Shift Towards Social Transformation

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HOW time flies! So many things are happening nowa- days before you can even make a sense out of it. But while this may be so, yet, what is of substance is not just the unfolding of events as these may just be meaningless unless we subject them to some analyses and reflections. There were awesome and amazing happenings in the past worthy of our utmost reflection, more on transformation not only on the changing of the dates but on what really matters: which is on the shift of paradigms and mindset.

Mario Rosete – Cabanatuan

Inna Viktoria Balaba – San Pablo, Laguna

VISAYAS

Dennis Ibutnande – Kalibo, Aklan

Paul Asis – Iloilo

Fety Luz Padohinog – Bacolod

Nicole Jaudian – Cebu

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ROMEO D. SANCHEZ - digos City - 0907-1905204

ALEJANDRO BRIAN CASTOR - daVao - 0950-646-5515

VIRGINIA RECONALLA - digos City - 0938-544-8333

AUREA HERNANDEZ - daVao City - 0997-924-2417

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BELEN TAPING - taguM City - 0917-891-2514

P tr. JOEL SARILLANA - C o M V al - 0946-891-3544

IMELDA PALARCA - g eneral s antos - 0916-377-1600

HENRY SALAZAR - g eneral

Some four-score years ago during the height of the people’s struggle against British colonial rule in India, Mahatma Gandi’s “Satyagraha” (Love Force) approach to liberate his people from the clutches of Imperialism had manifested a principle that was not given much attention then but is now reverberating through-out the world. Gandhi’s simple statement was, “If man has to be saved from doom, development must be in harmony with nature and not at its expense.”

In the Philippines, we have a more precise declaration from a Lumad leader foretelling of an impending disaster if we continue on sacrificing nature in the name of so-called progress, “Only when you have cut the last tree, only when you have caught the last fish, only when you have dried the last river, only then will you realize that you cannot eat your money.”

An environmentalist from Canada has even a more horrible prediction, “At the rate we are destroying the ozone layer and the world’s resource base and subjecting to extinction some 100 species of flora and fauna every day, what seems unimaginable may become possible, which is, the end of life on Earth.”

In the light of the present ecological disasters we are now experiencing, we should now do some reflections with reference to the above-mentioned warnings that have not been taken heed-of at all. Have the loggers not decimated our forests? Have industries not treated bays and rivers as their waste pits? Have costly agricultural technologies tied-up to the use of heavy toxic chemicals not continuously promoted and practiced though there are more ecologically sustainable ways? And isn’t it that all of these were done in the name of development?

It behooves upon us now to examine the dominant paradigm, in whose name and for whose cause, advancing the common good has been pursued but has only been successful in inflicting massive destruction to the ecosystems, our very means to life. That kind of “development” is anchored on growth-at-all-cost strategies; it is extractive as it is consumerist, based on the “money-must-grow” principle.

That paradigm is now described as a giant offbalance. So as not to fall, it must run. And in running, it destroys everything it finds in it path, i.e., rivers, bays, forests, agricultural lands, communities, indigenous cultures, etc. It continues building military arsenals capable of killing mankind forty times over. Because of it, we are now losing Mother Earth, that is, if we have not lost Her already.

That economic system oftentimes follows trickledown approach described, that as if, we allow sparrows to pick on something that has already passed the digestive tracts of cattle.

We cannot continue on pursuing the unsustainable pattern of resource exploitation that only survives by whetting the consumerist appetite that has produced a throw-away materialistic, consumerist society. The message has always been, spend, buy this, buy that, so that you will be happy.

As you spend, the economy will prosper, then, you will have more money. And because you have now money, you can buy more and more. What to buy? All that the modern technologies can offer in efficiently exploiting our

Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT

REGIONAL TRIAL COURT

12th Judicial Region, Branch 21 Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte Office E-mail Add: rtc21.kapatagan@gmail.com Office Tel. No. 063-227-9091

MARIA MONNETTE R. PANCIPANCI, SPL. CIVIL CASE NO. 21-140

Petitioner, FOR: DECLARATORY RELIEF AND -versus- MANDAMUS

PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS

ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (RBAS , FOR SHORT) and MERLYN D. TENCHAVEZ. Respondents.

TO:

PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS

ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (RBAS , FOR SHORT) Camp Crame, Quezon City

MERLYN D. TENCHAVEZ

Pakilawag, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte

G R E E T I N G S:

You are required to enter your appearance in the above-entitled case within THIRTY DAYS (30) after the service of the summons upon you, exclusive of the day of such service, and to answer the complaint of the plaintiff which is hereto attached and herewith served upon you within the time fixed by the Rules of Court. If you fail to answer within aforesaid time, the hearing will proceed for the relief applied for in said complaint.

WITNESS the HON. ALBERTO P. QUINTO, Acting Presiding Regional Trial Judge of this Court this 6th day of February, 2023 Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.

