dyaryo magdalo (sept 19-25, 2011 issue)

8/4/2019 Dyaryo Magdalo (Sept 19-25, 2011 issue)

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Vol. II No. 67 ISSN 2094-4098 September 19-25, 2011 P15.00

No libel can kill good ofcials

Page 7

Suckerpuncher

ByBERTENI TOTO

CATALUACAUSING

Yummy,Yummy

Shamcey!Page 8

HIT THESMUGGLERS,

NOT REPORTERS!

To page 2

Page2

Isko,

Jejomar

andtheir

dreams!

The

agony of

public

school

teachers

Page 5

Page 4

The day the untouchables died

THE day theuntouch-ables diedon No-vember 23,

2009 in the town ofAmpatuan, the world

substantially changedin the minds of Mus-lims and Christiansin the provinces ofMaguindanao, SultanKudarat, North Cota-bato, South Cotabato,Saranggani, Lanaodel Sur, Davao delSur, and elsewhere inthe Philippines.

Before going fur-ther, let it be madeclear that there is nointention of trying toinuence the ongoingAmpatuan MassacreTrial.

By HERNZ CUAREThe rst benet that

Filipinos got from itis the inculcation of anew general idea in theminds of Christian Fili-pinos in so far as Mus-lim Filipinos are con-

cerned, and in the mindsof Muslim Filipinos inso far as Christian Fili-pinos are concerned.

This general idea isthis: both Christian andMuslim Filipinos canbe united in a cause for justice against crimi-nals who belong to theirtribes.

Yes, the passion for justice was bolsteredin unison among theMuslims not allied withthe Ampatuans and theChristians whose heartswere revolting to the

most brutal-ever act ofpolitical violence.

But along with this

discovery of the sub-

ity, that those who used brutalities in murder-ing are in effect killing

themselves, too.

journalist were some ofthe untouchables whodied.

But on the very sameday they died anothergroup of untouch-ables also died, the

untouchable Ampatu-ans.

The honor, careerand everything the Am-patuan Empire so cher-ished also died. It waskilled by the 33 personsthey killed, the journal-ists.

Henceforth, it can-not be fathomed howthey can get back theircrown now being held by the husband of oneof the women theykilled. They can neverwin anymore in any gu-bernatorial election.

The brutal lessonhere is BRUTALITYBACKFIRES IN AMORE BRUTALWAY.

It is premised thenthat if the hands of

time are turned backand the Ampatuanswho are being pointedto as the murderersare made to choosebetween two choices,to kill brutally or bekilled brutally, theywill choose the latter.

Thus, the king-dom collapsed whenthe 33 journalistswere killed withoutmercy.

This is also whatis seen by the eyes ofa husband of one of

To page 4

Brutalitybackfiresin a more

brutal waystantive meaning of justice came the real-ization of one moreequally-important real-

The 33 media per-sons massacred on thatmost brutal episode inthe life of the Filipino

LEST before new Customs CommissionerRuffy Biazon forgets, make no law abridgingthe freedom of expression, of speech, and ofthe press.

This law covers not only journalists. TheConstitution protects all men in our land, even those

thou named hao-shiaos. This right is one of the high-est in the tier of freedoms, equal to the right to religion:the reason Congress and all other authorities cannotmake any rule or law to screen people wanting to ex-ercise the liberty of the press, the reason there is nolicensure examination for journalists. Otherwise, thatis prior restraint!


2/8

2

Vol. II No. 67 Sept. 19-25, 2011

Publisher:

RONALDO E. RENTA

Editorial:

TOTO C. CAUSING

Editor-In-Chief

Design & Layout:

RONALDO B. HERICO

Disclaimer:

All news articles and opinions expressed by the writers

are entirely their own and do not reect the opinion of the

publisher, the management or the editor of this publication.

All Rights Reserved:

No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced

nor translated in any language or form for commercial pur-

poses without prior written permission from the publisher

and its writers or columnists.

MAGDIWANG

PUBLICATIONS

NO LIBEL CAN KILLGOOD

OFFICIALSDYARYO

Magdalo

decided topublish the

defense formediamen chargedwith two counts of

libel by a NationalBureau of Investiga-tion (NBI) official

who contended thatthe journalists hadmalice because they

did not print his side

when they publishedeven without com-

ments the contentsof the affidavit ofa person claiming

that this official gotmad over two attachecases of money dis-

tributed without hisgo signal.

By the way, is

there a rule that re-quires publication ofthe side of the parties

defamed by a newsstory? There is none.

In respect to thepreliminary inves-tigation, the names,places and events

were removed toavoid preempting the

handling prosecutor.Anyway, the purposeis to educate the

readers of one strong

If the dull and theignorant have the rightto be heard accordingto Desiderata, whatmore for the hao-shiaos of thou art?

Thy work is col-lecting the right taxes,not editing, not siftinghao-shiaos amongthose who present asmen of pen.

Thy duty is to catchall thieves amongstthe smugglers andCustoms men: Not tocatch the reporters whomay have sparked yourspark.

That is why they callit: Run after the smug-glers! and not Runafter the reporters!

At rst the edict ofRuffy came pleasing tothe ears. It is because Iknow there exist menof pen writing for badliving.

But thy hao-

shiaos do not do thebeginning, but by Cus-toms mens dirty livingand smugglers endlessurgings.

Ruffy needs notght reporters hedeems hao-shiaos.Else, he will be sur-

prised even the purestof pens in his sightturns out the dirtiest ofem all.

I begin to see, therst victims are thosesuspects whose weeklymagazines are usedfor weeklys.

But what is the dif-ference between these

weeklys on one sideand the pens that writeforInquirer, forPhil-ippine Star, forManila

Bulletin, forManilaTimes, for theJournalgroup of newspapers,forMalaya, and forTribune, or the so-called tabloids on oneside?

He must be aware,thieves come in manyforms. But amongst them,the dirtiest in appearanceare the least lethal; themost decent-looking arethe deadliest.

This is not the issue,Ruffy.

It is: How can youstop Customs men from

living with smugglerswho call themselvesbusinessmen?

Take out all theCustoms men and placenew men. Shocked youwill be. You see allreporters, including thyhao-shiaos leavingto nd greener pastureselsewhere for a living.

Brute it may be, thereality is this: There arehao-shiaos or what theycall pseudo-journalists.But they were born outof bad Customs menwho make them live. Ifyou take out the bad andreplace them with the

good, thy hao-shiaoswill vanish.

Lest you forget, Ruffy,politics thou art to poli-tics returnest. It was notspoken of thy soul.

We have yet to seea politician as a man ofsteel. Any politician ishungry for good public

perception even if he

says he has no greedfor money. Hunger forgood image is hungerfor peoples votes.Hunger for votes ishunger for more pow-ers. Hunger for more

powers is greed, noless.

Lest all men be told:It is not money that is

the root of all evil. Itis greed.By thou records,

Ruffy, there are 400 ra-dio, tv and newspaperreporters, columnistsand editors visitingCustoms. Thy wonderis those missing vansand cars not seen orwritten by them.

Lest thou be told:many bosses who came

before proclaimed thesame. They ended upeating their words.

Lest thou be told:It is not the letter thatkilleth! It is the spiritthat giveth life!

Kung walangkorap, walang hao-shiao!

Kung may ma-tuwid na daan, may

baluktot din na daan.He who walks in

silence reaches thedestination earlier thanhe who trumpets hiscoming.

defense against libel.

