Lopez’s open pit mining ban has no legal basis, MGB finds

Lopez’s open pit mining ban has no legal basis, MGB finds

THE legal division of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said a review of open pit mining ban issued by former Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez has concluded that her order has no legal basis.

“If you read the DAO (department of administrative order), the only premises for banning open pit are to safeguard the environment, the common good, things like that, which are already enshrined in the Constitution,” MGB’s Legal Service Division Officer-in-charge Larry M. Heradez told reporters on the sidelines of the forum on responsible mining Thursday in Quezon City, while describing the “controversial” order as having “no legal basis.”

He said the geological characteristics of the Philippines are such that “we expect to find mineral deposits through surface mining... We can mine on the surface and make it technically and financially feasible... It’s not a matter of economics. It’s technical,” he added.

Administrative Order No. 2017-20 issued and signed by Ms. Lopez on April 27,2017, requires all open pit metal mines that have not become operational but with an approved Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility to review their proposed mining methods and submit their findings by October.

The order did not say what is to be done with the results, nor did it list sanctions on miners that fail to comply.

The Philippines has an estimated $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral reserves. Data from the MGB show that, as of June 2016, 2.70% or 0.811 million hectares of the Philippines’ total land area is covered by mining tenements.

Sagittarius Mines, Inc.’s $5.9-billion Tampakan project is proposing an open pit method of extraction.

Other projects such as Silangan Mindanao Mining Co., Inc.’s $32-million copper-gold project in Surigao del Norte and Kingking Mining’s $145-million copper-gold project in Compostela Valley -- respectively expected to start operations in 2018 and 2020 -- will also involve open-pit methods

Other than the open pit stoppage, Mr. Heradez said the MGB is reviewing all of Ms.Lopez’s directives.

“The goal is to determine if the directives were proper, appropriate, and relevant. After the review, the new secretary can revise, amend, or supersede [the orders],” the legal division chief said.

“Secretary (Roy A.) Cimatu, right from the start, ordered the review of policies. They have been reviewed at the staff level by Undersecretary (Mario Luis J.) Jacinto... We have the result of our review and are ready to produce it anytime, if ordered,” he added.

The review covers, aside from the open pit ban, Ms. Lopez’s “questionable” order to cancel 75 mineral production sharing agreements of mines in pre-operational phase due to their location in watersheds, and the P2 million trust fund imposed on suspended mines, among others, Mr. Heradez said. -- Janina C. Lim

source:  Businessworld

Moral ascendancy by Cecilio Arillo

DOES former President Fidel V. Ramos have the moral ascendancy to frequently criticize President Duterte?

I asked this question because every time Ramos raves and rants on Duterte, he gives us the impression that he has the moral authority over him on issues of politics, economics, foreign policy, governance, national security, public safety, and graft and corruption, among others.

At his inaugural address on June 30, Duterte acknowledged the presence of Ramos, saying: “President Fidel Ramos, sir, salamat po sa tulong mo [thank you for your help] making me President…” Many political observers doubted this, though, because Duterte lost in Pangasinan, Ramos’s vote-rich home province, where Duterte got only 338,644 votes behind Poe’s 559,571 who was at No. 1.

Last Friday was the latest Ramos rant, when he slammed Duterte’s threat to impose martial law and warned him “against inevitable abuses under military rule”.

Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramos’s boss and mentor in the Marcos nine-year martial law (September 1972 to January 1981), promptly defended Duterte, thus: “The President has to be harsh in implementing martial law because he has the monopoly of legitimate, legal violence through the police and the military.”

“The current firefight in Marawi City is more than a rebellion because we are dealing with an ideological and, worst, a religious problem which is Washhabism, a kind of fanatical Islamism followed by Saudi Arabia that is being taught in madrassas in Mindanao,” Enrile revealed, adding,  “the martial-law decision is based on strategic intelligence information in the President’s possession and that he was elected by the people to represent the general will”.

As the 12th president (1992-1998), Ramos was credited for a number of accomplishments but his term was also known for its legacy of perfidy, having been the only head of state in contemporary history to have been recommended by the powerful Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to be prosecuted along with his five Cabinet members in connection with the multibillion-peso Centennial scam.

