17 MARCH 2019

6 NEWS
Sunday, 17 March 2019
Daily Tribune
Eat your heart out Part of Wawa Dam in Rodriguez, Rizal is perfect for a heat-beating plunge as most of drought-stricken Metro Manila waits for a drop.
ANALY LABOR
‘Impeach bluff nonsense’
Mr. Duterte has the duty to protect the nation and making the
list public is one way of doing it
From page 1
Presidential spokesman Salvador
Panelo was reacting to the statement made
by opposition lawmaker and Akbayan
partylist Rep. Tom Villarin who said
exposing the names of politicians allegedly
involved in the illegal drug trade could
unseat him for violating the Constitution
and an individual’s right to due process
and presumption of innocence.
Panelo called Villarin’s remarks as
“pure nonsense” and said the solon
is treading the unfamiliar territory of
impeachment as he is not a lawyer.
“The statement that President Rodrigo
Roa Duterte’s action of releasing the
list of narco-politicians ‘could constitute
an impeachable offense for culpable
violation of the Constitution’ has no legal
and factual basis. In other words, it’s
pure nonsense,” Panelo, who is also the
President’s chief legal counsel, said in a
statement.
“The opposition partylist congressman
is quick to respond to an issue of unfamiliar
terrain to a non-lawyer like
him,” he added.
According to
Panelo, the
President
releasing
t h e
From page 1
sending their children to school entirely
because they haven’t had water for almost
a week.
It also put a strain on their budget as
prices of bottled water spiked from P30
a gallon to P50. Even the price of water
containers, such as plastic drums that were
originally sold for P150 to P200 each, was
names of alleged “narco politicians” is
similar to “outing the names of criminal
suspects.”
Opportunity given
“For the legal education of Rep.
Villarin, the appropriate charges have
already been filed against the personalities
contained on the list before the Office of
the Ombudsman affording them their
right to due process and an opportunity
to clear their names before competent
authorities,” Panelo said.
“The release of the list is nothing more
than a release of the names of criminal
suspects. Such act cannot be considered
a legal transgression and even more so,
an impeachable offense,” he said.
He also reiterated that Mr. Duterte has
the duty to protect the nation and making
the list public is one way of doing it.
“To the further legal enlightenment
of Villarin, it is hornbook doctrine that in
construing laws or constitutional provisions,
one must harmonize the same with other
dictates of the law pursuant to the legal
maxim: ‘Interpretare et
concordare leges
legibus est
optimus
Are we there yet? Beast of burden and its owner think of best way to transport farm
produce along a field. Consolation is there’s no traffic scourge to worry about. ROMAN PROSPERO
Dear drum
hiked to as much as P350.
Amid mounting complains from affected
residents, the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI) inspected water refilling stations
and stores selling water containers, warning
them of legal consequences of profiteering.
According to the DTI, any price increase
more than 10 percent in the item’s price
the previous month can be considered an
act of profiteering and is punishable under
interpretandi modus (to interpret and to
reconcile laws with laws is the best mode
of interpretation),’” Panelo said.
“It is paramount that the individual
liberties of our citizens should be
harmonized with the entire Filipino
people’s right to the preservation and
protection of their welfare, as well as their
right to information on matters of national
significance,” he added.
More names readied
The President earlier in the week had
named 46 politicians said to be involved
in the illegal drug trade.
The congressman is quick to
respond to an issue of unfamiliar
terrain to a non-lawyer like him.
The list consisted of 33 mayors, eight
vice mayors, three congressmen, a board
member and a former mayor.
Mr. Duterte also warned that more
names will be revealed soon after further
validation from different agencies.
“The drug menace has evolved into a
national security problem as it threatens
to destroy the very foundation of society.
The President as head of the state is
constitutionally commanded to serve and
protect the nation.”
He said individual rights are subordinate
to the state’s right to protect itself from its
enemies that seek to destroy it.