Nature of news-

papers: they dont

publish

history

First, in treatingcriticisms in newspa-pers, the basic rule of

prudence and dili-gence for any publicofficer should be to

react with restraint of

outrage, keep a thickskin, and respond to

the news articles bysending his repliesand evidence of his

replies.This should be the

rule because it is a

normal habit of lifethat mistakes cannotbe avoided in daily

publications of news-papers where theessence of the busi-

ness is freshness inthe news and where

newspapers areindispensable in anydemocratic countrybecause press free-

dom is a touchstoneof democracy.

To be scooped out

by fellow newspa-pers is the biggestsin, next to plagia-

rism. Also, it is the

unbending rule innewspapering that

any story that cannotbe published im-mediately becomes

history and there areno newspapers thatreport history.

True enough, thenewspapers that car-ried that affidavits

contents are the firstto publish the claim

of bribery to muddlea highly controver-sial murder case.

Given the nature

of newspapering, itmeans that the onlyway for press free-

dom to flourish is togive allowance formistakes that hon-

estly occur in thenormal processing ofnews facts into news

stories. Precision isimpossible in a quickspan of time needed

for news stories to bepublished.As soon as any

news facts are gath-ered, the rule is theyshould be published

in the first publica-tion issue availablewith the minimum

requirement that ef-forts should be made

to get the sides ofthe persons whomay be affected by

the reports. If therewas no way to getthe side of persons

affected, the newsfacts gathered mustbe published or they

become history.In short, the

public officials must

understand how anynewspapers thrive tokeep the real mean-

ing and substanceof press freedom ornewspapers will die.

To wait for thecourt to proclaim theguilt of public of-

ficers will take years

before one news

story can get pub-lished.

In addition, thereis no law that re-quires the taking

of the side of thepersons mentionedin any news facts

before these can bepublished. Thus, thecomplainant as a

public officer cannotcomplain if his sidewas not taken and

not published along-side. Earnest effortto get the reaction

of affected personsis enough to com-

ply with the rule ofimpartiality.

Officials in side of

truth: Honor cannot

be destroyed

After all, therewould be NO DE-

STRUCTION OFHONOR that would

happen on any offi-cer as a result of thepublication of a newsstory even if his side

was not printed. Allhe needs to do is toask for the publica-

tion of his reactions.No amount of

negative publicity

can destroy a good-and-gentleman of-ficer. All he needs to

counter the negativereports is to publishthe truth of his de-

fense. He may seek

publication in thevery same newspaper

that published thenegative imputations,or in any other news-

papers, or post it onFacebook, Blogspot,Wordpress, or on any

other online web-sites.

If the complain-

ant is the one who istruthful in his claim,he should not waste

time to cause thepublication of his

side.

Report of official

proceedings defense:

lack of malice

Nevertheless, ascrutiny of the two

news stories ver-ily shows that THEMATTERS IN-

CLUDED IN THEBODY OF THESTORIES ARE THE

VERY CONTENTSOF THE AFFIDAVITof a suspect in the

murder of broadcastjournalist.

This affidavit

was submitted tothe Department ofJustice as OFFICIAL

counter-affidavit

in the preliminary

investigation.A comparison of

these stories withthe affidavit showsthat THE STORIES

DO NOT ADD TO

THE ALLEGA-TIONS STATED IN

THE AFFIDAVITOR DO NOT MAKEANY COMMENT

THEREON ANDTHEREFROM.

Now, there is no

issue that the affida-vit was part of the of-ficial proceeding for

the same preliminaryinvestigation that isnot of confidential

nature.Thus, this falls

within the second

sub-paragraph ofArticle 354 of the

Revised Penal Code,and as such there isno malice that can be

presumed by law.

Article 354 states:Art. 354. Re-

quirement forpublicity. Everydefamatory imputa-

tion is presumed tobe malicious, evenif it be true, if no

good intention andjustifiable motive formaking it is shown,

except in the follow-ing cases:

1. A private com-munication made byany person to another

Hit the smugglers ...From page 1

ByBERTENI TOTO

CATALUACAUSING

To page 4


3/8

Sept. 19-25, 2011 3

Vol. II No. 67

TOO MUCH LOVEWILL KILL YOU By HERNZCUARE

TUMINGIN ka sa lan-git, kaibigan. Ang kapalat itim ng ulap. Kung

babagsak yan, babahang napakalaki, kayangtalunin Ondoy man oPepeng.

Gumawa ka na ng paraan. Lumayo ka saiyong kinatatayuan. Tu-makbo ka sa matataasna lugar, doon ka maisa-salba.

Iyan ang ulap ngkorapsyon, ulap ng

pagnanakaw, ulap ngmga ninanakaw, ulap ngkawalan ng katarungan,ulap ng kasakiman, ulapng pandaraya, ulap ngmaitim na kapangyari-han.

Lumisan ka kai-

bigan. Isalba mo angiyong sarili. Hikayatinmo ang iyong kapitba-hay, kaibigan at kamag-anak. Umakyat kayo samataas na lugar, doonkayo lamahok sa galawng pagbabago.

Lubog na ang ating bayan. Lubog na angating mamamayan. Lu-

bog na ang lahat sa atin.Pero nakakatawa pa rinang mga buwaya. Mag-isip ka kung kaya pa ba,ang ating bayan mais-alba?

Akoy may dalang balita, balitang pwe-deng magbangon sa atin

mula sa putik ng baha, balitang siya lamangang sagot sa ating mgasuliranin, balitang unti-unting aayos sa atinglipunan, balitang siyangtanging lutas sa lahat ngating suliranin. Iyon aykung ating pakikinggan.

Hinihikayat ko kay-ong pirmahan, itong

petisyon para sa kina- bukasan, petisyongmagbabago ng Konsti-tusyon, petisyong mag-

papatayo ng Hukumanng Mamamayan.

Ito ay tinatawag naTrial Jury, ito ay buuinng mga ordinaryong

mamamayan, para hatu-lan ang nasasakdal kungmay sala man, kahit sino

pa man.Ang mga ordinaryong

mamamayan, ang tunaynilang lakas sa Trial Jurymakikita, hindi matatakotkahit sa anong sakuna,hindi matatakot kahit sino

pa sila.Ang Trial Jury na ak-

ing inaadhika, ay siyangbuuin ng magbubukid mano magkakariton, jeepneydriver o tricycle driver o

padyak driver man, kungsaan dala nila ang kapang-yarihan, kapangyarihan ng

buong sambayanan, labansa mapang-api magingsino pa man.

Ang Trial Jury ay

hahatulan, kahit si Mike oMikey Arroyo man, hahat-ulan kahit si Ping Lacson,hahatulan kahit si Glorya,hahatulan kahit maya-man man, hahatulan kahitmakapangyarihan man.

Itong Trial Jury ay buuin ng mga tao, sa lis-tahan ng mga botante silamagmumula, kukunin silasa pamamagitan ng bu-nutan, itatago mukha nilaat pangalan, para kapakan-an nila at ng kanilang pam-ilya, ay mapapangalagaan,sa anumang pananakotat pananambang, ng mgaakusadong may kapang-yarihan o kayamanan.

Panahon na kaibigan,ating ibangon ang ating

bayan, mawala ang mgakurakot at pananakot, sahalip ang mga lingkod

bayan ay matatakot, dahilsila ay mahahatulan, kungsilay ay magpatuloy namangungurakot.