As one senator commented then in the book, Power Grab, 2001: “The Ramos government may emerge as one with the most number of big-time scams in the country’s history.”

The senator cited as an example the P30-billion PEA-Amari deal; the P9-billion Centennial scam; the P7.8-billion missing AFP trust modernization fund; the P42-billion housing scandal between 1997 and 1999; the P30-billion tax-credit certificates scam from 1995 to the first half of 1998; the mismanagement of the P3.5-billion soldiers’ trust funds; the nonremittance of P14-billion national government employees contributions to the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS); and lately, the highly scandalous and irregular deals involving the National Steel Corp. and the National Power Corp., which then-Senator Enrile had unearthed.

The Senate committee found out that the multibillion-peso project was grossly overpriced and had used substandard materials and unaudited government and private funds.

Ramos, then, was apparently trying to make a lasting impression to the world of his term by window-dressing the country’s image during its first centennial.

The Centennial project housed the largest amphitheater in Asia, with a seating capacity of 35,000, and mini exhibits featuring the different regions of the country.

It includes a giant Freedom Ring and was intended as the centerpiece of the 60-hectare Philippine Centennial Exposition that cost the government P1.2 billion.

Documents submitted to the Blue Ribbon Committee showed that government funds and private donations that went into the whole project reached a whopping P9 billion.

The Ramos administration raised this mind-boggling amount from the special allotment release order or Saro of various state agencies for P4.7 billion; the general allotment release order or Garo for P350 million each from the GSIS, Social Security System, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines; P75 million each from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office; and P2.1 billion through the government budget, funds of the Office of the President and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The whole structure remains today as a monument to the excesses of the Ramos administration.

The Senate Blue Ribbon and Government-owned Corporations and Public Enterprises Committees that investigated the PEA-Amari deal found evidence pointing to the involvement of key officials of the Ramos administration in the scam.

The fraud involved the transfer of a government property to a private firm under highly questionable terms. Then-Blue Ribbon Committee Chairman Sen. Franklin M. Drilon said the conveyance of the piece of reclaimed land along Roxas Boulevard to the Amari group was “disadvantageous and injurious to the government”.

The state agency, Philippine Estate Authority (PEA), under a joint- venture agreement with the Thailand-based Ital-Thai Development Corp. Ltd.-led consortium, obligated itself to convey the title and possession of the 1.578-million square-meter property for P1.89 billion or a giveaway price of P1,200 per sq m.

According to the zonal valuation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the value of land in the area then should have been P7,800 per sq m.
The Municipal Assessor of Parañaque City, where the property is located, pegged the market value of the property at P6,000 per sq m. 

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.

source:  Business Mirror

Guilty as charged?

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco (The Philippine Star)

I am still trying to understand the statement of Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez not to accept the EU’s offer of a grant of about $280 million because it would involve a review of our adherence to the rule of law.  According to Sec Sonny, because of that, the specific EU grant is considered interference in our internal affairs.

Come on Sec. Sonny… Aren’t we supposed to be adhering to the rule of law anyway? That’s what the Constitution is all about.

When President Duterte took his oath of office, he swore to uphold the Constitution. That means he must ensure our government operates on the basis of the rule of law… our law, mind you, not the EU’s.

We have also signed international covenants like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and I presume that having ratified such covenants, they are as good as being incorporated as part of the laws of the land.

We made a declaration as a people that we believe all human beings have certain inalienable rights – right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Are we now saying we no longer subscribe to these universal standards?

When our government rejected the EU aid offer because it requires a review of our adherence to the rule of law, we are saying – guilty as charged…

Unfortunately, rule of law to President Duterte is synonymous to respect for human rights which he doesn’t subscribe to. Even then, he cannot by himself take the Filipino nation out of the family of nations that’s governed by civilized norms of behavior.

We agree we have a serious drug problem that requires drastic solutions. But Mr. Duterte cannot try to do what he did in Davao on a national scale and not expect a sharp backlash.

EJK in Davao may be accepted by a smaller population that’s easier to control. But on a nationwide scale, it is unacceptable. That’s why the strategy caught worldwide attention and condemnation.

