Rep. Pulong sends aid to fire victims in Dumalag 1

The Office of First Congressional District Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte extended relief assistance to over 60 families affected by a recent fire and currently taking shelter at Shanghai Gym, Matina Aplaya, Davao City.

The victims received meals on April 21, 2023 and food packs the following day. They were also provided with hot meals in the next five days.

Davao City Fire District Station spokesperson Senior Fire Officer 4 (SFO4) Ramil Gillado, said the fire, which gutted down some 40 houses in Punta Dumalag 1, Barangay Matina Aplaya on April 21, 2023, started at around 10 a.m. in the house of a certain Ronald Magpatoc.

The initial investigation pointed to children playing with a cigarette lighter. The fire quickly spread to the closest neighborhood, where most houses are made of light materials.

Rep. Pulong’s office has been providing immediate assistance and food packs to the district’s constituents and other residents in the city affected by man-made and natural calamities.

In February this year, the Office of First Congressional District provided immediate aid to roughly 2,000 households affected by fire in Davao City. Rep. Pulong’s staff also delivered emergency food kits.

By Maya M. Padillo

In expressing his full support for Filipino athletes competing in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia:

MOSES

GARAY DELIGERO

MAYA M.

The new Lawyer’s Oath mandates that a member of the bar “shall do no falsehood nor shall pervert the law to unjustly favor or prejudice anyone” and “ shall faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities to the best of ability, with integrity and utmost civility.”

This should be a reminder to the 3,992 law graduates who successfully passed the 2022 Bar exams that the profession is a privilege burdened with conditions bestowed by law through the Supreme Court.

Bar membership may be withdrawn due to the lawyer’s lack of essential qualifications including honesty, fidelity, and integrity as enshrined in the lawyer’s oath.

The results of the November 2022 Bar Exams were released last April 14, 2023 where successful examinees comprise 43.47% of 9,183 takers.

Ultimately, being a good lawyer is a different thing as passing the bar is not enough. It is never the measure of the decency, honesty, integrity and intelligence of a lawyer.

The Supreme Court issued last January five decisions on

Disciplinary Proceedings As Means Of Protecting The Administration Of Justice

disciplinary proceedings filed against lawyers, of whom three were disbarred from practice while the other two were suspended.

Disciplinary proceedings are means of protecting the administration of justice by requiring those who carry out important function in the judicial system to be competent, honorable and reliable men in whom courts and clients may repose confidence.

The primary purposes of disciplinary proceedings are to protect the public, to foster public confidence in the Bar, to preserve the integrity of the profession, and to deter other lawyers from similar misconduct.

Erring lawyers may be penalized either by suspension or disbarment for any violation of the oath, a patent disregard of one’s duties, or an odious deportment unbecoming of an attorney.

Disbarment is imposed where the misconduct and unrepentant demeanor shows a serious flaw in his character and the outright defiance of established norms.

In Artates vs Atty. Meinrado Enrique Bello ( A.C. No. 13466 January 11 2023), the lawyer was given a six month suspen- sion after he failed to inform complainant of the unfavorable decision issued by the Labor Arbiter. His negligence caused material damage to complainant as she was precluded from perfecting her appeal before the National Labor Relations Commission.

In Dayos vs Atty. Grace Buri (A.C. No. 13504 January 31, 2023), the lawyer was disbarred on her third disciplinary proceedings as the Court noted “ her penchant for violating the provisions of the Code of Professional Responsibility” and ” her cold indifference to the values a lawyer ought to live by as a requisite for her continued membership in the Bar“.

In her first case, Buri refused to pay her monetary obligation of P200,000.00, representing the balance of the purchase price of the condominium unit she bought from the vendor and whom she even threatened with criminal cases for demanding payment from her.

In her second case), Buri failed to file the petition for nullity of marriage despite receipt of the amount of P188,000 as professional fees.

FRED C. LUMBA SPECKS OF LIFE

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid but he who conquers that fear.” - NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI.

*******

The on-going civil war in Sudan is violent and barbaric. The forces involved do not care about the wastage in human life for as long as they see themselves winning and defeating their opponent.

According to news reports, there are around 6,000 Pinoy workers earning their bread and butter in this African country who need to be taken back home while the conflict has not yet reached incalculable proportions.

Days before violent clashes erupted between the armies of the two warlords fighting for supremacy, there were global news coming out that a civil conflict is soon to break out in Sudan any moment.