Panahon na isulongang malaking pagbabago,

para ang ating bayan aymagbabago.

Isulong mo kaibigan,ang aking panawagan, natayong lahat ay lalagda, saisang petisyong isasaba-tas, ang pagtatayo ng TrialJury sa Pilipinas.

Idagdag mo pa riyan

kaibigan, pagtatayo ngGrand Jury sa ating li-

punan, para kunin mulasa kurakot na piskalya o

prosekyutor o taga-usigang kapangyarihan, angkapangyarihan sa pagsa-sabi kung sino ang dapatkasuhan, at dinigin saHukuman ng Mamama-yan.

Ang Grand Jury kaibigan, buuin ng mgaordinaryo ring mama-mayan, mula sa listahanng botante sila bubunu-tin, kanilang pangalanat mukha ay babalutin,

para hindi makilala ngsina mang kurakot atmayayaman, para hindisila mabibili o matata-kot magins sino pa man.

Ang Grand Jury angsyang maghahatol, angmaghahatol kung sinoang isasakdal, kahitsino pa man bastat maykasalanan, kasalananansa bayan at mamama-yan.

At kung meron nangGrand Jury kaibigan,wala kang dapat pan-gangambahan, sa lahatng hinahanap mongkatarungan, para maka-suhan ang sino na dapatkasuhan, maging siJoc-joc Bolante o MikeArroyo man, maging siMikey Arroyo o nanaynya man, maging si

Merceditas Gutierrezman.

Isulong, mo kaibi-gan. Isulong mo angTrial Jury, na siyang Hu-kuman ng Mamamayan.

Isulong mo kaibigan.Isulong mo ang GrandJury, na siyang hahatolna kasuhan at isasakdalang dapat isasakdal,maging si Gloria Arroyoman, maging si P-Noyman, maging sinuman.

Isulong ang TrialJury! Isulong ang Hu-kum ng Mamamayan!

Isulong ang GrandJury! Isulong ang Taga-using ng Mamamayan!

ISULONG MO KAIBIGAN,

HUKOM NG MAMAMAYAN!

THE lyrics

of the song

Too Much

Love Will

Kill You is

not only for reel butalso for real.

A pretty woman

loved too much her

handsome husband.

Im just the pieces of the man I used to beToo many bitter tears are raining down on meIm far away from homeAnd Ive been facing this aloneFor much too long

I feel like no-one ever told the truth to meAbout growing up and what a struggle it would beIn my tangled state of mindIve been looking back to fndWhere I went wrong

Too much love will kill youIf you cant make up your mindTorn between the loverAnd the love you leave behindYoure headed for disastercos you never read the signsToo much love will kill youEvery time

Im just the shadow of the man I used to beAnd it seems like theres no way out of this for meI used to bring you sunshineNow all I ever do is bring you downHow would it be if you were standing in my shoesCant you see that its impossible to chooseNo theres no making sense of itEvery way I go Im bound to lose

Too much love will kill youJust as sure as none at allItll drain the power thats in you

Make you plead and scream and crawlAnd the pain will make you crazyYoure the victim of your crimeToo much love will kill youEvery time

Too much love will kill youItll make your life a lieYes, too much love will kill youAnd you wont understand whyYoud give your life, youd sell your soulBut here it comes againToo much love will kill youIn the end...In the end.

TOO MUCH LOVE

WILL KILL YOU

She wanted back his

embrace after he left

her for another woman.

She tried so hard to

win him back. All her

efforts failed. Thisdrove her crazy and

pitying herself. She

found it was hopeless

for a hopeful reunion.

Too much love be-

clouded her. She lost

her reason.

She bought a gun.

She came to SM North

Edsa in Quezon City.Her husband was work-

ing there. She slipped

past security checks. In

front of him she poked

the barrel at him. She

pulled the trigger. He

was gone.

She poked the same

gun at her head. A

young security guardtried to stop her. She

instead shot the other

man, ending a young

mans dream to help

his father.

It was another story

of a crime of passion.

Sheila Macapugay,

25, of No. 364 Longos,

Pulilan, Bulacan, loved

no other man than her

husband Abel, 30. Her

love for him did not

fade although he left

her for another woman.

For eight monthssince January 2011,

Shiela persevered

from the absence of

Abel in the comfort of

their home. Day and

night bitter tears were

raining down on her

checks. In darkness

of her days, she faced

a deserted life with

tangled mind.

She examined

herself of where she

went wrong in surviv-

ing her marriage that

was perceived by her

family six years ago asone that was made in

heaven.

On September 15,

2011, Sheila composed

herself with determina-

tion to win back Abel

by hook or by crook.

Sheila wrote her

last will and testa-

ment to her parents,

asking them to take

care of her ve-year-

old daughter when she

would be gone.

Sheila then travelled

from home to QuezonCity to settle the nal

score between her and

Abel, and to retrieve

the love that was left

behind. But she was

sure of heading to a di-

saster being determined

to end her love and

after ending his life if

retrieving the lost love

turns to naught.

It was already 7:30

in the evening when

she arrived at SM

North EDSA. She im-

mediately proceeded to

the parking basement

of the mall to peace-

fully talk to Abel.

Sheila begged to

Abel to once more

bring sunshine to lightup their home and to

hear the laughter of

their 5-year-old daugh-

ter in his embrace. But

her pleas were gone

with the wind: Abels

heart was deaf and

dumb.

Their talks had in-

creased her ill feelings

of having been short-

changed, betrayed and

cheated.

For her second

albeit consolation

step of winning littlethoughts of Abel, Shie-

la asked for support

for their daughter. He

rejected her, reasoning

he had no nances to

extend his salary, being

a promodiser is not

enough to survive his

newfound love.

Their peaceful con-

versation turned rough.

Their love was further

buried by misunder-

standing. Her love was

now twisted by hate.

The pain made her

crazier, further feelingas being a victim of a

crime of love.

Outrage besieged

Sheila.

Crime of Passion

With tears on her

eyes, with no one to

turn to, Sheila opened

her bag and pulled out

the fatal weapon, a

.38 revolver that she

bought for P4,000.

Without a word, she

poked it at him, pulledthe trigger, and, bang!

Abel slumped to

the concrete oor with

bullet-hole on his head.

The wound drained

the power in him. He

pleaded, screamed and

crawled.

When Sheila saw

her blooded husband,

she poked the barrel of

the gun at her temple

to end her bitter life as

well.

But the high heav-

ens seemed not con-

vinced. It was the right

tempo to end the life of

the main character in

the tragic real-life love

story.

While in the actof ending her life,

security guard Ricardo

Inamac III who was

manning the parking

area moved in swiftly

and grabbed Shielas

hand that held the gun.

However, Inamac lost

his balance and fell on

the ground.

Sheila shot him on

his back and left thigh.

Before she can

make another deadly

move, security guard

Efren Sangcaya

grabbed the gun from

Sheila.

The victims were

brought to Quezon CityGeneral Hospital. They

both expired.

Psychiatrist Berna-

dette Arcena believes

Shiela was not in the

right frame of mind

when she did the

crime.

She said it was

pathological jealousy

that reigned beyond

reason.

Yes, too much love

will kill you in the end.


4/8

Hernz quarry

By Hernani Cuare

4

Vol. II No. 67 Sept. 19-25, 2011

The agony of public school teachersTHEY sell anything to

students for a penny

gain.

They drown them-selves to shark loans

for food, shelter and

for their childrens

education.

