Illegal drug involvement and courtesy resignations

Section Pu lic office is a public trust. Public fficers and eployees must be at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

- Article XI of the Constitution.

This is one provision of our Constitution that government workers, civilian and military, should learn by heart if they are to be worthy of their employment. The problem with our government workers is that most of them are only concerned with their salary, eeping their o , po er and in uence and the per uisites of power. The majority are not really concerned with the welfare of their fellowmen, our government and our country.

There lies the problem. Beyond this lack of concern of government workers is the prevalence of the same attitude among our citizens. This is the primary reason why this country is in a rut. And we have only ourselves to blame.

Example: The recent order of DILG Secretary Benhur A alos as ing top ran ing officers of the P P to file courtesy resignations in an e ort to clean the officer corps of the Philippine National Politics of suspects involved in drug traffic ing hy irrational It confir s the suspicion and ru ors that any high ran ing officers in the P P are involved in the illegal drug trade. It taints everybody including the innocents. In e ect, it destroys the reputation of the hole officer corps of the P P and li its, if not negates, the e ectiveness of the PNP as a police force whose duty is to secure the safety of the citizens from the actions of criminals. In the light of the serious implications of the order for courtesy resignations -why should the citi ens o ey the police hen so e of its officers are suspected criminals? Why? – citizens may likely ask this question. hy insane It destroys the orale of the officer corps It is just the wrong way to do it – if the purpose is to rid the PNP of rotten eggs and tomatoes. .It is a rotten egg and rotten tomato of a solution.

Police officers eing involved in drug traffic ing is nothing new is this country. It has always been there – in rumors, hispers and actual involve ent any officers are suspected of having become multimillionaires due to their criminal involvement in illegal drugs.

But why ask for courtesy resignations? Is that a solution to the problem? Of course, it is not. At best, it is irrational. At worst, it is insane. It is not really surprising in this much ballyhooed era of President BB Marcos – it is usual and typical.

Scandalous reaction: Worse than the proposed solution of the govern ent to re ove high ran ing officers of the P P involved in the illegal trade is the reaction of majority of the high ran ing officers hey too the orders of their high civilian official li e du driven cattle

What a shame!

Are these high ran ing officers of the P P not graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) or the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA)? Are they not familiar with their duties as defined in ection , Article I of the Constitution? Don’t they know that the DILG Secretary is also bound by the same provision of the Constitution?

Don’t they know that the order for courtesy resignations has unsavory i plications on the officer corps of the P P as well as the whole PNP itself? That’s plain and simple common sense. Or, is there something wrong in their training in the PMA and the PNPA? Is there something wrong with the curriculum in the PMA and PNPA?

What is wrong with their orientation and value system as officers of the P PA Is this the reason hy they allo ed and obeyed the order of then President Digong Duterte to kill more than twenty thousand alleged illegal users, according to activists and human rights advocates?

Consultation here ere four P P officers, e ere told, did not file courtesy resignations though for the rong reason If the rest of these P P officers did not no ho to properly react to the courtesy resignation order – they should have consulted lawyers who are experts in constitutional law and criminal law. That is the prop- (Continue on page 27)

Another way to modernize the Armed Forces

In the 1990s, operatives from the Philippine Navy’s special warfare group (SWAG) used to blow up Chinese-installed markers on uninhabited features in the West Philippine Sea.

The explosions were so tiny but it could be heard loudly in Hawaii, making A erican ilitary officials at the Pacific Co and, at that time, nervous as the Philippines played a cat-andmouse game with China.

In The Trenches

China would put up stone markers to claim territories in South China Sea, but soon after, Filipino troops removed them, blowing up these markers placed on areas within the Philippines’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Two decades later, the Philippines can no longer deal with Chinese intrusions into its sovereign waters. It has no armed vessel to even match the Chinese People’s Liberation ArmyNavy (PLA-N) or even its coast guard.

On Feb. 6, a Chinese coast guard vessel pointed a blinding laser to a local maritime law enforcement ship in the West Philippine Sea.

It had no counter measure, exposing the weakness of the country’s armed forces and maritime law enforcement vessels.

Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, a coast guard spokesman, said the coast guard has only 25 capital ships to guard one the world’s longest coastlines.

The vessels only have .50 caliber machine guns, water cannons, and armed personnel who could board and inspect civilian vessels at high seas.

Sadly, the Philippine Navy has fewer ocean-going vessels that could patrol hundreds of miles away from the shores for longer than 10 days.

It has two guided missile frigates and a second-hand outh orean corvette and si other shore Patrol essels – three former British Peacock-class ships and three former US Coast Guard Hamilton cutters.

o ore corvettes and si - hore essels ould e added in two to three years. The rest were second-hand US, Australian, and South Korean platforms destined for the museums.