ATTY. BERNARDINO M. BERING Clerk of Court VI

Republic of the Philippines SUPRME COURT REGIONAL TRIAL COURT 12th Judicial Region, Branch 21 Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte

MARIA MONNETTE R. PANCIPANCI, SPL. CIVIL CASE NO. 21-140 Petitioner, FOR: DECLARATORY RELIEF AND -versus- MANDAMUS

PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (RBAS FOR SHORT) and MERLYN D. TENCHAVEZ. Respondents.

Petition

COMES NOW, petitioner through the undersigned counsel and unto this Honorable Court, most respectfully avers that:

PARTIES

1. Petitioner is of legal age, Filipino citizen, widow and a resident of Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte. She may be served by this Honorable Court’s notices and other processes through the undersigned counsel with Office Address as here-under indicated;

2. Respondent PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (RBAS) is a government entity with office address at ‘ Camp Crame’, Quezon City where it may be served with this Honorable Court’s notices and other processes.

3. Respondent MERLYN D. TENCHAVEZ is of legal age, Filipino citizen, single and a resident of ‘ Pakilawag, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, Lanao del Norte’ , where she may be served with summons, notices and other processes of this Honorable Court; CAUSE OF ACTION

4. Petitioner was legally married to Ret. SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ. Their marriage ceremony was celebrated sometime 12 September 2007 by the ‘Presiding Judge’, Hon. Salome P. Dungog, of RTC, Branch 35, Ozamis City. The couple, however, were not blessed with any children. Copy of their ‘ Certificate of Marriage ’ is hereto attached and marked as Annex “A” hereof;

5. Petitioner’s husband, (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ, was an officer of the ‘ Philippine National Police ’ until he retired from service sometime 08 August 2014. (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ died sometime 03 June 2021. Upon his death, the latter’s legal beneficiary is entitled for the transfer of the pensioner’s pension to him/her upon application before the PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (‘RBAS’, for short), ‘ Camp Crame’, Quezon City. Petitioner applied for the said ‘ transfer of pension ’ before the afore-mentioned office.

6. Upon application, however, petitioner learned that another woman, herein respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, claiming to be the lawful wife of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ, had also applied for the said “ transfer of pension ’. Apparently, said respondent presented to the RVAS a ‘ Certificate of Marriage ’ indicating that (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and her were married to each other as early as 08 June 1982, or about 25 years prior to the marriage of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and herein petitioner. Despite said certificate being an UNSIGNED DOCUMENT, either by (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ or respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVES, RBAS admitted the same and duly considered said document in arriving at its decision respecting petitioner’s application. Said “ Certificate of Marriage ’ is hereto attached and marked as Annex “B” hereof;

7. As can be gleaned from Annex “B” also, it is indicated therein that respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVES, was only 16 years ild at the time of her alleged marriage with (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ. Consequently, her marriage with SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ was void ab initio, which was what RBAS also arrived at in its decision. Finally, respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVES is shown to have birth a child from another man which, apparently, is a ground for disqualification by a surviving spouse/wife for the ‘ transfer of pension ’ of pensioner. Accordingly, the application of said respondent was denied;

8. Unfortunately, by reason of the certificate (Annex “B”) submitted to by respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVES, the application of herein petitioner was also denied by the RBAS ratiocinating that her marriage with (ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ was also null and void for failure to secure a judicial declaration of nullity respecting the first marriage of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, as required by Article 40 of the Family Code. The “ Letter of Denial ” of RBAS, dated 10 November 2021, is attached as Annex “C” hereof;

9. Petitioner was, then, advised to secure a court order declaring her as the legal beneficiary of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ reiterating their mandate respecting claims of death benefits, which is “ Memorandum Circular No. 2014-044 ” entitled “ Guidelines and Procedures in the Issuance of Decree of Entitlement and Distribution ”, excerpt thereof is hereby quoted, to wit:

“If they discover that it is a case of “ delayed registration” or contracting parties has “ no signature ”, kindly advise the concerned claimant to secure court order declaring that they are the legal beneficiary prior receiving and processing of their claims” Copy of the said ‘ Memorandum’ is attached in this petition as Annex “D” hereof.

10. It is the opinion of herein petitioner, however, the committed an error when it considered the UNSIGNED certificate of marriage between respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVES, and (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ, in concluding that a marriage between the latter parties subsists;