The teachers are

gifted with wisdom

of planting the seed

of knowledge to chil-

dren, the countrys

future.

But it is impos-

sible for the teachers

to grow good seed-

lings when they lack

strength to water the

eld.

The teachersshould not be only

armed with knowl-

edge for there are oth-

er needs to satisfy the

prowess of teaching.

They can teach ef-

fectively when their

stomach is full; when

their family is rightly

fed; and when there is

enough nances to sur-

vive the long days be-

fore their monthly pay.

But instead of sus-taining the needs of

teachers, the govern-

ment is furthering their

agony and seemingly

not concerned with their

daily sufferings.

The administration

of President Benigno

Simeon Noynoy

Aquino III, by not step-

ping rst on shoes of

the teachers, instead

of increasing the al-

lotment for education,

limits the funds of pub-

lic schools.

PNoy has done an-other around.

But who are we to

judge PNoys wisdom

despite being his boss-

es, an accolade seem-

ingly done in words not

in deeds.

For the information

of the President, let me

share a piece of suf-

ferings of our public

school teachers.

The newly-hired

public school teach-

ers have to teach their

students without gov-

ernment assistance

for three successive

months. After three

months of teaching,

only then they will re-

ceive their salary.

In three consecutivemonths, the teachers

have to survive their

daily needs jeepney

fare, food, room rental,

and school accessories.

In this three-month

period, the teachers can

only survive by avail-

ing all kinds of loan,

including 5/6.

In surviving their

daily fare and other

needs, the teachers have

resorted to selling pea-

nuts, corn, candies etc.

to their students, gain-

ing P10.00 to P50.00 a

day.

By gaining a cent

from their student, the

teachers are degraded,

but they are left with no

choice.The Department of

Education or DepEd

prohibited the teachers

from selling anything

to their students, but

DepEd never responded

to their appeals to up-

grade their lives.

It is no good exam-

ple to young minds the

teachers are trying to

mold in a modest way.

But it is their only way

to inch-by-inch stand

without a shaking knee

due to hunger, thirst and

tiresome work.

On the day of receiv-

ing their pay, the teach-

ers are already indebted

more than their salary.

And to continuously

survive, the teachershave to avail another

loan with interest be-

yond repair.

If PNoy will not be-

lieve this, it is much

better for him to consult

his Education ofcials.

Frankly speaking,

my brethren are counted

with the public schools,

and they, too, had been

dragged to the same

streets of dire.

With the purpose ofcutting their monthly

room rental, the teach-

ers have to avail the

housing loan offered

by the HLURB. The

housing loan has to be

deducted from their

monthly salary.

When natural disas-

ter comes their way, the

teachers have to avail of

an SSS loan (Social Se-

curity System). What a

mess?

With this fact, the

teachers are already

buried six feet underdebts. They nd it hard

to lift themselves up

from their grave.

Theirs is no longer

the modest profession.

Pity them.

But there is some-

thing that the govern-

ment can do to honor

the teachers, not by giv-

ing them medals and

trophies but by in-

creasing their salary.

An increase intheir pay can lessen

their burden of send-

ing their children to

school.

Teachers as parents

never fail to say that:

Education is the only

inheritance that can

never be robbed, for

the same have been

proven in their lives.

The government

should not only invest

on the number of its

citizens for its useless

if they are illiterate.

As Francisco Co-layco said people are

an investment. But

they must be people

with education.

For education can

be a good capital in

business, and the

best investment for

employment for the

countrys progress.

From page 1

those who perished inthe infamous Maguin-danao massacre.

Policeman ElliverCablitas, the husband

of Mindanao Focuscolumnist Maritess Ca- blitas who was amongthose killed there, is sosure that if only his wifeand other reporters werenot killed, the Ampatu-ans could have beenstill there lording overall in sight.

In his words, evenif the entire popula-tion of a barangay ofMangudadatu familieswere killed, it will onlygo to oblivion and theAmpatuans would stillremain the kingsof

No libel can kill good ...From page 2

in the performance

of any legal, moralor social duty; and

2. A fair and

true report, made ingood faith, withoutany comments or

remarks, of any ju-dicial, legislative orother official pro-

ceedings which arenot of confidentialnature, or of any

statement, reportor speech delivered

in said proceed-ings, or of any otheract performed bypublic officers in

the exercise of theirfunctions.

GIJUMO defense:

Lack of Malice

Now, the offi-

cial proceeding isof extreme publicinterest because it is

one about the murderof a journalist andthe fact that this is

without doubt amongthe first of those mat-ters that interest the

people.The articles in

question are thereforeobvious to have beenmade to serve publicinterest. And if this is

so, then the intentionmust denitely be

good and the motivemust denitely bejustied.

The intention wasto make the publicknow what happened

in an official pro-ceeding for the mur-der of the journalist

to serve the interestof the public thathas been following

the developmentson this case. Thismeans these news

stories were madewith good intention.Now, the motive,

or the impellingforce that drove therespondents into

writing and publish-ing the questionedarticles, is the

desire to exercisepress freedom thatis inherent in every

journalist like therespondents.

Therefore, there

is no doubt that themaking of these sto-ries were done with

good intention andjustifiable motive.

Under Article

354, when the mak-ing of an imputationis shown to have

been done withgood intention and

justifiable motive

or GIJUMO (GoodIntention and Justifi-

able Motive), thereis no presumption ofmalice.

To stress, themain paragraph ofthe law reads: Art.

354. Requirementfor publicity. Ev-ery defamatory im-

putation is presumedto be malicious,even if it be true, if

no good intention

and justifiable mo-tive for making it is

shown, except in thefollowing cases

GIJUMO, or good

intention and justifi-

able motive, havingbeen established

there is then no

malice that can bepresumed under the

law.

Lack of presumed

malice: accusers bur-

den to show actual

malice

What does it meanwhen there is no

malice that can bepresumed?

If this is the case,

the burden of proofto prove probable

cause of ACTUALMALICE to justifythe filing of theselibel cases in court

rests on the shoulderof the accuser.

Scrutinizing thecomplainant for

libel shows not a

single evidence ofactual malice has

been produced.Actual mal-

ice means the actof publishing adefamatory imputa-

tion despite priorknowledge that theimputation is false,

or a reckless disre-gard of the truth orfalsity of the impu-

tation as if it wasstupid or foolish tobelieve in the facts

gathered.And if there is noproof of probability

of the element ofmalice, then there isno libel.

The day the untouchables ...nothingness.

With tears speak-ing, Elliver premisedthat if there was onegood thing that hap-

pened with the deathof his wife, it was thatthese martyrs also gavedeath to another groupof untouchables, theAmpatuans.

And if there wasanother thing that isa priceless reward, itis the priceless free-dom now enjoyed bythe Maguindanaoans,many of whom weresaid to have been mur-dered by means of cut-ting bodies in half withthe use of chainsawsin full view in public

plazas to give lessonsto those who may havethoughts of ghting theclan.

So proud of his wife,

Elliver told Dr. Anacle-to Toto B. Millendez,founder of BeautifulHeart Foundation, Inc.,that his belief is alsothe belief of anotherToto, who is nowMaguindanao GovernorEsmael Toto Mangu-dadatu.

Elliver recalled thatToto Mangudadatu wasconvinced that no onewould touch the jour-nalists because theyhave been untouch-ables in Maguindanao,Mangudadatu invited

them to accompany hismen, his wife, and histwo sisters in ling hiscerticate of candidacyfor governor of Magu-

indanao on November23, 2009.

