Arrogant judge

US District Court Judge Manuel Real of Hawaii must be out of touch with reality when he issued that order prohibiting, under pain of contempt of court, the transfer of any Marcos asset worldwide without any basis or decision satisfactory to him. Such order issued by a judge whose name means nothing else but, well.. "real" is ironically not for real. If the good judge is not joking, he must really believe that his country, the US of A is the remaining superpower in this planet, as to empower him to imperiously declare that any and all persons and banking institutions participating in such transfers including but not limited to the Swiss banks and institutions where the money is currently invested, are considered in contempt of his court.

But more presump-tuous and scornful is his finding that our own Supreme Court violated "elementary international sense of due process" when it declared such funds as ill gotten asset of Marcos while in public office. Judge Real surely knows that the proper and due process is for a superior appellate court to review his decision and not for him to review the decision of a court higher than his own. Reviewing the decision of the highest court of another country is a worse violation of due process and betrays his distorted sense of this very basic rule. It is the height of arrogance and a debauchery of the basic principle of comity which States observe towards one another out of deference and respect.

Judge Real’s district court is located in the island of Hawaii, one of the federal state in the US. His authority, capacity, power or right to act, execute or enforce his sentence, judgment or decree is limited to cases arising or persons residing within the territorial boundaries fixed by its law.He has no power to act on cases outside his territory or district in much the same way that a Regional Trial Court of Quezon City cannot assume jurisdiction over cases generally cognizable by the Regional Trial Court of Makati City.With more reason, Real has no authority at all to prohibit any and all persons and institutions any where in the world from transferring funds which are not found in his territory.

The jurisdiction of Real is only over the person of Marcos who has been sentenced to pay damages to victims of human rights.Since Marcos is already dead Real can only carry out his judgment against his estate found within his territory.His jurisdiction does not extend beyond the boundaries of the US except when the US has acquired foreign jurisdiction by virtue of a treaty, or by the use of force like what it did in Iraq. In the Philippines, the judgment of Real is only a presumptive evidence of a right as between the victims of Marcos and his successor in interest by a subsequent title( Rule 39, Section 50 [b]).To enforce said judgment here, the winning party must file a petition and present such judgment as evidence. Real has no authority to enjoin our government from asking for the release of the Swiss accounts in a Singapore bank holding them in escrow.I doubt very much if Singapore or Switzerland has a treaty with the US giving the power to Real, or any US judge, to control such deposit.

The Swiss account subject matter of Real’s order is held in escrow by virtue of a contract. Said contract is obviously entered into in Singapore or Switzerland, not in Hawaii, USA.Hence it is the law of Singapore or Switzerland, not USA, which is applicable.Real has no authority to cite any person or institution outside his territory in contempt for violating his order simply because the US law and his order have no effect on parties to a contract not signed in the USA.

Judge Real must really be having a nightmare when he issued such order.The only way to awaken him is to ignore his silly and inane order.

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