The faces of the rule of law

Now that the PDAF plunder and graft cases have been officially filed, it is time to start watching the actions of the Sandiganbayan justices assigned to try the accused plunderers.

In my last column, I introduced the members of the First and Third Division who have been assigned to conduct the trials for Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile respectively. The Fifth Division will conduct the trial for Jinggoy Estrada. The division presiding justice is the Honorable Roland Jurado. The Associate Justice is Alexander Gesmundo. The third member still has to be named.

Jurado was appointed in October 2003 and Gesmundo in October 2005, both during the term of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Jurado and his Fifth Division has been involved in some high profile cases. It was this Fifth Division that was involved in a decision by Justice Roland Jurado that acquitted GMA’s Justice Secretary Nani Perez of falsifying his SALN in connection with a $2 million extortion complaint by former Manila representative Mark Jimenez. It was also the Fifth Division in a decision also penned by Justice Jurado that junked with finality the government’s claim on 60% of Lucio Tan’s assets.

Jurado was also part of the controversial special second division of the Sandiganbayan that agreed to a plea bargain with former General Carlos Garcia. The deal allowed Garcia, who was accused of plunder, to plead to the lesser offenses of indirect bribery and facilitating money laundering. This debacle led to the eventual downfall of GMA-appointed Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned in May 2011 before the Senate begun her impeachment proceedings.

At that time, Rappler broke a story that said a lone Sandiganbayan Justice, Oscar Herrerra, believed his colleagues broke the rules when they formed a special division to rule on the Garcia plea bargain deal.  Herrerra was reported to have confronted his fellow justices about how the five justices of the special division that tackled the plea bargain deal were selected.

He was the lone dissenter and was outvoted by the other justices, namely Associate Justices Samuel Martirez, Teresita Diaz-Baldos, Alex Quiroz and Roland Jurado. Coincidentally, it is also the Second Division that is handling the Fertilizer Fund Scam involving Jocjoc Bolante.

The P728 Fertilizer Fund scandal was raffled in the Sandiganbayan in May 2011 and the Second Division won. After three years, there is still no decision and, hopefully, there will be no repetition of another plea bargain deal. The present members of the Second Division are Associate Justice Teresita Diaz-Baldos as chair. The members are Associate Justices Napoleon Inoturan and Oscar Herrerra.

In a recent interview, Senator Alan Cayetano had a very disturbing, but perhaps realistic assessment of the state of justice in this country. He said that Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings would not be necessary if there was an assurance that justice in cases like the PDAF scandals could be finished in six months.

However, since these cases normally take years to finish, there is no alternative for those who are unjustly accused but to confront their accusers through Senate hearings in the full glare of media. This is the only way, according to Cayetano, that those unjustly accused could clear their names without waiting for years.

But is speedy justice really impossible? Perhaps with a vigilant citizenry, it might yet be realized. So remember these names: Associate Justices Efren de la Cruz, Rodolfo Ponferrada and Rafael Lagos of the First Division; Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Alex Quiroz of the Third Division; and, Associate Justices Roland Jurado and Alexander Gesmundo of the Fifth Division.

These Sandiganbayan justices are the faces of the rule of law.

Is China’s dream the destruction of coral reefs?

Two weeks after his appointment as the party’s general secretary and military commander-in-chief Xi Jinping visited the National Museum next to Tiananmen Square and told the crowd and media that the “greatest Chinese dream” was the “great revival of the Chinese nation.”

Since then China has increased its aggressive actions in both the South and East China Seas. The Philippines has accused China of land reclamation projects in five reefs, namely Mabini Reef, Calderon Reef, Burgos Reef, Malvar Reef, and Kennan Reef. These are disputed territories.

However, amidst all the geopolitical debates, people seem to have forgotten the most critical issue. The reclamation of the land will destroy these five reefs.

Coral reefs are actually colonies of tiny animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Appearing as solitary forms in the fossil record more than 400 million years ago, corals are extremely ancient animals that evolved into modern reef-building forms over the last 25 million years. Well developed reefs reflect thousands of years of history.

Coral reefs form some of the world’s most productive ecosystems providing complex and varied marine habitats that support a wide range of other organisms. Reefs are home to a large variety of animals including fish, seabirds, cnidarians, worms, crustaceans (including shrimps, lobsters and crabs), molluscs, starfish, sea urchins , sea squirts, sea turtles and sea snakes. Over 4,000 species of fish inhabit coral reefs.

Coral reefs cover less than 0.1% of the surface of the world’s ocean but they support 25% of all marine species. They are found only in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. The Philippine coral reef area is the second largest in Southeast Asia. But it holds an extraordinary diversity of species. Scientists have identified 915 reef fish species and more than 400 scleractinia, 12 of which are endemic.

Coral reefs all over the world are threatened by coral mining, urban runoff, pollution, overfishing, blast fishing and disease. Now they are being transformed into landing fields, ports and reclamation projects.

I can only hope that China’s dream will not require the destruction of all the coral reefs in the South China Sea.

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