But they werewrong.

The convoy were blocked on their wayto Shariff Aguak, forc-ibly brought to a re-mote place that no onewould ever come, killedlike shooting targetsof chicken with someheads blowing out, and buried in the most de-spicable way.

A backhoe markedwith letterings Prov-ince of Maguindanao,

Gov. Andal AmpatuanSr. lifted the cadav-ers from where theyslumped, poured themon two excavations

obviously prepared prior the abduction atthe checkpoint, andcovered the bodies andtheir vehicles with thesoil dug out from thesame holes. For ev-ery layer of landfill,the backhoe compact-ed the filling so thatthe vehicles would beflattened.

Elliver, however,slightly blamed Man-gudadatu for the deathof his wife and 57 oth-ers.

But he now chose to

thank the high heavenfor without the brutalevent, the killings inMaguindanao will nev-er end.

The most fearedwarlords of Maguin-danao, Andal AmpatuanSr., Zaldy Ampatuanand Andal AmpatuanJr., were pointed to asbrains of the massacre.

The Ampatuan clanhas been pointed tocountless of killings inMaguidanao for the last20 years.

He said the Ampatu-ans style of governancedubbed Own the Peo-ple is now a history.

And the gravest con-cern of Elliver now is

the fact that the literalmeaning of justice willnever come to him andhis family even after ten(10) years, pointing out

the snail system in thecountry like the count-less motions led by thelawyers of the Ampatu-ans. As this was writ-ten, the judge handlingthe case, Judge JocelynSolis-Reyes took a two-week vacation.

If there is one morething, this is an argu-ment in favor jury sys-tem of justice beingadvocated by Hukumanng Mamamayan Move-ment, Inc. (HMMI) be-ing led by Berteni TotoCatalua Causing.


5/8

Privileged spits

By Toto C. Causing

Sept. 19-25, 2011 5

Vol. II No. 67

Govt men are just that:Public property, nothing more

THIS is my Gover-

nance 101 course for

P-Noy and all other

ofcials, elected or

appointed!

If I were the Presi-

dent of the Philip-

pines, the top qualities

that I would look for

in choosing a per-

son to be appointed,

other than academ-

ics, work records, and

integrity, are: (1) he

or she should have a

thick skin; (2) he or

she must have a brave

heart; and (3) he or she

has the principle that

he or she is a pub-

lic property, nothing

more.

By having a thick

skin, he or she must

not be onion-skinned

that he or she does not

react wildly to any ac-

cusation.

By having a brave

heart, he or she must

be courageous in fac-

ing criticisms frontally

and do it by means ofwords against words

and not swords

against words.

By being a pub-

lic property, he or

she must abide by the

principle that his time

and body are owned

by the public and not

for his or her private

pleasures.

Correlating all

these qualities that I

would look for in my

appointees if I were the

President, I expect them

to be persons who be-

lieve they have no right

to complain even on the

harshest criticisms or

worst of falsities foisted

against them.

I expect my appoin-

tees know that from the

time of signing and ac-

cepting their ofce, tak-

ing their oaths, and en-

tering their duties, they

are a public property

and nothing more, so to

speak.

If they are a public

property, they have no

right to slap or punch se-

curity guards who may

have displeased them as

what was reported in the

news that Congressman

Pangandaman punched

a watchman, or as the si-

lence to Pangandamans

act as shown now by al-

leged congressman of

blue guards and tricycle

drivers who is Mikey

Arroyo, who was used

to quickly rebut witharrogance while a fake

Cinderella was still sit-

ting on the throne sto-

len not once but twice,

as actress Susan Roces

once said. The muteness

of Mikey is deafening,

even if the Wack-Wack

incident where the Pan-

gandamans went wild is

yet recent to forget.

As a public property,

public ofcials have

no right to manhandle

drivers and maids or

shout at kids knocking

on their car windows

for alms.


public ofcials have no

right to shout at waiters.


public ofcials have no

right to go to nightclubs

or gay bars.

Most above all,

public ofcials have

no right to complain

against public accusa-

tions.

The public owns

them and they must

be slaves of the public

and not be kings and

queens when their

works were put into

question.

And for being a pub-

lic property, they haveno right to take mis-

tresses or paramours

for they will only serve

as bad examples to the

people who idolize

them.

For being a public

property, they have no

right to play in casinos.

On casino, I should

lecture former gover-

nors Joel T. Reyes of

Palawan and Antonio

Carrion of Marinduque,

aside from demanding

from them to face and

ght with truth the ac-

cusation that they mas-

terminded the murder

of Palawan broadcaster

Dr. Gerry Ortega.

I should also remind

Vice-Mayor Isko More-

no of Manila that casino

is not good for him be-

cause a good mayor is

not like a mouse that

plays dirty when the cat

is away.

These slaves who

are a public property

must know that over and

above academic require-

ments is a moral resume

that can stand alone as a

total qualication.

On the qualities of

being thick-skinned and

brave-hearted, my bestexample is Dr. Rosario

Torres-Yu, a professor of

the Filipino department

at the University of the

Philippines Diliman.

Unlike Senator

Miriam Defensor San-

tiago who is perhaps

the best legal mind UP

has produced but who

led libel cases to fend

off criticisms, Dr. Tor-

res-Yu showed she is

not onion-skinned but

a woman with a brave

heart when she posted

her reply and explana-

tion right beneath the

blog story I posted.

The blog entitled

Ex-judge and winner

in Palanca prize for the

same category de-

nitely hurt Dr. Torres-

Yu. She was identied

by me as the one who

was a judge in Sanaysay

(essay) during the 2010

edition and a contestant

in the 2011 contest.

Torres-Yu won the

second prize in this

years category where

the chairman of the

board of judges, Dr.

Pam Constantino, was

Yus co-judge in the

2010 version.

But Dr. Torres-Yunever second-guessed.

She and Dr. Constanti-

no wrote their reactions

and explained in so gra-

cious and magnanimous

words--to the point of

debunking my facts.

I salute them.

They should be

emulated by our pub-

lic ofcialsnot the

kind who would react

like what Mikey did,

saying Prove it!; or

like the Ampatuans

did: Kill em all!; or

what Kalinga Gov. Jo-

cel Baac did: barging

inside the announcers

booth of dyRK, grab-

bing one microphone,

and smashing it on the

mouth of announcer Je-

rome Tabanganay.

To know the details

of what I am saying

about Dr. Torres-Yu and

Dr. Constantino, open

the website at http://

totocausing.blogspot.

com/2011/09/propriety-

issue-in-palanca-prize-

ex.html.

As people of deep

discernment, Dr. Tor-

res-Yu and Dr. Con-

stantino chose to con-

front accusing words

with gracefully-written

words.

Mr. Rosauro D. Bau-

tista, Head Agent of

the National Bureau of

Investigation (NBI) in

Puerto Princesa City,

must follow the exam-

ples of Dr. Torres-Yuand Dr. Constantino.

He should have not

led libel cases against

Police Files! Tonite and

X-Files publisher Joey

G. Venancio and editors

Jack Castillo and Becky

Rodriguez.

Instead, Mr. Bautista

should speak up and

have his mind published

to refute the statements

in the afdavit executed

by Mr. Percival Lecias,

an accused in the mur-

der of broadcaster Dr.

Ortega, which state-

ments were published

almost in toto by Ve-

nancio and company.