11. For all intents and purposes, such document (Annex “B”) is no more than a mere scrap of paper. It has no legal or official value whatsoever. A marriage does not suddenly exist just because an incomplete and irregular ‘ certificate of marriage ’ is submitted to the civil registrar without any participation thereto by one, in fact, even both, of the contracting parties. Notice also some other discrepancies in the said certificate which are as follows: a) The marriage between respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, and (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ was supposedly celebrated sometime 08 June 1982 yet the ‘ Certificate of Marriage ’ (Annex “B”) form used and submitted to the civil registrar is the ‘ January 1993 Revised Form’ . It is clear that said document was belatedly submitted and registered before the civil registrar; b) Cleverly, it was not indicated in the said document does as to when it was received by the local civil registrar concerned. It’s not even sure if it was actually received by the latter office as nothing was indicated in Annex “B” of such fact; c) Sometime 31 July 2007, (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ applied for a CENOMAR (‘ Certificate of No Marriag e’) before the ‘ National Statistics Office ’. Said office confirmed, in a certificate, that he does not appear in the ‘ National Indices of Marriage ’ as of 31 may 2007 database. Copy of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ CENOMAR is hereto attached and marked as Annex “E” hereof. Thus, clearly, the questioned certificate of marriage (Annex “B”) was registered not earlier than 31 May 2007 notwithstanding that (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, were supposed to have been married to each other 25 years prior (1982). To reiterate, petitioner and (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ’ marriage was celebrated sometime 12 September 2007 ; d) Finally, the marriage of (ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TANCHAVEZ, supposed to be solemnized by an RTC Judge. Considering that the respondent was still a minor at that time (16 years old), it is safe to conclude that they were not issued, and did not have, the corresponding ‘ Marriage License ’ at the time their supposed marriage. It’s appalling to think that an RTC Judge solemnized their marriage despite this absence of a mandatory requirement. Mostly likely, no marriage transpired between (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, sometime 08 June 1982, or at any time for that matter. The date/ information respecting the circumstances of the celebration of marriage filled up in the certificate of marriage (Annex “B”) of respondent, MERLYN GONZAGA TENCHAVEZ, and submitted before the civil registrar for registration, is, mostly likely, a fabricated event just so she could claim for the ‘ transfer of pension ’ of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ;

12. That unless and until the other claimant can secure a judicial declaration of the existence of marriage, if that be the case, respondent’s alleged marriage with (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ cannot be considered existing. Thus, there was no need for the latter to secure a judicial declaration of nullity of a previous marriage before his marriage with the petitioner. Obviously, you don’t have a non-existing marriage declared void as there is nothing to declare, to begin with. Thus, the grievous error committed by RBAS in denying petitioner’s application for ‘ Transfer of Pension ’;

13. The only group of heirs that may be prejudiced by this petition, and a favorable judgment thereof, are the decedent’s siblings as they are the only remaining compulsory legal heirs of the latter. Thus, they are also furnished copies of this petition; PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed, after DUE NOTICE, POSTING, PUBLICATION and HEARING, that an ORDER be issued declaring petition, MARIA MONETTE R. PANCIPANCI, as the legal wife of (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ. Consequently, it is hereby prayed that respondent, PNP RETIREMENT AND BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION SERVICE (RBAS), be ORDERED to grant the application of herein petitioner for the ‘ transfer of pension ’ of her husband, (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ, upon compliance with the other requirements of the said office. Consequently, it is also prayed that the Civil Registrar General, Philippine Statistics Authority and all other pertinent government offices be ORDERED to delete in their ‘ National Indices of Marriage s’ the supposed marriage between (Ret.) SPO2 MARCOS B. RAMIREZ and respondent, MERLYN D. TENCHAVEZ.

Other reliefs just and equitable under the premises are also prayed for.

Respectfully Submitted. 26th July 2022. Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.

SGD.

Atty. Anwar Khalid U. Maliawao

Counsel for Petitioner Roll No. 55206

PTR No. 5205832/01-31-2022/LDN

IBP NO. 206273/03-31-2022/LDN

MCLE Compliance No. VII-0014121/03-31-2022

Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte/0917-633-7552/Akumaliawao2@gmail.com

Republic of the Philippines } Province of Lanao del Norte}s.s

Verification

I, MARIA MONNETE R. PANCIPANCI, Filipino, of legal age, widow, and a resident of Curvada, Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, after having been sworn to in accordance with law hereby depose and state that:

1. I am the Petitioner in the above-entitled case;

2. I caused the preparation of the foregoing Petition and that all the allegations therein contained are true and correct to my own personal knowledge and based on authentic records;

3. This petition is not filled to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation;

4. The factual allegations therein have evidentiary support or, if specifically, so identified, will likewise have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for discovery;

5. That I have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, Regional Trial Court or any other tribunal or agency. To the best of our knowledge, no such action or proceeding is pending in the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals or any tribunal agency. If there is such action or proceeding that is either pending or may have been terminated, I will state the status thereof. If I should thereafter learn that a similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any tribunal or agency, I will undertake to report that fact within five (5) days from said notice.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF , I have hereunto affixed my signature on this 26th July 2022 at Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte. MARIA MONNETTE R. PANCIPANCI

Affiant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 26th July 2022 at Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, Philippines.

SGD.

Atty. Anwar Khalid U. Maliawao

Doc No. 320; Counsel for Petitioner

Page No. 64; Roll No. 55206

Book No. LXXXIII; PTR No. 5205832/01-31-2022/LDN

Series of 2022.

IBP NO. 206273/03-31-2022/LDN

MCLE Compliance No. VII-0014121/03-31-2022

Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte/0917-633

7552/Akumaliawao2@gmail.com