In any case, the strategy is unsustainable. It is not possible for any leader to kill every drug pusher, drug addict and drug lord.

What makes the task really impossible is that the PNP is tainted. It was Mr. Duterte who said that too. And the leadership of the PNP seems not up to the task of cleansing the ranks to regain credibility.

A president with a singular focus on killing everyone associated with drugs, proven or otherwise, will eventually cause problems in other areas of national importance.

The virtual admission that we can’t survive scrutiny of our adherence to the rule of law puts our economy at risk. Investors will have second thoughts.  Adherence to the rule of law is topmost in an investor’s concern. It is too risky to invest in a country that is not governed by the rule of law.

Indeed, we are losing more than that $280 million in EU assistance. We are liable to lose potential investors not just from the EU, but also from other countries too. We may even lose local jobs dependent on manufacturing products meant for export to the EU.

That’s why the economic planning secretary was surprised and worried upon hearing the news. He said the rejection was spawned only by the “temporary” unhappiness of President Duterte with the EU.

“No, no, no. It will not be a policy, not a permanent policy. It’s temporary… temporary unhappiness,” Sec. Pernia answered when asked if this was a signal of a permanent change in government official policy.

In this regard, I do not believe the claim of Sec. Dominguez that it was he who recommended the rejection. I think he is covering up for the President, thinking he can fix things later.

As my paper’s editor-in-chief pointed out, that decision has an impact on gut issues. The worse immediate possibility is losing our preferential trading status with the European Union under the GSP plus that accords our exports duty free entry.

The Philippines is the only ASEAN country and among 13 beneficiaries with a GSP+ status. See how special we are to the EU! But this privilege is also subject to among others, adherence to the rule of law.

There are foreign investors who moved manufacturing facilities here from China with the intention of exporting to EU states. Exports to the EU grew 48 percent in the first quarter of 2017, making the EU the biggest and fastest-growing export destination of Philippine goods. The EU overtook the longtime top export markets, the United States and Japan, in March.

Then there are our seamen. As my editor pointed out, “at least 28,874 Filipinos serve as crew on EU-registered commercial ships, remitting a hefty $3.35 billion over the years to their loved ones in the Philippines. Some of the sailors are ship captains… These are not investments or jobs that China can replace, especially now that the threat of war has been raised.”

Europe is now the fourth top source of OFW remittances contributing about 10 percent to the Philippines’ GDP. BSP data show remittances from Europe reached about $3.8 billion, the fourth top source next to Asia, the Middle East and US, in 2016. Those inflows from Europe accounted for about 14 percent of the total $26.9 billion in remittances that overseas Filipinos sent home in 2016.

So the President is now in Russia in pursuit of an independent foreign policy. Befriending Russia is good even if there is nothing Russia can significantly contribute to our economy any time soon. 

Maybe we can sell bananas to the Russians and reduce dependence of our banana exporters to China. Maybe there is potential in tourism. Russians trying to escape their cruel winters are frequent visitors to Boracay.

We may buy weapons from Russia to cover what the US will not sell us due to human rights concerns. But getting investments from Russia? Nada! Its nuclear arms aside, Russia is as third world as we are.

We ought to get increasingly worried about how the President conducts foreign policy. It seems dependent on his mood or frame of mind.

The President conducts no policy discussions with the Cabinet and the professional diplomats at DFA. And now that our secretary of foreign affairs is an ambitious politician with zero experience in diplomacy and no inclination to correct Duterte, we really have problems.

The governance of our nation and our foreign affairs cannot be determined by the single issue of drugs. The Mayor has to learn to become the president that we elected him to be… he has more areas of concern than the anti-drug drive.

And in making new friends among nations, we don’t have to throw aside old friends… no matter how personally pissed he is with them. We have invested years working with old allies in trying to build up our country and improve the lives of our people.

Yes let us reject foreign aid with strings attached detrimental to us… like virtually giving up territory a UN Court has determined to be ours. But objecting to a requirement calling for “adherence to the rule of law” is like saying the rule of law in our country is dead or is applied only as our President sees fit.

That’s shameful. Every Filipino should honor the blood spilled by our heroes who fought and died precisely so we, their children, can live in a country where adherence to the rule of law is paramount.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco.     

