News Roundup 12 July 2023
Jul 12, 2023 • 5 min Read
De Lima’s last pending case re-raffled off to new Muntinlupa judge | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The last pending drug case against former Sen. Leila De Lima has been raffled off to a new court in Muntinlupa, after two judges inhibited from the proceedings in past weeks.
Lawyer Boni Tacardon, from De Lima’s legal team, told reporters on Wednesday that the third case against De Lima will now be handled by Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206, where Presiding Judge Gener Gito sits.
The case was raffled off on July 10.
No other details on the next trial date have been made public.
De Lima’s appeal on her rejected bail petition is pending before the court.
This last case is keeping the former senator in detention, for more than seven years now, amid acquittal in two other drug charges.
In 2019, Gito was the acting presiding judge of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256, during which he allowed De Lima to visit her ailing mother in Camarines Sur. A year later, he was relieved of his designation in Branch 256.
As presiding judge of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206, Gito in 2022 handled and dismissed an indirect contempt plea filed against De Lima and her lawyers.
Full Story at: De Lima’s last pending case re-raffled off to new Muntinlupa judge | Philstar.com
SC orders PAO chief to explain tirades against new lawyers’ code of conduct | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has dismissed the request of Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta to delete a part of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability that limits her office from invoking conflict of interest.
The high court has also noted Acosta’s “unabated public tirades against Canon III, Section 22 through social and mainstream media, branding the adoption of the CPRA as unconstitutional, and an undue interference and intrusion by the [SC] into PAO’s operations.”
The SC Public Information Office on Wednesday said in a statement, that the justices, sitting as full court, dismissed Acosta’s request to delete Section 22, Canon III of the CPRA, which replaced the 34-year-old guide for lawyer’s conduct in the country.
The said provision reads:
SECTION 22. Public Attorney’s Office; conflict of interest. — The Public Attorney’s is the primary legal aid service office of the government. In the pursuit of its mandate under its charter, the Public Attorney’s Office shall ensure ready access to its services by the marginalized sectors of society in a manner that takes into consideration the avoidance of potential conflict of interest situations which will leave these marginalized parties unassisted by counsel.
A conflict of interest of any of the lawyers of the Public Attorney’s Office incident to services rendered for the Office shall be imputed only to the said lawyer and the lawyer’s direct supervisor. Such conflict of interest shall not disqualify the rest of the lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office from representing the affected client, upon full disclosure to the latter and written informed consent.
The SC then ordered Acosta to explain why she should not be cited in indirect contempt for “her social media posts and newspaper publications which tended, directly or indirectly, to impede, obstruct, or degrade the administration of justice.”
Full Story at: SC orders PAO chief to explain tirades against new lawyers’ code of conduct | Philstar.com
AFP explains spike in US military flights | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The increasing number of US military air activities within Philippine airspace is due to the ongoing bilateral military exercises with Washington, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday after some government officials and lawmakers raised alarm over the sudden surge of American military aircraft monitored in the country.
The two longtime treaty allies are holding a new round of Cope Thunder—a large-scale joint air force exercise—from July 3 to July 21, while Marine Aviation Support Activity (Masa) runs from July 6 to July 21.
Philippine Air Force (PAF) spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said “more than 10 types of aircraft in different numbers” are involved in Cope Thunder, which are all covered by diplomatic clearances.
The second iteration of Cope Thunder will involve a large-scale deployment of military planes across the country, including the US Air Force’s cargo planes and fifth-generation F-22s, touted as one of the world’s most advanced and lethal aircraft.
Some 1,200 Filipino and American airmen are taking part in the air drills.
For Masa, Philippine Marine Corps spokesperson Cpt. Jarald Rea said 43 types of aircraft would take part in joint Marines exercise.
Full Story at: AFP explains spike in US military flights | Inquirer News
Cybercrimes still up despite SIM registration law – police data | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Despite the passage of a law requiring people to register their SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) cards, cybercrimes committed using a SIM card went up by 190 percent from January to June, totaling 4,104 cases compared to 1,415 during the same period in 2022.
The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) reported on Tuesday that most of this year’s cases were financial crimes and online scams involving digital and online wallets such as GCash (3,587), Maya (49) and Coins.ph (four).
However, the police pointed out a silver lining: Their resolution rate also went up from 70 percent in 2022 to 95 percent for the first half of this year.
Full Story at: Cybercrimes still up despite SIM registration law – police data | Inquirer News
