Bautista: Mockery and Impunity
TWO words describe the actions of Sen. Panfilo Lacson who went into hiding before the warrant for his arrest in the Dacer-Corbito double murder case could be served, and later on surfaced after the charges against him were thrown out by the court: mockery and impunity. As defined by the...
Bautista: People Power Revolutions
THERE'S a wave of revolutions sweeping the Middle East, but not the ideological revolutions of the past characterized by bloodshed and carnage. It is the bloodless revolution of the people: from the streets of Tunisia that has unseated President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tahrir Square of...
Bautista: Marcos was no hero
NOTHING could be more insulting. While the nation is in the midst of preparation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution that forced Ferdinand E. Marcos out of office and ended his 20-year tyrannical rule, his son Bongbong Marcos has reopened the proposal to bury...
Bautista: People Power Revolutions
THERE'S a wave of revolutions sweeping the Middle East, but not the ideological revolutions of the past characterized by bloodshed and carnage. It is the bloodless revolution of the people: from the streets of Tunisia that has unseated President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tahrir Square of...
Bautista: What's the Ombudsman doing?
LIKE a telenovela unfolding its plot everyday - the suicide of former AFP chief Angelo Reyes being the latest twist - former AFP budget officer George Rabusa's exposé of huge and illegal pay-offs to retiring generals is yet another revelation of what the public already know, but could not only...
Bautista: Death as a way out
SPECULATIONS and opinions still run high as to the reason for former Armed Forces chief Angelo Reyes's suicide. Just today, former Philippine Military Academy (PMA) superintendent, retired Maj. Gen. Leopoldo Maligalig, opined that Reyes's death was meant to protect the PMA as an institution -...
Bautista: Revolutionary Taxes and Peace Talks
COMMUNIST Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison insists that it is the right of the CPP to impose and collect revolutionary taxes from businesses if it were to continue its operations, fund social programs and undertake other activities for purposes beneficial to the...
Bautista: Alibi overcomes eyewitness testimony in the Vizconde case
THE country is abuzz in discussion right now with the acquittal of Hubert Webb and company in the gruesome Vizconde massacre, which happened more than 19 years ago. The Supreme Court, which reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals in affirming the Parañaque Regional Trial Court’s judgment...
Bautista: Scrapping the pork barrel
MANY lawmakers are worried about the Aquino Administration’s plan to slash the Priority Development Assistance Fund or what is commonly and derisively known as “pork barrel.” This plan has repo
Bautista: Revisiting midnight appointment cases
WHEN the Supreme Court, under a new leadership, resumed session last Tuesday, it was confronted once again with the nagging issue on the power of the outgoing president to appoint retired Chief Justic
Baustista: Corona’s appointment ties Noynoy’s Hands
IN CLEAR disregard of the incoming president's prerogative to appoint the next chief justice, outgoing president and incoming congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) displayed once again her stubb
Bautista: Legal and Political Ramifications of Postponing the Elections
THE glitches on the voting machines' memory cards found during Monday's mock polls have generated calls for either postponement of the May 10 elections or reverting it to manual voting.
Bautista: Fair Elections Act trumps celebrities’ free speech
THE entertainment industry recently rose up in arms against the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for making known its intention to strictly enforce a resolution implementing the Fair Elections Act (R
Bautista: Dismal lack of campaign finance reform
WHILE the United States is still abuzz with the US Supreme Court's recent ruling in Citizens United vs.
Bautista: Comelec's flawed reasoning
IN A 26-page decision, the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) Second Division junked the disqualification case filed against former president Joseph "Erap" Estrada by ruling that the constitutional pr
