Leila De Lima

What They Don’t Tell You -4

crunching numbers, data, fact check, governance, Uncategorized / By

The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2022 is the basis of Inconvenient Truth #8: The Philippines has the lowest score, and the lowest rank, among the ASEAN-5 as far as the Rule of Law is concerned. What is so galling is that eight years ago, in 2015, the Philippines had a score (0.53) higher than everyone else, except Malaysia (0.57). As you can see, Reader, the Duterte administration really brought down the Philippines Rule of Law score and ranking – from 0.53 to 0.47, and from 51 out of 102 to 97th out of 140. . One would have hoped that the BBM would see those scores and ranks going up, but judging from what is happening in the de Lima case and what happened in the Remulla fils case, that gleam of hope is fading. In the Philippines, the rule by law still reigns supreme.

So We Don’t Forget: Duterte’s Case with the ICC

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Do you know, Reader, that there is RA 9851, signed into law in 2009, two years before we ratified the Rome Statute? Some experts say it is even more strict than the Rome Statute. It punishes superiors who either knew or, owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that the subordinates were committing or about to commit crimes against humanity? So why has Duterte or anyone not even been charged, much less brought to trial under this law?

A Win-Win Solution:   Grant Leila Bail Now, the Courts Can Take Their Time

justice / By

Here is a win-win solution. The courts will continue hearing the cases, which is what the DOJ wants (what a waste of the people’s money, merely to save face). But the prosecutors (who are DOJ appointed) will now officially withdraw their objections to Leila’s request for bail. Which means Leila will be granted bail, and she can fight the cases against her from outside, not inside. What do you think, Reader?