Behind the dark clouds

I recently called attention to “dark clouds” that we need to watch, seen in weakening numbers on the economy, particularly accelerating price inflation, rising unemployment, and slowing growth. These weakening signs must be arrested before they turn into a trend. Let’s take a closer look to understand where the weaknesses are coming from.

Let’s start with rising prices. Last month’s year-on-year inflation rate of 3.4 percent was the fastest seen in 28 months. It went as low as 0.4 percent in late 2015, but sped up last year, especially in the latter half, mostly owing to faster increases in food and energy prices. What’s bad about inflation that’s driven more by food prices is that it takes a heavier toll on the poor, for whom food makes up a dominant portion of the family budget. As a general category, food prices rose by 4.2 percent last month, and even though it actually slowed down slightly from 4.3 percent in February, it still rose significantly faster than overall inflation.

Price rises were notably faster in rice and meat, which led Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia to eye the government’s import constraints as the likely culprit. “Inflationary pressure may ease following the removal of quantitative restrictions on rice importation, and the timely augmentation of supplies,” he noted. Rice alone takes up almost a tenth of the average Filipino family budget, and for poor families, an even bigger share. This is why the ongoing debate on rice importation is so critical, given the profound impact of the price and accessibility of the commodity on the welfare and nutritional status of the poor. Analysts have attributed the much higher incidence of child malnutrition and stunting among Filipinos relative to our neighbors to the much higher prices Filipinos pay for rice, rendering it less accessible to large numbers of people.

The other major reversal has been in the jobs situation. After three years of successive decline in the officially measured unemployment rate, and having already dropped below 5 percent in the last few quarters, joblessness jumped anew to 6.6 percent in January. The quarterly Labor Force Survey reports an overall loss of 700,000 jobs over the past year (from January 2016 to January 2017). This is alarming given that an average of one million new workers join our labor force yearly. The
data clearly show agriculture to be the main reason, with a recorded loss of nearly 800,000 jobs, while services also lost 64,000 jobs. The silver lining was industry’s gain of 149,000 net new jobs, almost all of it in construction. Utilities also gained 17,000 new jobs, but mining lost 36,000 jobs for reasons now well known, and manufacturing similarly lost 9,000 jobs.

Did new restrictions on contractualization have a role in the jobs decline? At first glance, it would appear otherwise; there was actually a net gain of 361,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade (where contract employment is common), and vehicle repair. But the data don’t distinguish trade jobs in large retail establishments from those of self-employed vendors in the informal sector or “underground economy.” One gets a clue from the statistic on individually self-employed workers, whose numbers rose by 370,000, suggesting that the rise in trade jobs was mainly in the informal sector. The numbers could thus still be consistent with thousands of jobs having been lost in the formal retail trade sector, where contractuals tend to be most prevalent—but more detailed data need to be gathered for more conclusive evidence.

As for slowing economic growth, agriculture has been the main culprit, having declined by 1.3 percent last year, even as industry and services grew briskly. The sad truth is that the observed weaknesses, whether in presyo, trabaho or kita, all point to bad agricultural performance. That is how important the sector is. We simply need to stop neglecting agricultural products with high income potential because of an inordinate preoccupation with rice, and instead emulate the fast growing and much more diversified agriculture our neighbors have had. Every Filipino will be all the better off for it.

cielito.habito@gmail.com

source:  Philippine Daily Inquirer

Lacson contradicts Duterte: No pay hike for cops, soldiers until 2018

Despite a commitment from President Rodrigo Duterte for a pay raise, soldiers and policemen would most likely not enjoy a salary hike until 2018.

On Thursday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said it would be "impossible" for the salary increase for the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be included in the 2017 General Approriations Act because the measure for such is already about to submitted for approval.

"I don’t see how ma-incorporate ang salary increase ng pulis at military. Hindi na makakahabol yan," Lacson told reporters.

Just last week, Duterte promised to double soldiers' salary by December. 

“By December, you’d have doubled your salaries. This August, umpisa na, ngayong August. Tignan ninyo iyang pay checks ninyo. Nandiyan na iyan,” Duterte told soldiers in Cebu City.