“The people’s right to safety prevails
over the individual rights of persons
piercing and destroying the security net
that protects the citizenry,” he added.
“It is the failure of the President to
perform his constitutional duty of serving
and protecting the people that makes him
liable to impeachment for such omission is
culpable violation of the Constitution and
a betrayal of the public trust,” he said.
No big deal
Mayor Sara Duterte, meanwhile,
shrugged off photos circulating in social
media of her and President Duterte in the
company of politicians included in “narco
list” recently released by the President.
In a statement, Duterte said she will
never turn down politicians who would
publicly request her to raise their hands.
She chose not to get a copy of the list
of “narco politicians” because she would
rather leave it to the voters to decide on the
qualifications they look for in a candidate
above and beyond what is required by law.
Duterte, who is also the chairman of
Hugpong ng Pagbabago believes that a
vote for a candidate should be a personal
decision based on a voter’s perception
and assessment.
Republic Act 7581, or the Price Act, with
imprisonment of at least five years and a
fine of not less than P5,000.
But some bold merchants are unfazed as
the text of the law states that the offense of
profiteering only covers excessive pricing of
“basic necessity or prime commodity.” They
insist that in determining the selling price
of water containers, they can march to the
tune of their own drum.
Injury zone Children use huge pipes beside a construction site as a playground posing
great danger to them.
ANALY LABOR
Globalization heads East
From page 1
an economist, said the global
development trend veering towards the
Asian region where the Philippines and
China are major participants will result
in an “even better” relations between
both neighbors.
“Actually if you look at the long
history of our relations, in general, it
has been good,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo, who was President from 2001 to
2010, adopted a policy of close engagement
with China similar to the course taken by
President Rodrigo Duterte.
She noted during the term of
President Fidel V. Ramos, friendship
with China was strongly developed.
The rise of China is an
opportunity.
“In fact, Ramos was one of the three
founding fathers of the forum for Asia,
then I continued it and it was only
interrupted by my successor (former
President Benigno Aquino) but President
Duterte resumed it and in a much better
place,” she said.
Good for Philippines
“If you talk about Globalization
2.0 (we gain because), you have the
friendship with China now. 2.0 is a new
and better stage than during the past
and I think that it will continue and it
will do good for us because the rise of
China is an opportunity,” Arroyo said.
She recalled that when China was
starting its rise to global power 40 years
ago, she was undersecretary of trade
and industry.
“At that time, China is a developing
country just like us, its per capita
income was like just over $1,000 just like
us, so it was like, China was beginning
to wake up, the sleeping dragon was
awakening and it’s going to be our rival,”
Arroyo related.
Since then, its neighbors fear the
Asian giant would “get all the markets”
in the region.
“After 40 years of breath-taking growth,
China is not a rival, it’s a market. It’s a
source of capital and technology, so it can
only do us good to continue that friendship,
especially now that China is on the cusp of
becoming the biggest economy in the world
and it is our neighbor… Shouldn’t we be
making friends with our rich neighbors?”
Arroyo added.
Paradoxical shift
She said the development on the
global economy has become paradoxical
of late. “America has always been the
champion on globalization and free trade
because that was their system on the
West,” she said.
“Now, the Trump presidency is being
defined by the conservative nationalists
who are withdrawing from globalization
and free trade,” she added.
“On the other hand, it is China, as
it ended a new era, which is the chief
proponent now of further reform and
opening up,” Arroyo said.
Both countries have taken opposite
roles with regard to advocacy.
“We don’t know whether America’s
positioning is for negotiating strength,
whatever it is, we could not read the mind
of the President and his negotiators but
with the West becoming more conservative
and protectionist and the East becoming
more open, the allies are talking about a
Globalization 2.0,” she said.
“That is going to be driven by the East
as much as or more than the West. And
that is where, I think the world… many
analysts said that’s where the world will
go…and it is… that is good for us to be
friends with China,” she added.