In that statement,

Lecias alleged that Mr.

Bautista got mad as he

was seeing money in

two attach cases be-

ing distributed inside

an NBI ofce on Taft

Avenue, Manila.

It was just a state-

ment sworn to by

Lecias, who is a co-

respondent of ex-

governors Reyes and

Carrion, and which

statements were led

ofcially by Lecias

in a preliminary in-

vestigation conducted

by the Department

of Justice to know

whether there was

probable cause that

Reyes and Carrion

masterminded the

slaying.

Venancio and com-

pany never said intheir news stories that

these statements of

Lecias are true. They

never made any re-

marks or opinions.

Mr. Bautista, you

are just a public prop-

erty, nothing more!

Perhaps, P-Noy

discerned more what

I mean when he issued

a striking statement.

KAYO, ANG

BOSS KO!

Isko, Jejomarand their dreams!

THE inaction of govern-ment on abuses commit-ted against our kababay-ans employed at ResortsWorld Casino remains amystery.

The workers are notonly fed with measly food,they are also forced to ren-der two (2) hours overtimework.

Now, the workers are

clamoring that they arenot paid with their MID-YEAR BONUS.

Counting a few monthsfrom now, CHRISTMASBONUS is for the giving,

but the MID-YEAR BO-NUS is not yet handed toResorts World Casino em-

ployees.The purported reason

of foreigners who ownRW casino is: The em-

ployees have committedunaccounted minor of-fenses.

Tsk tsk tskIt seems that we go

back in time, the time ofthe Spaniards. The Filipi-

nos are crushed underfootthe strangers in their ownnative land.

These foreigners aretaking away the gains ofour government-run casino.They are squeezing the ben-ets of their workers.

Will Congress not actto the plight of the Filipinoworkers at Resorts WorldCasino?

Is it true that the Hon-orable Tongressmen, este,Congressmen have swal-lowed their pieces of thecake?

We need your reply,Cong. Amado Bagatsing!

Vice Mayor Isko Moreno

prepares for 2013 polls?

A couple of days ago,our blog boys saw ManilaVice Mayor ISKO MORE-

NO at the second oor ofCafe Adriatico at 10:00 inthe evening.

Moreno was seen hav-ing a conference with FA-MILIAR FACES in Manila

politics, including olat, ste,LETLET ZARCAL, Ana-lyn Atienza and some iden-tied with the past Manilagovernment administration.

The Moreno DreamCore was sitting in be-tween two groups that the

blog boys perceived as peo-ple from the campaign andPR of his group.

Theyre not so BIG in

name, not so small, but notyet in an average status.Anyway, they chose clientswith balls, maybe for2013 elections.

According to our blogboys, the group was at theSECOND FLOOR of CafAdriatico. They were spot-ted by our blog boys be-cause the comfort rooms ofthe establishment are at thesecond oor.

It seems their confer-ence was very fruitful be-cause the smile faded noton Vice Mayor Iskos face,and it seems that it was hardfor them to separate ways

because the night was still

young.Just like the childrens

bedtime story that goes:Thats all for today folks.Lets wait for another storytomorrow.

See you then!

VP Binay capitalizes on

his being a Housing Czar

and Presidential Adviser for

OFWs!

Theres nothing wrongin dreaming.

As admitted by theconcurrent Vice-President,Housing czar and presiden-tial adviser on overseas Fili-

pino workers (OFWs), JE-JOMAR BINAY dreams ofthe presidency. Its hypoc-risy to say he has no plan.

But as of now, Binaywill perform his duties andresponsibilities in the gov-ernment.

But many observedthat Binay utilizes his posi-tions and functions to rein-force his dream a run for

president of the Republic in

2016.Speaking of his dream,

all we can advise: For themoment, can you please setaside your dream, VP JojoBinay?

Many perceive thatyoure only taking advan-tage of the circumstances.You are already known tothe voters. The people arecognizant of how you move

and think. They are aware ofthe objectives of your high-ly-publicized performance.They know of how wide andfar your foresight is.

Well, let me repeat:Theres nothing wrong indreaming.

But considering yourattitude, we think that yourwinning the 2016 electionsis vague.

In truth, we haventseen great ACCOMPLISH-MENTS of agencies youlord over.

Unsolicited advice: Ifyou can craft a comprehen-sive housing program for themasses, maybe, just maybe,

you can have an edge.

Dont worry Globe

Asiatique.

By the way, how areyou, ex-VP Noli De Castro?

VP Binay immediatelyabsolved ex-VP De Castrofrom the scandal involvinghis friend Deln Lee. Buthe swallowed his words the

following day.The second unsolicited

advice: Limit the exposureof your PR chief and cordonsanitaire Mr. JOEY SAL-GAGO, ste, SALGADO.It seems that his aura isNEGA to the media.

His presence might dragyou to naught.

Hanggang kailan matata-pos ang kalbaryo ng mgaairport police?

We have no clue of the plan of the Manila Inter-national Airport Authority(MIAA) to the airport po-lice.

They are working likecarabaos but there is nosystem in their compensa-tion.

Airport policemenworked 12 hours a day buttheir OVERTIME pay isnot yet paid for last month.Until now they have noCollective NegotiationAgreement (CNA).

We would like to

inform MIAA GeneralManager Jose AngelBodet Honrado that theairport policemen are notrobots. They are human

beings with families andneeds. They are eating,

paying water and electricbills, and sending childrento school. Others are sup-

porting their parents andbrethren.

They are not parasites.They are working to main-tain PEACE and ORDERat the NAIA.

Since they are not paidwith overtime pay, manyof them are now in heavydebts.

Jerrys Blogs

By Jerry S. Yap


6/8

6

Vol. II No. 67 Sept. 19-25, 2011

Simplifed Libel Law

in the PhilippinesBy BERTENI TOTO CATALUA CAUSING

L

IBEL is but a small part of the Revised Pe-nal Code of the Philippines. But it is com-

plicated as the rest of the provisions of

that law combined if we talk of untanglinghow to prosecute or defend successfully.

If it is hard to prosecute libel in court, it is equal-ly hard to defend libel during the preliminary inves-tigation stage and during the trial.

Many a Filipino journalist take the many libelcases led against them as badges of honor. They

believe they have nothing to fear about for no onecan prove malice.

The opposite is the truth.

With the present state of conservative thinkingthe Philippine courts have, many end up convictedfor insults that are actually opinions in themselves.The author has been campaigning for the decrimi-nalization of libel from the criminal statutes of the

Philippines, but he discusses this campaign in an-other book.

In the authors more than 20 years of experienceas a media man (as sportswriter, news writer, copyeditor, and news editor), more than a hundred casesof libel were slapped at him. All got dismissed incourts or prosecution ofces.

The brutal truth is that libel has been a favor-ite tool of the powers-that-be in getting back at orsilencing critics or journalists writing reports aboutinvolvements of public ofcials, public gures and

private persons who became subjects of even mat-ters that involved public interest.

Another worrisome fact is the increasing convic-tion rate and the increasing afrmation by the Su -

preme Court of these convictions.

In 2006 to 2007, convictions of three journalistsfound guilty by the trial courts of Makati and DavaoCities were afrmed with nality by the Court ofLast Resort on the basis of the opinions of the jus-tices that malice is presumed in the insulting wordsthat are in themselves opinions.

They say everybody is entitled to his or her opin-ion; but opinions that are scathing or one that is aname-calling do not sit well with the justices.

