Atty Jason B. De Guzman RIP
My very first hijado, Atty Jason B. De Guzman, also my student and my Research Associate at the Institute of International Studies, passed away today. He was 29. He is survived by his parents, Boy Bolo and Blanche Baquirin, his sister Megan, Grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and his girlfriend, Chesca.He appeared to have suffered a massive cardiac arrest.
Friends, classmates and relatives can see him at Chapel 2, Loyola Paranaque. The family will announce plans for his cremations later.
I saw Jason regularly since I returned from college in the US in 1986. He was two then, I was there in every milestone of his life . I vowed that since he was my first ever inaanak, that I will be true to my duties as a second father to him. I pray that I succeeded in this regard.
Jason is a product of UP Law class 2009. At the the time of his demise, he was an associate at The Firm. I have long wanted for him to join my own firm so he can eventually run it together with my daughter. I guess this will no longer happen.
I hugged my kids when I first heard the news that he suffered a heart attack. Nothing could be more painful than for parents to survive their child. Our prayers go to particularly to his parents.
Lessons Learned from the Taiwan Shooting Incident (For Immediate Release)
Ref. Prof. H. Harry L. Roque, Jr. 09175398096
Chair, Center for International Law
The recent shooting by the Philippine Coast guard of a lone Taiwanese fisherman illustrates the kind of governmental response that we Filipinos deserve when we ourselves fall victims to an internationally wrongful act. Under international law, there is state responsibility for an internationally wrongful act where there is a breach of international law and when the breach is attributable to the state. Here, it appears that because the killing was because of a shot fired by a state organ, a member of the Philippine Coast Guard, that the killing may be attributed to the Philippines government. Acts of state organs, no matter how lowly their ranks, and even if they are ultra vires, are always attributed to a state.
Furthermore, there too appears to be a breach of international law since the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea prohibits the use of unnecessary use of force in dealing with illegal fishermen. In fact, the UNCLOS provides that fishermen caught illegally fishing in a states exclusive economic zone should not even be detained or charged criminally The only leeway granted to a party state is to apprehend the vessel which, in turn, must be immediately release upon posting of bond.
The lesson learned is how our own government should espouse the claim of its national, even if there is only one solitary victim. Not only did the highest echelon of the Taiwanese government demand for an apology, it also demanded compensation and even threatened the Philippines with both military and economic reprisals, even if both are prohibited by international law. This is in stark contrast with the current practice of the Philippine government. Only recently, 200 of our nationals became sitting ducks to Malaysia’s illegal resort to excessive force. Our response was to threaten our nationals with domestic prosecution.
Because we committed an internationally wrongful act, we have the obligation under international law to apologize and provide compensation to the victim. This though is the full extent of our liability. Taiwan’s demand that in addition, we enter into a fishing agreement with it is bereft of legal merit. Taiwan is not an independent state and should not expect to be treated as such. Any fishing agreement involving overlapping areas of our exclusive economic zone should be with the People Republic of China. This is consistent with the international communities’ recognition of the so-called one-China policy; that is, Taiwan forms part of the People’s Republic of China and is not a republic on its own.
This latest experience should also teach our policy makers to act with dispatch where it is our government that incurs international responsibility. Since the shooting was at the behest of a state organ, the Philippine Coast Guard, the investigation should not have lasted as long as it did. It only entails requiring the Master of the coast guard vessel to report what transpired that led to the shooting. Absent evidence that it was in self-defense, the Philippines should have apologized with dispatch and should not have waited for any formal demand to do so. Our failure to act with dispatch consistent with our international obligation gave Taiwan the opportunity to exploit the incident to promote its own interest.
Philippines should Protest Statement of Japanese Mayor that Comfort System was necessary (For Immediate release)
ref: Prof. H. Harry L. Roque, Jr
+639175398096
The Philippine government should formally lodge a diplomatic protest with the Japanese government against the statement by Osaka Mayor Tori Hashimoto that the so-called “comfort women” of WWII served a “necessary” role by keeping troops in check. According to this obviously insane Mayor, “ soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam which was provided by the comfort women system”. There are at least 200,000 women who were made to serve in these comfort stations in Korea, China and the Philippines.
The statement is crass, obscene, and is an attempt to justify a criminal act under international law. Specifically, rape and all forms of degrading and humiliating treatment committed in the context of an armed conflict -have always been illegal under oith customary international law and under the Geneva Conventions. Moreover, since it was publicly made by an elected agent of the Japanese state, the statement is an official pronouncement of the state Japan nonetheless, pursuant to the Articles of State responsibility. These articles, codified in the form of a UN general Assembly resolution, provides that all acts and /or statements by state organs may give rise to attribution to the state
Instead of justifying this war crimes, the Japanese government publicly apologize for this systematic criminal act and pay reparations to their victims.
We are in the process of studying further legal options against the Mayor of Osaka and the Japanese government for this criminal statement.
Disclosure: As Chair of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw), I represent the Malaya lolas, a group of women who were raped systematically during World War II in their hometown of Candaba, Pampanga.
Gus Lagman: error in PPCRV count may either be because transmitted Smartmatic figures are wrong OR PPCRV’s consolidation program is wrong
Former COMELEC Commissioner and IT expert Gus Lagman has opined that the inconsistency in PPCRV’s may either be because transmitted Smartmatic figures are wrong OR PPCRV’s consolidation program is wrong.
Be that as it may, the Concerned Citizens Movement finds this error unacceptable. It has the potential of creating havoc in this electoral exercise. Certainly, it can cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral exercise.
Further CCM deplores the many PCOS machines that malfunctioned today. The Filipino people did nit pay the Venezuelans billions for machines that would conk out on election day.
We appeal to COME:LEC to junk the PCOS for the 2016 elections