There is an urgency to modernize the country’s navy and air force to build a minimum credible defense posture that could deter China’s coercive and aggressive actions in the South China Sea.

ut there s a sti price for upgrading the country s air and naval forces. The Navy would need at least P200 billion to ac uire frigates, corvettes, shore Patrol essels, inesweepers, and submarines.

The Navy’s Marine units need highly mobile shoreto-ship batteries to increase its anti-access and area denial (A2AD) capability.

The Air Force also needs almost the same amount to acuire s uadrons of ulti-role fighters, close air support aircraft, long-range maritime surveillance planes, and an integrated air defense system, including an air defense missile system.

The Philippines does not have the funds to acquire the desired air and naval capabilities in one go. It could not even complete two phases of its modernization program. It still needs 300 billion pesos to complete the modernization programs Horizon 1 and Horizon 2.

It still has no funds for the much more expensive Horizon when modern platforms are required to be at par with Southeast Asian neighbors.

The Philippines is among the weakest military forces in the region ith orld ar II-era ships and ietna ar vintage helicopters.

Al ert del osario, the for er foreign a airs secretary, has proposed an innovative but old method of modernizing the country’s armed forces – leasing the equipment from another country or from a commercial company.

Del Rosario’s idea could be a cheaper, faster, and more effective way to upgrade the country’s creaking defense equipment.

The Philippines would not have to wait for defense manufacturers to deliver the equipment in two to three years.

And the cost of renting equip-

(Continue on page 27)

Notarization of documents at Starbucks on Valentine’s Day

Last week Mandy, an old friend and client residing in Benicia, California , called me and requested assistance and help in the notarization and apostille follow-up of the EXTRA JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE WITH ABSOLUTE SALE prepared by his lawyer.

& Wealth

The document on the sale of property in Calamba, Laguna, Philippines is urgently needed and must be signed by him and his three daughters in lieu of his wife, who died on December 6, 2017. One of his daughters arrived from Singapore last Sunday, February 12, 2023. After proper coordination and arrangement, Mandy told me that the only day his three daughters were available for signing of the docu ent as on alentine s ay, e ruary , 2023. Mandy suggested that we can meet in the Starbucks at the Southampton Road, Benicia in the afternoon for the signing and notarization of the documents.

I told Mandy that we could not meet in the afternoon because my wife and her sister-in-law were preparing for their PA Philippine Airlines ights to anila andy suggested a in the orning of alentine s ay, e ruary , The customer is always right, so my wife and I agreed to the suggestion of Mandy, despite our very tight schedule. Before the alentine s ay appoint ent, I instructed andy to prepare three copies of the EXTRA JUDICIAL SETTLEMENT OF ESTATE WITH ABSOLUTE SALE, three copies of his ife s eath Certificate, three copies of the ransfer Certificate of Title on the property and three copies of his ID and her three daughters.

Driving from San Francisco, California, my wife and I arrived at the tar uc s in enicia, California on alentine s ay, e ruary , a out a After fe inutes Mandy and his three daughters arrived. The manager at the Starbucks was very accommodating. She assigned a long table for us. After some preliminaries, Mandy and his three daughters signed the document. Then, Mandy and his three daughters signed my Journal of Notarial Acts and put their right thumb marks. Mandy and his daughters expressed their profound than s and gratitude for the pro pt and efficient services extended to them.

Immediately after signing and notarization, my wife and I drove back to San Francisco for the preparation of her baggage. I drove my wife to the SFO (San Francisco International Airport late in the afternoon of alentine s ay for her ight to Manila together with her sister-n-law Elisa. They are now enjoying their vacation in Pangasinan.

As accredited and commissioned Notary Public in California since , this as y first ti e to eet and notari e docu ents for clients at tar uc s on alentine s ay espite the very tight schedule, I am glad that I was able to assist and help clients like Mandy and his three daughters.

I continue to receive calls and emails both from old and new clients asking if we still do authentication follow-up of notarized documents with the Philippine Consulate in San rancisco, California As of ay , , the Philippine Consulate no longer issue authentication certificate of documents notarized by accredited and commissioned Notary Public in California. The notarized documents must now be submitted to the Secretary of State, Notary Public Section, in Sacramento or Los Angeles, California., for apostille. For the information of our old and new clients, our readers and the general public, let me share excerpts of the Special Notice from the Legal Section, Philippine Consulate, as follows:

“Philippine Consulate shall no longer issue Authentication Certificate ith red ri on for docu ents notari ed or apostilled in the States under its jurisdiction namely Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington State, Northern Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Northern California.

If you notari ed docu ents efore ay , the Philippine Consulate will (1) still accept it for authentication (red ribbon) or (2) you may advice the applicant to secure an Apostille n the other hand, if you notari ed docu ents fro May 2019 onwards, we will no longer authenticate said documents. The applicant should forward it to the issuing State/ Co petent Authority for the issuance of an Apostille Certificate.

Please note that Apostilled