Today is the 4th Sunday of the bar exams and for the record-breaking 6,533 examinees, this marks the culmination of all their efforts throughout law school. Each examinee harbors in his or her heart the burning wish to be among the 20% or so who will make it or roughly 1 out of 5. While the arduous trek is done, the takers are in the unenviable position of not knowing whether they have arrived at their longed-for destination. The results will not be released until another 6-7 months and the agony of waiting is oftentimes more painful and distressing than knowing the news outright, whether it be good or bad.

I read that the present crop is exceptionally resilient, there having been no drop-outs from among the bar takers during the entire four weeks. This includes an 81-year old man taking the bar for the first time. Read the rest of this entry »

Inquirer.net reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will meet with financial and banking experts in New York this week to find out more about the U.S. financial crisis. As if she’s in any position to do anything about it.

Her ostensible reason is to attend the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. The visit had been previously canceled due to pressing domestic concerns. This was before the Lehman Brothers collapse. Suddenly, she decided to push through with the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

When I learned early in the week about the turmoil in Wall Street and that the collapse of Lehman Brothers would probably impact on a number of local banks (around seven, as it turns out, plus AIG subsidiary Philamlife) my first impulse was to make panic withdrawals. But then I quickly realized I had nothing to withdraw. And this caused me to panic even more.

Which brings me to my point. I’m in the position of the many millions of Filipinos whose reaction to the worldwide financial paroxysm would be “Huh? What crisis?”. The Philippines is a nation in perpetual crisis. How can things possibly get worse than they already are ? Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been called a tectonic shift in the global economic environment, with aftershocks to be felt for some time to come.

First, investment bank Lehman Brothers , a firm founded in 1850 and which survived the Great Depression, two world wars and every market upheaval before and since, went belly-up over the weekend. Then rival Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America for a fraction of its value of just a few months ago.

American International Group (AIG), one of the world’s largest insurers, was effectively bought by the U.S. Federal Reserve for a bailout amounting to US$ 85 billion to forestall its impending bankruptcy. AIG is the mother company of the local Philippine American Life Insurance Company (Philamlife). It’s often been said that when the U.S. sneezes, the Philippines catches a cold. Well, when the U.S. gets a cold, we get pneumonia. Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court acted swiftly in meting out punishment on the erring Court of Appeals justices involved in the GSIS-Meralco case. Barely a week after the investigating panel composed of ex-SC Justices Grino-Aquino, Romero and Callejo submitted their findings and recommendations, the High Court imposed sanctions supposedly commensurate to the offenses of those involved. The ponente of the questionable decision favoring Meralco, Justice Vicente Roxas, was kicked out of the CA for dishonesty, having exhibited undue interest in the case, discourtesy to his fellow magistrates and failing to act on pending motions before handing down the decision. He even fabricated a transcript of deliberations between the justices who signed the questioned decision, according to the investigating panel’s findings.

Whistleblower Justice Jose Sabio was suspended for two months without pay. This after admitting that he met with Meralco emissary Francis De Borja and was asked by his elder brother Camilo Sabio, chair of the PCGG, to rule in favor of GSIS. He was scolded for “clinging” to the case even after the presiding justice of the division handling the case, Justice Bienvenido Reyes, for whom Sabio temporarily substituted, had returned from a vacation. Sabio refused to turn over the reins to Reyes.

CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez was severely reprimanded for “failure of leadership” and his inability to speedily resolve the conflict over jurisdiction between Sabio and Justice Reyes. Justice Reyes was found guilty of simple misconduct. Justice Myrna Dimaranan Vidal was admonished for being “too compliant” and signing the decision merely on the importunings of Justice Roxas and without reading the case records.

All’s well that ends well ? Not quite. Read the rest of this entry »