Still, Lacson said President Duterte has an option to submit a supplemental budget to Congress.

Lacson said funds from other agencies could also actually be realigned for the PNP and AFP personnel's salary increase, but that doing so would be "substantial."

"We’re talking of 140 to 150,000 police officers and another 150,000 military personnel. Saang ahensya mo huhugutin ang salary increase ng katakut-takot na personnel ng dalawang ahensya?" asked Lacson.

Only in 2018

Lacson said the earliest that the goverment can include the salary increase in the national budget would be in 2018.

"Puwede naman gawin iyan sa 2018, Presidente pa rin siya sa 2018. So magkaroon ng substantial compliance," Lacson said.

"But for the 2017 budget, I doubt. I think sa 2018 he’ll make sure. Pero sa 2017 it’s highly improbable if not impossible," he added.

During a Senate inquiry on the various Salary Standardization bills on Wednesday, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV admitted being "surprised" by Duterte's pronouncement that servicemen can enjoy a pay hike by August, with their salaries being doubled further by December.

"As you know, the soldiers are holding on to the word of their Commander-in-Chief... Pipila yung mga sundalo sa ATM (this August), di ba?," Trillanes said as he asked Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno if such promise from Duterte was ineeded feasible.

"You better advise your President because he’s been making commitments and promises left and right. Ayaw nating masira yung credibility niya, na he’s just a big talker," Trillanes said.

"Noong sinabing 'August meron na kayo, incremental increase,' palakpakan yung mga sundalo eh. Then here is our DBM secretary saying it’s not gonna happen," added Trillanes.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano earlier said the President is now studying a proposal to increase the salaries of police and military personnel up to a minimum of P50,000 a month.

Cayetano said that this is in fulfillment of Duterte's campaign promise and he hopes it will be implemented before Christmas with the support of Congress.

An additional P70 billion --P50 billion for active personnel and P20 billion for retired officers-- is said to be needed if the new salary scheme will be implemented.

At present, policemen ranked Police Officer 1 receive P14,000 basic salary and P24,329 gross pay. — RSJ, GMA News

Gov't bats for lower flat tax rate for deposits, securities

MANILA, Philippines — More depositors and investors could be encouraged to park their money with the banks or let them grow in the financial system once a planned flat tax rate of 10 percent becomes a reality.

The proposal is part of the government's comprehensive tax reform program, composed of four packages which will be filed one by one beginning later this month.

"We propose to harmonize all capital income taxes regardless of currency, maturity and type towards 10 percent," Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez was quoted in a statement.

"This way, the poor pay less on the interest income and the rich pay more," he told the House ways and means committee last Tuesday.

Capital income taxes pertain to final levies charged on bank deposit earnings as well as interest income from investments in bonds.

Under the present law, peso deposits are charged differently depending on their maturities, with those parked for less than three years being slapped a rate of 20 percent.

Money staying put for three to less than four years are taxed 12 percent, four to less than five years with 5 percent, while those for longer periods are tax-free.

Foreign currency deposits, meanwhile, have a fixed 7.5-percent rate, while interest from investing in bonds are levied 20 percent.

Dominguez said retail depositors with a small amount of money do not even feel the benefits of saving in the bank.

"Small depositors are burdened with high tax rates because they save less and cannot keep their money in banks for a long time, while rich depositors, who park their money in banks because they do not have an immediate need for it, are not taxed," he said.

"Is that fair?" he asked.

A total of 51.86 trillion accounts had deposits worth P9.41 trillion as of the first quarter, central bank data showed. Of that, more than 90 percent were savings accounts.

Of the 46.91 trillion savings accounts, 32.14 million contain P5,000 and below. 

Separate data showed the government earned P23.31 billion from taxes on deposits and state securities as of June. They accounted for just nearly 3 percent of the total.

"That is very positive to the ordinary citizen and encourage savings," central bank deputy governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said in a text message.

"More savings expands the stable funding base of the banking system that supports more loans and investments," he added.

source: Philippine Star

Too many lawyers

“The first thing we do, is to kill all the lawyers.”

Popular in cocktail parties and reliably worth a chuckle or two, and almost always intended at the lawyers’ expense, the phrase seemingly connotes weariness of the legal profession’s annoyingly unwelcome omnipresence in people’s lives.

