ESSAY WRITING CONTEST

Win two tickets to the Campaign Management and Election Related Law Seminar. September 26-27, 2012. KCC Convention Hall.

Write an essay on "Philippine Election and Election Laws."

Entries should not have been previously published in professional media or blogs.

Double spaced.

Write your cellphone number on the top of your essay. DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME. Submit at Fontanilla and Fontanilla-Mamadra Law Office. 3rd Floor Gonzales Building Pioneer Avenue General Santos City or email to psychefontanilla@gmail.com

Essays will be judge by the Senior Partner of our Office, a law professor and a judge.

Submit your entry on or before September 10, 2012. (Deadline extended to September 18, 2012)

Prize includes a one night stay at the Sun City Suites General Santos City.
Cash of 3,000.00 Php
Plaque which will be awarded by either COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brilliantes or Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan on the day of the Seminar. :)

Contest open to anyone. No age limit. :)

Campaign Management and Election Related Laws Seminar.

Campaign Management and Election Related Laws Seminar.

Date: September 26-27, 2012
Time: 8:00-5:00
Venue: KCC Convention Hall
Speakers are from the UP NCPAG, Lawyers and COMELEC Officials.

Regular Ticket Price: 3,000.00
Early Bird Ticket Price: 2,000.00 pay on or before September 10, 2012
Student Ticket Price: 1,000.00

Tickets at Fontanilla and Fontanilla-Mamadra Law Office. Third Floor Gonzales Building Pioneer Avenue. General Santos City. :)

Walk-Ins are not allowed.

We have sponsorship packages. Do inquire 09108093998 and 09173127912. :)

Are We Safe?

I am writing this article in my work area. The television is in the other room. The news is blaring regarding the floods in Metro Manila. It is almost similar to the Bagyong Ondoy experience where I was trapped in a hostel where I stayed for the 2009 BAR Exam.

The news made me think if the Local Government Unit of General City is ready for a similar disaster. It made me remember the numerous environmental laws that we have and question the state of implementation of these laws particularly here in GenSan.

A quick glance at the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases A.M. No. 09-6-8-SC promulgated by the Supreme Court sometime in 2010 would show more than twenty five (25) laws pertaining to the environment and it still does not mention the Climate Change Act of 2009. 

A thorough reading of these laws would  tell us that the disasters that we face from time to time should not be a reality because the laws that we have are sufficient to prohibit or regulate actions that are environmentally harmful.

Beyond regulation and prohibition, a new law, the Climate Change Act of 2009 specifically recognized the correlation between climate change and disaster risk reduction. The law in fact espouses the  creation of a national and a local climate change action plan to assess  the impact of climate change, anticipate disasters and if need be manage the risks.

I hope that our city has a comprehensive and effective climate change action plan. Otherwise, I might have another Ondoy experience not in Metro Manila but here in Gensan.

 

*previously published in the Sarangani Journal.

Campaign Strategy and Election Related Law Seminar

Our Office is c0-organizing this seminar:

Campaign Strategy and Election Related Law Seminar on September 26 and 27, 2012 KCC Convention Center 8:00-5:00

Registration Fees: 3,000.00
Earl Bird Discount: 2,000.00 pay on or before August 31, 2012
Student Rate: 1,000.00

Do inquire about our sponsorship package. 09173127912 and 09108093998
 

Participants are handlers, politicians, lawyers and students :)

Speakers will be from the COMELEC national and University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration.

We do not accept walk-in. Register early.

This is a very rare event. Do come and join us. :)

Implement the law not lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12.

The problem with the "tun-og" or "hamog" boys is being blamed on RA 9344 (The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006).

Critics of the law argues that the minimum age of criminal responsibility is the reason why we have children in conflict with the law (CICL) who are being used by syndicates to proliferate crimes knowing that they will not be held criminally liable.
  
I beg to disagree. I think that is not the problem of the law. The problem is with the implementation of the law.

The problem of children being used by syndicates can be easily remedied. Proper police work can make these syndicates liable and abusive parents can be deprived of their parental authority if need be. Correct diversion programs will keep the CICL off the streets and away from the syndicates. Properly funded and effectively implemented intervention programs can and will restore our children to what they should be. Not thugs and hardened criminals but wide eyed hopes of the future.

These ideas are not mine to claim. They are actually a product of the Barangay Legal Education Seminar conducted by the UP Law Center the work shop that followed where the participants who came from the police, the barangay, the media and the social work office shared their ideas.

Law indeed does not work in a vacuum.

"Previously published in the Sarangani Journal" :0

  

Climate Change Act. Yes we actually have one!

Integrated Bar of the Philippines SOCGEN Chapter President Atty. Elvie Albano sent me a message a few days ago that the topic for the Lawyer's Forum this Saturday is the climate change act.

Truth be told it was the first time that I heard that we actually have one. 

Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009 became a law last October 23, 2009.

The law is composed of twenty six sections.

It is in compliance with a number of our international obligations, recognizes the inter relation between climate change and disaster risk reduction, realizes our vulnerability to the dangers of climate change being an archipelago and acknowledges that an effective response to climate change must be a concerted effort.

It also defined concepts like gender mainstreaming in the approach to mitigate climate change and a number of other concepts like climate change of course.

The law also mandates that a Climate Change Commissions be created. The powers and functions of the commission were also defined.  The composition of and qualifications for the commissioners were mentioned.   

The best aspect of the law that I saw was the mandate to create a national framework and strategy for climate change and the fact that Local Government Units are also mandated to create a Local Climate Change Action Plan.

The next question that I asked myself was, "Do we have a National Framework Strategy on Climate Change?"

The answer is yes and here is the link.

Now that most areas in the country are feeling the brunt of abrupt changes on weather patterns and flash floods are becoming a common occurrence maybe it is time for us to review the entirety of the law and here is the link.

Looking for the Next Chief

Last week the country saw the first televised interview of the nominees for the next Chief Justice by the Judicial Bar Council.

This is a huge development in the cause for transparency in the judiciary.

Non-lawyers caught a glimpse, not of the morbid state of the judicial arm of the government which was rudely smacked on their faces with the televised impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, but feted with the brilliance of the logic of the nominees, the depth of their appreciation of the law and the breadth of their knowledge of the nuances of legal theories and jurisprudence.

Truth be told there were some nominees whose arrogance reminded us of the old boys club that epitomizes all that is rotten in our judicial system but some nominees made us smile and realize that a fifty something can still be idealistic and support that idealism with action.

As of date the Supreme Court had already set for oral argument the case brought by Congress wherein they insist that they should have two votes during the deliberations of the Judicial Bar Council.The Judicial Bar Council thus moved their deliberations to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court on the matter.

We the avid viewers are but waiting for the next episode of this telenovela and hope that the next justice would finally be someone who truly posses the qualities of competence, integrity, probity and independence.

(Also submitted for publication to the Sarangani Journal)