Foreign embassies have since been evacuating their respective personnel out of Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. However, in the case of Pinoy workers, there was no news yet about repatriating them until one OFW was reported hurt in a violent episode.

This slow government reaction to critical incidents involving the physical safety of OFWs in Sudan is not the first and only time where our embassies and consulates in conflict torn areas have been found wanting. The lethargic response to critical emergencies smacks of the capability of the officials and staff whose sworn duty is to protect Filipino citizens in their areas of assignment and jurisdiction.

The Philippine embassies in Israel and terror-stricken countries in the Middle East should now be on the alert as the mass citizen hysteria in these areas has risen to alarming proportions.

And so does the situation in Taiwan where the political situation appears more critical then ever as rumors about China’s imminent annexation of this island

In her third case, Buri failed to file the appeal as agreed upon despite her receipt of the amount representing the appeal bond.

In Jumalon vs. Atty. Elmer dela Rosa (A.C. No. 9288 January 31, 2023), a disbarred lawyer sold the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program-awarded property received by the complainant’s deceased husband without their knowledge. He also failed to account all the money and property and keep the clients’ funds separate and apart from those of his own. He was adjudged to be ineligible for judicial clemency.

The Court reminds the members of the Bar that once they take up the cause of their clients, they are duty bound to serve these clients with competence, and to attend to their cause with diligence, care, and devotion regardless of whether the lawyers accepted the cases for a fee or for free.

A lawyer must at no time be wanting in probity and moral fiber, which are not only conditions precedent to his entrance to the Bar, but are likewise essential demands for his or her

Ofw Crisis Repatriation

the PROC claim to be its province grow stronger in decibel levels.

Military exercises in both the PROC and Taiwan’s armed services are continuing which indicate eerie rumblings that only their respective higher authorities can decipher at this time.

Taiwanese citizens are now being taught to handle firearms.

But the simultaneous drills conducted by US and AFP personnel in conjunction with the EDCA appear to help fuel the fear that war between the US and China is imminent.

Until this writing, there are no categorical plans laid out yet on the ABCs of OFW repatriation in Taiwan. Press reports reaching us say there are some 600,000 Pinoys holding jobs in many factories in Taipei and elsewhere in Taiwan.

MECO chief Silvestre Bello III, the former DOLE secretary in the Duterte cabinet, assures us that they are ready to evacuate our countrymen safe to the Philippines in case.

Curiously, we hope the incum- bent government has a firm grip of the circumstances - however volatile - happening around the globe.

We were one of those surprised on the huge protest rallies occuring in several parts of Israel - including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - a situation we believe is kept under control because the former PM Benjamin Netanyahu is back in command of the government.

There is an unceasing rocket and missile bombardment coming from Gaza and Lebanon into Israeli settlements believed to be with the instruction and support of the Iranian Ayatollah-led government.

If this is any indication, shouldn’t the Philippine embassy in Israel properly advise OFWs thereat to always be on the ready as the hostility of the Arabs and oher Islamic organizations will never stop?

An OFW friend of mine who spent 3 years in Israel as a caregiver said Pinoy workers don’t worry so much about the pocket resistance and militant activities continued membership in it.

Of the 2022 bar exam top 30, eleven were from University of the Philippines (UP), of anti-Israel groups.

Among the group of biggest schools or those with over 100 takers, ADMU had the highest passing rate at 96.74 percent, followed by San Beda at 96.67 percent, UP at 94.27 percent, USC at 91.43 percent, and the University of Santo Tomas at 78.09 percent.

The highest passing rate was the 1954 Bar, where 75.17% passed.

The lowest was in 1999 with 16.59% with a total number of 660 successful examinees. My bar buddy and former solicitor general Florin Hilbay was the topnotcher.

Lawyers, as professionals, are expected to uphold the ethical and moral values that are said to be essential to the fabric that holds society together.

(Peyups is the moniker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.)

He said the IDF and the Israeli police are very well prepared and well trained to combat even the guerilla tactics of suicidal Islamic militants who carry out hits even in public places.

But then again, in the case of Sudan, none of us perhaps knew beforehand that a civil war will eventually break out between two former friends and allies who are both hungry for power.

On advice from the UN and the diplomatic intervention of the US, a three-day truce was agreed upon.

More than 350 people - including civilians and innocent children - have died and scores more have been injured.

Let us hope the OFWs will see this as a golden opportunity to be repatriated home safe in the arms of their welcoming families.

This world is not getting any peaceful.

‘Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo?’ (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.)

GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!