Posts published during October, 2010
October 23, 2010. There was some saltiness in the clear waters, but Kayangan Lake is said to be one of the cleanest bodies of waters in the Philippines. It is located inside Coron Island itself and can be reached after hiking up and down steep limestone hills covered in lush foliage. It is one of Coron’s main attractions.
After Siete Pecados, our boatman brought us to a cove, one of many, in Coron Island. After out boat docked, we walked towards a steep makeshift staircase up a limestone hill.
October 23, 2010. Our second day in Coron, Palawan was spent with a tour of beautiful Coron island, off the coast of Coron town. The cove-hopping island tour was part of the packaged tour my mom booked with our hotel.
October 22, 2010. The afternoon our family arrived in Coron, Palawan, we were taken to Maquinit Hot Spring a few kilometers from the center of town. Tourist brochures and guides claim it is the only saltwater hot spring in the Philippines, where the water temperature can be as hot as 40 degrees celcius.
(The hot spring is apparently within the private property of some company, so they charge an exorbitant entrace fee of P100 per person for the natural wonder of no one’s making.)
My family spent three days and two nights in Coron, Palawan last weekend. My mother assumed that my brother, my sister and myself would be off from school by this time of the year so she booked us a packaged tour to Coron a month or two ago. I had just finished my final exams in law school, so it was a welcome respite.
We’ve been to Palawan before, more than seven years ago, but that was in Puerto Princesa, the capital town of Palawan, touted as the Philippine’s “last frontier”. Last weekend, it was our first time in Coron, on the northern part of the country’s largest province. Coron is both the name of a town in the island of Busuanga and the name of a beautiful island off the shore of Coron town.
Barangay elections were held across the country today. We went home to Sta. Maria, Bulacan to cast our votes. I didn’t actually vote for anyone. First, I didn’t know any of the candidates. Second, the entire barangay elections at present, I think, is just a way of reinforcing traditional politics at the barangay level, and does not offer any significant socio-political relief for the people. The votes have been counted in many barangays by now, and the results will speak for themselves. Majority of the victors are loyalists whose campaigns have been well-financed by political patrons at the higher echelons of the present political structure, incoming village officials who will simply preserve the ruling rotten order, with very few exceptions.
After our last final examinations marking the end of our first semester in our first year in UST Law, the class celebrated with a party at a classmates’ house in Quezon City. Haha, that’s enough said.
Click here for the rest of the pictures. Incriminating pictures not included.
It was the weekend before our final examinations week. We had our last lecture class for the semester that Saturday morning. I knew what was coming. Since I was doing it all over again in a new school, it didn’t feel as stressful as before, but the sleepless nights were still there, for sure.
Lt. Antonio Trillanes and Brig. General Danilo Lim addressing the media in their failed putsch against President Arroyo in 2007. (Photo not mine)
Amnesty is an exercise of political power. It is political in nature. It is usually granted as a blanket clemency on a certain class or group of people who committed political crimes, or crimes which are political in nature. It is inherent in any government to have the power to “forgive” political offenders and extinguish their crimes and their liabilities. It is distinguished from pardon which is usually granted to individuals for ordinary crimes and is based on the power to correct miscarriages of justice, especially to the poor and marginalized. Amnesty extinguishes the crime totally, as if the act committed was never a crime in the first place (without prejudice to civil liability for damages). Pardon, on the other hand, only extinguishes the penalty, and may be subject to conditions, but recognizes the act as a crime–which is why it is only granted to those who have been convicted by final judgment, as opposed to amnesty which can be granted to any alleged criminal during trial, as long as he confesses to the acts committed.
Here are two examples of past Presidents’ exercise of amnesty: In 1946, President Manuel Roxas granted amnesty to all post-war criminals who committed acts such as murder in furtherance of the guerilla resistance against the Japanese; in 1986, President Corazon Aquino granted amnesty to political prisoners of the Marcos regime after the latter’s overthrow. In both instances, we see the distinct political character of amnesties. They are meant to correct political injustices of previous eras.
Some people are expressing their disapproval of the amnesty grant to the Magdalo soldiers for condoning criminals and rewarding crimes. I think we have to make a distinction between condoning and rewarding ordinary crimes from extinguishing political offenses.
Amnesty does not reward criminals. The crimes rebels commit are usually against oppressive and corrupt regimes. Rebels are rebels because the prevailing government at the time says so. They are not ordinary criminals. Amnesty simply recognizes the very idea of rebellion and the inherent power of the people to rebel and resist oppression. The power to forgive political offenses must be inherent in any new government or administration to correct the political oppresion of any past dispensation.
It’s final exams season, that time of the year when law students spend sleepless nights cramming case doctrines and provisions into their heads a few days before the exams.
Tonight, half the class had dinner together, after our Friday night classes, at some makeshift barbecue eatery along Asturias right behind our university. It felt like some last supper of sorts, before we go into finals week. This is not the first time I am going through this, of course, as I have spent more than two semesters in UP Law and have had my share of final exams in law school. But it still feels just as stressful doing it all over again.
Our class thought it was the last day of lecture class in our Political and Criminal Law subjects so we decided to have some pizza in the middle of class to “celebrate”. We were eventually informed that we still had classes in the coming days. Nevertheless, since it was “Teachers’ Day” we pushed through with the small night class gathering over food and drinks with our professors.
law student, national democracy activist, film school graduate, photography hobbyist