NUPL-Panay declares support for judiciary, impeachment rap vs P-Noy
NUPL-Panay declares support for judiciary, impeachment rap vs P-Noy
Iloilo City, July 21, 2014
ILOILO CITY – Wear black or peach in solidarity with judges and personnel of the judiciary as well as to support the move to impeach President Benigno Simon Aquino III, declared lawyer Janne Baterna, vice president for the Visayas of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
“President Aquino is muscling his way and is igniting lawlessness,” added Baterna. “We are asking fellow members of the bar and law students to stand against presidential bullying of the Supreme Court even as we express our solidarity and sadness at the extent to which the President of the Republic is stooping down to the level of a street thug.”
Judges and court personnel at the Iloilo Hall of Justice, Iloilo City warned they would take protest actions against Aquino who de facto declared war against the Supreme Court after the latter struck down as unconstitutional the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program DAP), another form of pork barrel that Aquino released to senators-judges to impeach Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The scam involving P10-billion in “priority development assistance fund” (PDAF), the first pork barrel controversy to surface last year, ignited nation-wide protests which called for the ouster or impeachment of the President. PDAF was earlier declared by the High Court unconstitutional.
“The DAP scandal is already enough to declare President Aquino unfit to govern. In other countries, leaders voluntary step down for minor brouhaha involving their offices,” declared Baterna. “Aquino committed many other crimes against the Filipino people like rampant graft and corruption, and widespread human rights violations.”
The NUPL is a nationwide and voluntary organizations of lawyers and para-legals who organized in 2007 to counter rising cases of human rights violations in the time of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo particularly extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances blamed on state agents.
Baterna said NUPL is “fully supporting” Rep. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna) who is poised to file an impeachment complaint against Pres. Aquino. The congressman is also NUPL president.
Aquino in his address July 14 insisted on the legality of DAP and described the 13-0 vote in Supreme Court an error. He vowed to file a motion for reconsideration and hinted of a constitutional crisis should the Supreme Court refuse to heed his stand.
That same day, too, the Lower House through Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. (LP, Iloilo 5th district) announced the filing of a bill repealing the presidential decree in 1975 that created the judicial development fund (JDF) which will be replaced by the “judicial support fund”.
The JDF comes from collections in court fees which becomes general fund of the judiciary. The bills that scraps the JDF would re-channel these earnings to the national treasury and subject to appropriation by the national legislature.
ILOILO CITY – Wear black or peach in solidarity with judges and personnel of the judiciary as well as to support the move to impeach President Benigno Simon Aquino III, declared lawyer Janne Baterna, vice president for the Visayas of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
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| Atty, Baterna (standing) with Atty. Elias Guiloriza (seated in brong) with two lawyers from Nepal in black coat) during the !V Conference of Lawyers in Asia-Pacific (COLAP ) September 2010. Batena is the vice-president for the Visayas of the NUPL, in turn, member of COLAP. (file photo) |
Judges and court personnel at the Iloilo Hall of Justice, Iloilo City warned they would take protest actions against Aquino who de facto declared war against the Supreme Court after the latter struck down as unconstitutional the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program DAP), another form of pork barrel that Aquino released to senators-judges to impeach Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The scam involving P10-billion in “priority development assistance fund” (PDAF), the first pork barrel controversy to surface last year, ignited nation-wide protests which called for the ouster or impeachment of the President. PDAF was earlier declared by the High Court unconstitutional.
“The DAP scandal is already enough to declare President Aquino unfit to govern. In other countries, leaders voluntary step down for minor brouhaha involving their offices,” declared Baterna. “Aquino committed many other crimes against the Filipino people like rampant graft and corruption, and widespread human rights violations.”
The NUPL is a nationwide and voluntary organizations of lawyers and para-legals who organized in 2007 to counter rising cases of human rights violations in the time of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo particularly extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances blamed on state agents.
Baterna said NUPL is “fully supporting” Rep. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna) who is poised to file an impeachment complaint against Pres. Aquino. The congressman is also NUPL president.
Aquino in his address July 14 insisted on the legality of DAP and described the 13-0 vote in Supreme Court an error. He vowed to file a motion for reconsideration and hinted of a constitutional crisis should the Supreme Court refuse to heed his stand.
That same day, too, the Lower House through Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. (LP, Iloilo 5th district) announced the filing of a bill repealing the presidential decree in 1975 that created the judicial development fund (JDF) which will be replaced by the “judicial support fund”.
The JDF comes from collections in court fees which becomes general fund of the judiciary. The bills that scraps the JDF would re-channel these earnings to the national treasury and subject to appropriation by the national legislature.
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