This is going to get bloody
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A story has been told about a scion of popular family whose father pioneered a maritime school.
The scion married the son of a lawyer who became famous, not because he was good in court, but because he has a presidential husband as a client.
As is customary in the Philippines, the lawyer was known to conveniently use the name of his big-time client every time he, his friends or members of his family, had dealings with the government.
To my recollection, name-dropping is as old as Aristotle but as alive as Kate Upton.
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One time, the maritime school had a problem.
Because the maritime school is notorious as a diploma mill, its graduates earned black marks here and there, especially abroad.
So pervasive and so disturbing was the problem that a group of manning agents based in Europe conducted their own “assessment” of the maritime school.
They ended up with a grim result – the school was way, way below international standards.
So they furnished the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in Manila with a copy of their assessment with specific recommendations.
Yes, recommendations.
Principal among them was the closure of the school.
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Nothing happened.
Yes, for several years, nothing happened.
The maritime school continued to operate and there was nary a directive from CHED for the school to make immediate reforms.
There was simply nothing. As if there was no assessment and consequent recommendation at all.
What was the reason why the maritime school was defiant and seemed “untouchable?”
Simple.
The son of the famous lawyer told his wife not to worry.
“Dad will arrange it. The CHED will do nothing against your school,” the wife was assured.
And indeed, this was what happened.
During the time that the wife of the big-time client was still the president of the republic, nothing came out from CHED as against the school.
* * *
Fast forward and there was a change of administration.
Naturally, the famous lawyer lost his “solar corona” and his name, and notoriety, slowly faded away.
So what happened to the maritime school?
The group of international manning agents could not take it anymore. The group issued an ultimatum.
If their recommendation was not acted upon by CHED, they would blacklist all maritime graduates in the country.
That caught the CHED’s attention.
And so without much fanfare, the maritime school was ordered closed. The school was also directed not to accept first year enrollees.
Because according to CHED, the maritime school had been repeatedly reminded to make immediate reforms from way back in 2006.
And did nothing about it.
Of course, we know why.
It was because of the “connection” of the famous lawyer to his big-time client that made him so bold in name-dropping the “revered” name in every office and agency in the government then.
When this connection was finally severed, then it was too late for the maritime school.
It was no longer in a position to institute reforms.
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The morale of the story?
It’s terribly bad idea for a school to rely on political connections to shortcut mandated requirements from the government.
* * *
I was listening to a discussion among lawyers in a Quezon City court last Thursday morning.
The lady judge was not yet around so the lawyers had a wonderful tete-a-tete.
The topic was about the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Senate.
While they had varied appreciation of the evidences adduced by the prosecution, they agreed on one thing.
The evidence so far presented has invariably demonstrated Corona’s lack of moral fitness to stay on as Chief Justice.
The four Manila-based lawyers chorused that a graceful exit should be the proper course of action on the part of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
* * *
They were referring to the more than 50 million pesos (in peso accounts alone) that were discovered and confirmed to be that of the Chief Justice.
And yet, just like some of his real properties, the full amount was not disclosed in his SALN.
Nobody knows yet the total amount of his dollar accounts because of the TRO from the Supreme Court that forbids their disclosure.
But the way things are going, many people would not be surprised if his dollar accounts would be in the neighborhood of several millions also.
Anyway, the non-disclosure coupled with the marked discrepancy in his SALN and that of his income tax return are already considered as “hits” by many “people-judges.”
Hits as indicia of guilt, I suppose.
You know why, a younger lawyer said.
Two cases decided by the Supreme Court pertain to non-disclosure of the real assets of government employees.
Yes, ordinary government employees.
And what was the verdict of the Supreme Court?
The High Court rejected the defense of good faith and honest mistake and administratively sanctioned them.
So if lowly government employees were axed from their jobs for non-disclosure in their SALNs, how much more for a Chief Justice, he closed his story.
* * *
There are charges and counter-charges between the President and the Chief Justice.
The President said he is convinced that based on the evidence presented in the Senate, the Chief Justice would be convicted.
Apart from saying don’t meddle, the Chief Justice retorted that the President should bare his psycho report.
Sanamagan.
This is getting more personal now.
This latest pronouncement of the Chief Justice would all the more distance him from the bulk of “people-judges.”
And engaging the President in nationwide chit-chat about matters that do not have anything to do with the impeachment would make him even more unfit for the highest position in the judiciary.
The people would have expected him to be more sober, more mature, more diplomatic and more sensitive, even when the President is not.
* * *
In the local scene, Cortes Mayor Apolinaria “Jasmin” Balistoy and her son Kag. Junn Eckart Balistoy are in deep trouble.
Sources told me the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila has considered her case as ripe for a formal investigation.
The recommendation came as a result of initial findings that there is good reason to conduct a formal hearing.
The case is about their very questionable travel to Manila and Cebu, using money from the people of Cortes, to attend to some seminars.
But the attached documents do not support the huge expenditures.
It appeared as if the seminars were merely use as convenient excuse so she could make use of the people’s money for some personal and private purposes.
The Office of the Governor has issued a certification that there was no authority to travel issued to Mayor Balistoy on the dates specified.
True enough, it is still premature to conclude about the outcome of the investigation but this early, Longcuts is pretty sure she will have her hands full.
* * *
Her son is also in big, big trouble.
There were absences committed during regular sessions of the sanggunian.
But here comes a seemingly valid excuse – schooling – in Cebu. The problem is, there is a paper trail somewhere.
It appeared that during those days that he was supposed to be in Cebu for his studies, he was actually somewhere.
Outside of the country, for instance.
And there are records from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to prove this.
So how can you deny that you travelled outside of the country on certain dates when your basic travel information are duly recorded in the Bureau of Immigration?
Which presupposes that somehow, somewhere, there were falsified documents.
But anyway, the wheels are already in motion.
And Kag. Junn Eckart Balistoy will have his day in court, soon.
* * *
Well, what’s this?
Reports said Chief Justice Renato Corona has fired another broadside at President Aquino when he challenged PNoy to bare his SALNs, bank records and yes, his psychological records.
Corona said PNoy needs to assure the people of his “maayos na pag-iisip.”
This is indeed going to get messy.
It is common knowledge that PNoy is “allergic” to this “psych thing.”
Corona’s challenge to reveal PNoy’s psychological records dates back to a 2010 black propaganda against Aquino.
During the 2010 presidential campaign, reports said ABS-CBN received copies from 2 Nacionalista Party members of a fake psychiatric report that said Aquino suffered clinical depression.
The report was later declared fake by both Fr. Carmelo “Tito” Caluag and the Ateneo de Manila University psychology department.
The Nacionalista Party later denied issuing the fake psychiatric report.
And now, Chief Justice Corona is reviving the issue.
This is going to get bloody.
More when we return, stay tuned for more!
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