I am passionately against these convictions.These are a complete disregard of Article III, Sec-tion 4 of the Philippine Constitution that prohibitsabridgment of the freedom of expression.

Conviction on the basis of opinion is sickeningbecause to express is to make an opinion known.

Many have been charged, indicted, tried andconvicted because of opinions that touch theegos of the greedy and the dishonest who lookat themselves bigger than their actual reputa-tion.

I remember the case of Mr. Claudio Da-quer of Puerto Princesa who was convicted

by the RTC there for calling sports of-cial Arnie A. Grande as mokong,kuto, and gago. The NationalPress Club of the Philippines appealed

his case and it is still pending upto this writing.

The true denition of malice as an element of libel refers to imputations thatare false, and that the author published the same despite prior knowledge thatthese are false.

Opinion can never be proven false or true: they can only be proven wrong orcorrect. As such, it is anomalous for the Supreme Court to say there is malicein an opinion of a columnist if he writes that a lawyer is inutile or ignorant.Since opinions can never be false and malice is based on publication of falsities,opinions can never be malicious no matter how wrong.

Given this hostile environment for the press, the only precaution an ordinaryjournalist can do is to hide some facts, although doing this amounts to consent tothe wrongdoings. Withholding identication of wrongdoers or the wrongs doneis one of the best preventive measures owing to the fact of life that no one can

prevent any person from ling a libel case, with or without merit.

Now, the ling alone of a libel complaint is in itself prejudicial, let alone thefact that many journalists are poor to afford to hire a lawyer.

That is, even if to le a complaint is one thing and for the said complaint tosucceed is another thing.

But those who are brave amongst the press continue to defy the libel law andin so doing they have given a false impression to the world that the Philippineshas a free press.

Such that if it happens as always that many dissenting voices and words areheard or read in the Land of the Pearl of the Orient Seas, it is because of the dar-ing attitude of most media men, not because of the laws.

It is in this context that this Simplied Libel Law book has come to being.

My purpose is to give the daring and the brave among my brethren the neces-sary knowledge armory to ght those who abuse libel law. Another reason theauthor decided to write this is that it is a part of his advocacy to set up a societyof a totally-free press, a society where libel is not a crime, but only a civil disputeto be resolved between the libeled and the libeler.

Libel law traces its roots to the common law for one purpose: to protect theking or queen, the source of power in the olden times.

During those times when the rule of the monarchs were absolute, they had thepower to decide what should be the laws, the power to execute or carry out thelaws, and the power to judge as to how to interpret the laws they made and howto apply the laws on the people who committed acts violating any of these lawsdecreed by the kings or the queens.

In the present populist societies, there is no more room for the kings or queensto be protected. They have been relegated to symbols of their nations sovereigntyafter the unprecedented rise of populist ideas: that it is not the king who is theking but the people.

Among those demoted by circumstances to mere symbols of power are thequeen of Great Britain or the United Kingdom, the king of Spain, the king ofThailand, and the emperor of Japan. That is although there still remain todaykingdoms where the monarchs are still the rule: these are the sheiks or emirs orkings of the Middle East, some of them crumbled lately.

Such that if a libel law is by nature intended to protect the source of power,then it must protect the people because it is the people who are the source of

power in populist societies and not the government ofcials.

In a country like the Philippines, the people are the ones who decide whoshould lead them as president, and who should represent them in making lawsfor them. Unfortunately though, while the basic premise is that the source of the

power to judge and interpret the laws should be the people, the Filipinos do notactually decide who should sit as judges and justices: this should not be the case.

What should be the case is that the people should be the ones who shouldexercise their power to judge by electing their justices and judges or by the jurysystem, where their representatives randomly picked from them sit as jurors tohear and to say what really are the facts in the cases.

And if the Filipinos have a jury system, it is for sure that the libel law will be-come extinct as what happened when the jury nullied the libel law in the famoustrial of John Peter Zenger in the State of New York in olden times when the statewas yet a province of Great Britain.

The jurors in Zengers case fell for the arguments of his lawyer when he said

Chapter I

Introductionthat it is a civil right and duty of every citizen tocriticize civil governors, that freedom of expressionis like a great river that when you prevent it from

owing it will form a ood upstream and will wipeout everything in its riotous paths downstream.

Now, a question may be asked: Is it not properthat libel should protect the people because sover-eignty resides in them or that they are the source of

power?

But as it shows, the Philippine libel law protectsgovernment ofcials who are supposed to be onlyagents of the people.

This fact that the libel law actually operates toprotect the agents of the people is the reason that wecan always hear ofcials ling libel cases againstlowly media men. Although the cases led do notnecessarily result in conviction, the act of lingthem alone is enough to harass the journalists intosilence.

Once libel complaints are led, concerned journalists are compelled to defend themselves before prosecutors ofces that approve indict-ments in court even with the slightest probabilityof malice, compelled to face warrants of arrest

because of indictments that are almost expected,compelled to look for money for bail for tempo-rary liberty, compelled to undergo the prejudicialand oftentimes partial trial, and, if unlucky, ndsselves convicted by judges who yield to the urg-ings of high ofcials.

One thing more, inuential persons would in-voke the rule of sub judice that the accused journal-ists cannot write about matters related to the issues

being tackled in court while the case is pending;even if the issues involved weigh more for publicinterests.

Nevertheless, libel law has evolved from the17th century when English writer William Prynnsears were lopped off before he was imprisoned forwriting a book criticizing the queen. Today, this can-not happen.

Inspired by great thinkers like John Stuart Millwho espoused that the liberty of thought should beallowed to be freely expressed if only to get to thetruth, the pen of Justice Brennan in the landmarkcase of Abrams vs US, 250 U.S. 616 (1919) our-ished.

The veritable legal genius in Brennan dissentedby espousing the popular marketplace of ideas theo-ry, arguing that the best test of truth is the power ofthe thought to get itself accepted in the competitionof the market, that the ultimate good desired is best

reached by free trade in ideas. To page 7


7/8

Sept. 19-25, 2011 7

Vol. II No. 67

BY the time Iwrite this, prob-ably more thanhalf the peopleof the world al-

ready watched how FloydMayweather Jr. knockedout his opponent VictorOrtiz -- IN A REVOLT-ING MANNER!

But for those whodo not know yet whathappened, let me sum-marize it this way. Afterthe referee has deducteda point from Ortiz andwhile he was about tohug Mayweather, thelatter threw a punch onOrtiz.

In a split of a secondafter that punch, Ortizlooked to the left tocomplain to the refereewho was walking awaywithout seeing that

punch and without notic-ing the protest of Ortiz.

While not aware ofthis, in the same span ofa split of a second, Floyddelivered the knockout

blow.To visualize how it

happened, watch thisvideo: http://youtu.be/G6Knyu4-6wM.

To the mind of thisblogger, it is completelydespicable and revoltingto allow Mayweather totake the prize of tens ofmillions of dollars andthe welter champions

belt upon that atrociousact!

It was like shootingdead an innocent child.

It is more like a situationin a war where a soldiershoots at an opposingsoldier whose weapon isdown!

Associated Pressboxing writer Tim Dahl-berg wrote this: May-

FLOYD, RETURN THEMONEY & CROWN

ByBERTENITOTO

CATALUACAUSING

weather later engaged ina verbal confrontationwith HBO announcer

Larry Merchant, callinghim a name at one pointand drawing a pointedresponse from the vet-eran broadcaster, whosaid he would thrash the

boxer if he was 50 yearsyounger.

