Humanae Vitae (Latin for “Of Human Life”) is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968. Subtitled “On the Regulation of Birth”, it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life.

Last Friday’s 40th anniversary of the encyclical was celebrated by the Philippine Catholic faithful with a prayer rally at the University of Santos Tomas. Four decades after its issuance, Humanae Vitae continues to engender much impassioned debate.

Police estimates placed the crowd at 12,000. The speakers included Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao, who said: “Siguro, kung nag-family planning ang mga magulang ko. Wala tayong Manny Pacquiao ngayon. Pang-apat na anak ako ng aking magulang” (If my parents practiced family planning, we would have no Manny Pacquiao today. I am the fourth child.)

The recent discussion is particularly relevant in the light of renewed assaults by the institutional Church against the reproductive health bills pending in Congress.

The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines is opposed to the bills for allegedly advocating “morally unacceptable” population control methods including some which it claims would induce abortion. Unfortunately, the way the CBCP presents its arguments has generated a lot of heat but little light. Read the rest of this entry »

An Inquirer article caught my eye which will cause not a few raised eyebrows and guffaws among my esteemed compañeros and compañeras in the profession.

In a recent resolution, Judge Medel Arnaldo B. Belen of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Calamba, Laguna was reprimanded by the Supreme Court for unbecoming conduct. It seems the good magistrate told a lawyer appearing before him that since he (the lawyer) did not graduate from the UP College of Law, he and the judge could not be equals. He was referring to Atty. Melvin D.C. Mane, who referred to himself as “a proud graduate of MLQU”. Read the rest of this entry »

DISCLAIMER : This entry is just my personal opinion and I do not represent or espouse the position of any party involved in the matter discussed. It is just my take on the issue based on my knowledge of the law as it relates to the situation under consideration. My statements should not be taken as legal advice by any of the parties involved.

I spoke too soon when I said in another post that it was a lucky break for the MV Princess of the Stars to have sunk where it did, just a kilometer or two from Sibuyan Island in Romblon, where survivors could swim or drift to safety. If the weather improved, that is. But it was of course stormy, and bodies of drowned ferry passengers were found as far away as Camarines Norte, hundreds of kilometers to the north. Today’s headline in the Philippine Star says it all, “Everywhere, bodies”.

That Sulpicio Lines, as a common carrier, may be held civilly liable for the deaths of the ill-starred passengers is a settled issue. The pertinent provisions of the Philippine Civil Code provides:

ART. 1755. A common carrier is bound to carry the passengers to safety as far as human care and foresight can provide, using the utmost diligence of very cautious persons, with a due regard for all the circumstances.

ART. 1756. In case of death of or injuries to passengers, common carriers are presumed to have been at fault or to have acted negligently, unless they prove that they observed extraordinary diligence as prescribed in articles 1733 and 1755. (Emphasis supplied) Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve previously written about the case of Megan Meier of Dardenne Prairie, St. Charles County in Missouri, U.S.A., who committed suicide after being spurned by a boy she was communicating with in the MySpace social networking site. She was chatting with a 16-year old boy named “Josh Evans” on a regular basis, and had come to believe that a certain romantic relationship had been established between them. But one day, without warning, Josh turned mean. He called Megan names, and later they traded online insults. Other youngsters who had linked to Josh’s MySpace profile joined the increasingly bitter exchange and began sending profanity-laden messages to Megan. The online bullying finally drove Megan to hang herself with a belt in her bedroom closet. She was thirteen.

But Josh Evans never existed. He was an online character created by Lori Drew, the 47-year old mother of Megan’s former best friend, who lived just four houses down the street from the Meiers. Mrs. Drew created the character “Josh Evans”, according to a neighbor, because she “going to mess with Megan” for apparently breaking up the once-close friendship with her daughter. Lori Drew did more than that. She drove Megan Meier to kill herself.

Despite the cruel and vicious nature of Mrs. Drew’s acts, Missouri officials could not charge her with a crime. There was nothing in the state’s laws that would cover the perpetrator’s conduct of creating an online “avatar” with the intent to deceive and harm another person.

Mrs. Drew herself expressed little remorse, callously blaming Megan for being suicide-prone. Read the rest of this entry »

Senator Alan Cayetano said that the Senate investigation into the highly anomalous us$329 million national broadband network yielded evidence “leading up to the Office of the President” but no direct testimony linking President Gloria Arroyo to the corrupt deal.

This is lawyer-speak for the fact that, although she may well be guilty, the evidence gathered against GMA won’t stand up in court nor, for that matter, in the Senate investigation or impeachment proceedings. True, a lot of the president’s men were directly implicated, notably Benjamin Abalos, Romulo Neri, Lito Atienza and a host of lesser functionaries, but there was no “smoking gun” to incriminate Arroyo. She’s one lucky bitch indeed, in the words of Gov. Salceda, and cunning too. Her people took the heat and she brazened it out, until the Supreme Court decision upholding Neri’s claim of executive privilege gave her some relief. Read the rest of this entry »