ping and Jopet: That episode was about a woman who used the battered wife syndrome as a defense for killing her husband. The wife was originally sentenced to death by the lower court, but in the automatic review by the Supreme Court due to the death penalty punishment, the wife asked the Supreme Court to allow her to present new evidence. She showed that at the time she killed her husband, her frame of mind had been seriously infected by repeated past beatings she suffered from her husband prior to the incident. She asked that her case be returned to the lower court and the Supreme Court allowed her to do so by remanding her case to the lower court.

We believe the Supreme Court should not have done that, because her evidence and the testimony of the psychologist on her frame of mind should have been presented at the lower court in the first place. In effect, she got a new trial in the lower court. She was able to prove that she was a battered wife, so it was considered mitigating, so her original penalty of death was reduced to only six years in prison. This was a real 1998 case. Since this woman was already in prison for more than six years throughout these trials, she was released immediately.

For women to escape becoming battered wives, do you advise annulment of hopeless and violent marriages?

Ping and Jopet: When people approach us, we advise them to first annul their marriage in the Catholic Church before going to the courts, because it will be easier. For example, in the case of Sharon Cuneta and Gabby Concepcion, in their annulment case they used the very popular legal ground of "psychological incapacity."

Actress Aiko Melendez also had an annulment case of her own. She angrily and publicly accused real-life husband Jomari Yllana of marital infidelity. Can legally separated but not yet annulled couples commit marital infidelity?

Ping and Jopet: If Aiko Melendez could prove in court that her husband was indeed keeping a kalaguyo (paramour) when their annulment was not yet finalized, then that would have been grounds for a criminal case. However, in the actual situation, when the annulment was already completed, that was the time when her former husband’s paramour, actress Ara Mina, came out – after the fact – so there was no more legal grounds for a criminal case. Her former husband is now considered legally single after annulment, and there can be no retroactive case.

What about the case of actress Carmina Villarroel and her former husband’s complaint about alleged marital infidelity?

Ping and Jopet: Carmina Villarroel was married to actor Rustom Padilla, but she eventually had a relationship with another actor, Zoren Legaspi. If the original marriage was not yet annulled, even when she was not yet pregnant with Zoren Legaspi, that could have been a criminal case but her husband didn’t file a case. In these kinds of situation, cases also have a prescription period of when can they can still be filed.

Is it true that since past Philippine Congresses have been dominated by men who didn’t believe in true equality of the sexes, the laws on pangagaliwa or marital infidelity are unequal?

Ping and Jopet: That’s true. Under Philippine laws, when a married woman has sexual intercourse with a man who is not her husband, she commits adultery. However, if a married man has an extra-marital relationship with a woman not his wife, the crime is called concubinage. It’s not enough to convict him; he should be caught "living under scandalous circumstances" to be charged with this crime of concubinage. Yes, this is truly unfair for women and a double standard. It is more difficult to prove, that’s why it is easier for men to cheat on their wives. Who among men would possibly allow himself to be caught "living under scandalous circumstances"? Naturally, every unfaithful husband will try as much as possible to hide his indiscretions (laughs).

Prenuptial agreements between married couples was featured in the Hollywood film Intolerable Cruelty. Is this also popular in Philippine society?

Ping and Jopet: Yes, there are more couples who enter into prenuptial agreements before getting married. One such example is Senator Kiko Pangilinan and his prenup with megastar Sharon Cuneta. Prenuptial agreements became fashionable in the Philippines because of the new Family Code, which has the "absolute community" regime. It means that all the properties that you have before you get married, when you get married, becomes part of the "absolute community" of the newly-wed couple. The cut-off year was 1988. It means that what is yours is now ours after marriage (laughs). That’s why prenuptial agreements are now very important.

What other real-life cases will you be tackling in your TV show?

Ping and Jopet: There are so many, such as custody of kids after the couples’ separation or annulment, also adoption of children – all are very educational and interesting even for non-lawyers.

What are your views on the high-profile case on the citizenship of Fernando Poe, Jr.?