Floyd argued that itwas perfectly within thelegal bounds of boxing

to punch an opponenteven if the opponentwas not on guard. His

justification is that inboxing, any boxer insidethe ring must always beon guard.

Yes, Floyd got a

support from referee JoeCortez, who was quoted

by Dahlberg as saying:

Time was in, the ghterneeded to keep his guardup. Mayweather didnothing illegal.

But to the mind of thisblogger, while there isno written law to respectan opponent who forgets

to put his guards up or isso trusting in the beliefthat the opponent is a

gentleman, it is neverthe-less an act of cheatingto take advantage of thesituation.

In the Philippine civillaw, a person who acts todamage another is stillliable although it is his

right to do so.Additionally, this

blogger says without fear

that not one of the crowdor the audience some-where else in the worldwould have respect forFloyd after he ayed justto win.

If there is anythingelse to be said why Floyd

ayed, it is because ofFEAR.

Floyd is a COWARD,

no more.He feared to lose and

that fear is the reason heis always on the loose.

Let us see whattreachery would Floydshow if he ghts MannyPacman Pacquiao.

SUCKER-PUNCH -- Mayweather follows thru with a right straight to the face of Victor Ortiz that took the lights out of him thereby annexing theWBC Lightwelterweight crown. The punch came right after Ortiz apologized for the headbutting incident, drew much reaction from the boxingcommunity all over the world.

In 1964, the US Su- preme Court came upwith another landmarkruling in the case of

New York Times vs.Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254(1964), virtually wip-ing away whatever ves-tige libel had as a crimein the United Statesof America. It wasnot long after that thiscriminal law becameextinct in the land ofthe milk and honey.

The conclusion in New York Times caseis that public ofcialscannot sue for libel un-less they can show rsta prima facie proof ofactual malice, dened

Simplifed Libel Law in the Philippinesas publishing a defama-tory imputation despiteknowledge it was false,or a reckless disregard ofthe truth or falsity of the

imputation.

In 1967, the US Su- preme Court came upwith another landmarkcase in Curtis vs Butts,388 U.S. 130 (1966), forthe struggle for free ex-

pression and free press.There it was held thatlibel rules applicable to

public ofcers under thestandards of New YorkTimes is also applicableto public gures.

In 1974, another land-mark US Supreme Courtcase, Gertz vs Welch,

418 U.S. 323 (1974), waslaid down where publicgures were classiedinto three: (a) public of-cers; (b) private persons

pervasively known in acommunity such as ce-lebrities; and (c) private

persons who are not per-vasively known but whovoluntarily threw them-selves into the vortex ofthe controversy or thosewho voluntarily acted toinuence the resolutionof a controversy.

Since then, the Philip-pine jurisdiction adoptedthis postulate such thatit became the rule of theday in the Philippines.

The Philippines, how-

ever, mutated anotherdoctrine from public of-cers.

In Borjal vs CA, G.R.

No. 126466, January 14,1999, the Philippine Su-

preme Court ruled thatcommentaries on mat-ters of public interest arequaliedly privileged ifthey were inferred fairlyfrom reasonably sup-

posed facts even if suchfacts turn out false later.

If a writing is quali-edly privileged, the

burden of proof of mal-ice is thrown to the faceof the accuser.

Until today, the doc-trines of public gures

and fair comments arethe most effective de-fenses against libel casesled against journalists,editors, broadcasters and

others who write opin-ionated articles.

Other defenses may be lack of jurisdictionof the trial court and

prescription, which, inturn, simply means thatthe right to le a libelsuit is only one year and

beyond that period, rightalready expired.

Nevertheless, theauthor wants to pointout that the freedom ofexpression, of speech,and of the press is notan exclusive domain of

the journalists. The 1987Constitution of the Phil-ippines grants this free-dom to all people of anyclass.

How these doctrineswork and how the other

possible defenses makesome magic shall be laidout in detail in their re-spective chapters.

It is guaranteed thatit is easy for one whoreads this book to masterthe law of libel, its rea-sons and purposes, andits defenses.

This book devotesone chapter for theknowledge on how aneditor, reporter or any

writing enthusiast canevade and avoid get-ting charged in court

by the prosecutors forlibel.

It also devotes an-other chapter in sum-marizing the availabledefenses. Another isdedicated to a discus-sion for each of thesedefenses. One of suchlengths is also givento applications to eachof the discussions onactual cases, on thesurvey of the SupremeCourt decisions on li-

bel, on how to dealwith real issues in thenews desk, on what todo when a libel case isled, among others.

From page 6


8/8

8

Vol. II No. 67 Sept. 19-25, 2011

YUMMY,YUMMYSHAMCEY!

Iam not con-

vinced Sham-cey did superblyto defeat theuniqueness in

the appearance ofMiss Angola.

Imagine, all elsewere white and shewas black and yet shehad the face equallybeautiful as the restand answer not leastas anyone else!

That rarity sealedthe crown for her!

If the answer ofShamcey were ex-traordinary, that was

the only way for her

to win.

But we Filipinosmust take comfortbecause Shamceyswin is an afrmationand a solidicationof a statement thatthe Philippines is afranchisee of a TopFive seat.

Remember that in2010 our very ownVenus Raj nishedFourth Runner Upand, on top of that,she has become sopopular in the worldand her memoriesstill lingered right

at the time the

nal questions were

thrown to the Fivenalists.Who would ever

forget Venus whenshe recited a majormajor answer?

Even Americanentertainment colum-nists, writers and talkshow hosts kept onrepeating and laugh-ing about the majormajor answer.

When Miss Mexicoappeared on NBCand was asked whatshe could say aboutthe major major

answer, the Mexican

turned out to be very

uent in English yetshe resorted to aninterpreter before sheanswered her nalquestion. Neverthe-less, the Latina de-fended Venus insist-ing that standing onthe world stage givesthe biggest nervousof life.

Nevertheless,Dyaryo Magdalotakes pride in Sham-cey, not only be-cause she is fromGeneral Santos Citythat is a neighbor

of South Cotabato

where the editor-in-chief of this paperhails from, but alsobecause both herfather, Kuya Tim, andmother, Ate Marcey,are his co-alumnifrom Mindanao StateUniveristy-Marawi.

All MSUans,including this author,campaigned hard tovote for her onlineto ensure that shewould be assured aseat in the Top Five.

And whatever thecute-and-innocent-

looking Black Woman

Miss Angola wouldsay, SHAMCEY ISYUMMY, YUMMY!

Shamceys boy-friend who convertedfrom a Catholic to aProtestant because ofhis love for her musthave won a One-Bil-lion-Dollar prize in theheart of the womanwho professed in hernal question thatshe would preferGod over the manshe loves if to marryhim demands her tochange her religious

beliefs.

If I were the onesto answer the samequestion, I wouldanswer: No, I wouldnot change my reli-gion. I would marryGod because He isthe man I love themost.

That answer ofShamcey, wittingly orluckily drawn for her,told of her real-lifelove drama with herboyfriend who hasforsaken his religiousbelief in favor of theYummy, Yummy

Sup Sup.

ByBERTENI TOTO

CATALUACAUSING

No, I would not change myreligion. I would marry God

because He is the manI love the most.

If I were to answer her question, I would say:

dyaryo magdalo (sept 19-25, 2011 issue)

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