In truth, the line is actually an unintended compliment to lawyers.

Uttered by the murderous villain Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part 2, the setting involved a group of no-gooders out to foment chaos in England and seize power. And the best way to achieve that, they conclude, to ensure that anarchy happens, is, you guessed it: “to kill all the lawyers.”

Which leads me to another so-called “fact”: the Philippines has too many lawyers. A complaint of businessmen constrained by regulations, policy makers bothered by constitutional parameters, and academics outraged that their discipline is perceived as a steppingstone to law.

The lament is usually accompanied by the wish for more scientists, doctors, engineers -- anything involving the “hard sciences.”

Just not more lawyers.

Of course, humanities and arts feel the same: we need more philosophers and artists. Business schools meanwhile trumpet the need for more managers or (even better) entrepreneurial-minded youth.

But do we really have too many lawyers?

One way of addressing that query is too see how people generally feel about legal costs or the variety of legal counsels they can choose from.

Because if there are indeed too many lawyers, then the law of supply and demand should take care of that, by dragging the fees down. An eventuality, I believe, most are not inclined to admit is happening.

The fact is, we currently have on roster around 40,000 living lawyers. And people have to understand that most of those will not be engaged in traditional law practice.

Many will work in corporations, either as counsel or as part of management. Still many more will be engaged in private business, politics, or the academe.

The actual number of lawyers that people can choose from to handle their litigation or legal requirements is therefore understandably far lesser than what most people think.

Furthermore, the recent development of top corporate positions being increasingly offered to those with law degrees further speaks of the demand for lawyers and against the notion of the latter’s oversupply.

Ah... but surely lawyers are disproportionately too many compared to the other disciplines, particularly within the context of the overall Filipino population?

Again, not true.

Assuming a 100-million Filipino population, that would make a lawyer density of .4 lawyers for every 1,000 Filipinos (or 1 lawyer serving 2,500 Filipinos). And again remember, not all registered lawyers are engaged in traditional law firm work, so the proportion would be far smaller in reality.

Compare that with the United States, which has 1.3 million lawyers for a population of around 300 million. That makes it 4 lawyers for every 1,000 Americans or 1 lawyer for every 250 US citizens.

But don’t we need more scientists or doctors? Sure we do.

But consider: the number of practicing doctors is already nearly twice that of registered lawyers. Reportedly, in 2014, there are around 130,000 registered doctors, with perhaps 75,000 practicing. That makes it 1 doctor for every 1,333 citizens. Although, apparently, the medical profession thinks the optimum doctor-population ratio should be 1:100, which seems to mean that they’re aiming for almost 1 million more doctors!

Perhaps such is possible.

In 2015, there were 2,491 new doctors (a board passing rate of 85%). The year before, 2,218 (81% passing rate).

In 2016, we also had 2,245 new civil engineers (a board exam passing rate of 38%), 2,967 new accountants (43%), and 6,183 new nurses (44%).

Every year, the legal profession just has a little over a thousand new lawyers, with Bar exam passing rates meandering at 18-22% (the most recently released result, 2015, had a higher than normal rate of 26%).

Even looking at student numbers belie the myth of too many lawyers: for example, the 2013 University of the Philippines Statistics show that only 1.1% of its student population are law students, with science and engineering and social sciences accounting for 64%, arts and letters, 15.1%, and management 11.5%.

Now perhaps lawyers are disproportionately represented in high profile or influential positions vis-a-vis other professions or academic disciplines. But one can’t blame lawyers for that.

But it does lead to questions of why.

The Philippines gives too much prestige to lawyers? If true, why? The Philippines is too litigious? If so, why? Why do scientists, engineers, philosophers, etc. not exert a bigger influence in the country?

This article is emphatically not saying that the legal profession is better than others. The only point here is that to say we have too many lawyers is untrue.

In any event, if Filipinos really want to get rid of lawyers or make them irrelevant, then they should just stop lying, stealing, cheating, or hurting one another.

Jemy Gatdula is the international law lecturer at the UA&P School of Law and Governance and executive director of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations.

jemygatdula@yahoo.com

www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com

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