Ping and Jopet: According to the Supreme Court decision, the totality of the evidence on the FPJ case does not necessarily show that he is a natural-born Filipino citizen. It shows that there is only a preponderance of evidence that the Comelec didn’t commit a grave abuse of discretion when it rejected petitions to disqualify him. The Supreme Court also agreed with the view of Fr. Joaquin Bernas, S.J. that whether a child is legitimate or illegitimate, if the father is Filipino, then that child is a natural-born Filipino citizen.

Speaking of illegitimate kids, what about their other legal rights such as inheritance?

Ping and Jopet: The illegitimate child is entitled to receive one-half share of a legitimate child. The wife gets the same share of one legitimate child, after she gets her half of the conjugal property jointly owned by her and her late husband.

What are your views on the NAIA 3 airport controversy?

Ping and Jopet: I think the Supreme Court might get angry at both of us, but they were wrong on the Piatco case. There’s a contract between the government and Piatco, the contract was questioned by a person who is not a party to the agreement. It was questioned by somebody whose interest was also a private interest – the unions to be affected by the new airport – it was not a public interest involved here.

What are some major family cases?

Ping and Jopet: The Ilusorio family squabble, where two sets of children are on the side of each separated parent – the billionaire father and the mother on the other side. We have so many of these squabbling family cases in the Philippines, not only among the very rich families.

As legal experts, what are your views on the Nida Blanca murder case and how our law enforcement officials seemed to have bungled it?

Ping and Jopet: In the celebrated Nida Blanca murder case, they should not have allowed the husband Mr. Strunk to leave the Philippines because of the strong case against him.

What about the case of the late bold actress Halina Perez involving her father squabbling with her husband, or the controversial death of Ma. Theresa Carlson, wife of former Ilocos Norte Governor Rodolfo Fariñas?

Ping and Jopet: The problem involving the quarreling relatives of Halina Perez is a very common family case. In the controversy involving former Governor Fariñas and various allegations about the tragedy involving his wife’s death, no case was filed against the former governor.

What about the recent court order from America involving the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family now already in the Philippines, what is your view on this matter?

Ping and Jopet: We believe the Hawaiian court has no jurisdiction to order the Philippine government to turn over the US$685 million dollars Marcos funds.

If we go back to Philippine history, we have all these cases of alleged illegal presidencies. How would you view the conflict between Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Katipunan Supremo Andres Bonifacio who was executed?

Ping and Jopet: : Andres Bonifacio was former leader of the Revolution with the Katipunan, then there was an election which General Emilio Aguinaldo won, but the Bonifacio faction was insulted and declared the election void. Parang coup d’état what happened. Who staged the coup, did Bonifacio consider Aguinaldo’s military group as coup plotter and power-grabber or did the newly-elected President Aguinaldo consider Bonifacio’s group staging their own illegal mutiny? Aguinaldo’s people executed Bonifacio, this has been an age-old festering controversy. Under the law, whatever you do to the coup plotter, this was considered as justified. It sounds very much like an Edsa uprising no? It may sometimes seem that in history, on the question of what is legal or illegal, whoever wins politically or militarily often determines whether that person will be declared correct and legal.

Don’t you think that there should be a stop to all these Edsa uprisings like Edsa 2, 3 and that we should reform our Philippine-style democracy and instill more national discipline or social order for long-term stability?

Ping and Jopet: There are prominent Filipino scholars who say that there is something wrong with our political culture, with Philippine-style democracy. Then President Fidel V. Ramos said that national discipline should start from the bottom, we think that national discipline should start from the top.

What is the hometown of the Sisons?

Ping and Jopet: We are originally from the Sampaloc district of Manila, specifically in Don Quixote Street.

Is the quest of most Filipino citizens for true justice – whether for personal or social justice on a national scale – a quixotic dream?

Ping and Jopet: Naku, mabigat yan! (laughs) We can still find justice in Philippine society. Selectively you can still obtain justice in some courts of our land. Justice in the Philippines is not really an impossible dream.

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