PRESS STATEMENT Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman (LP-Albay) 0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137 10 August 2016
Such pronouncement, although off-the-cuff, is gravely disturbing in the context of two relevant current events.
First, the predisposition of President Duterte to bury the remains of the late President Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is reflective of his mindset of honoring the deposed dictator who declared martial law and masterminded a power grab which lasted 14 ignominious years.
MANILA, Philippines – Aside from staging protests and online campaigns, groups opposed to the planned burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani are thinking of bringing the issue to the Supreme Court (SC).
“We will study the possibility of going to the Supreme Court and get an injunction. We go directly to the [SC] as an exception of hierarchy of doctrine because this is truly a public interest case,” Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said in a press briefing on Tuesday, August 9.
PRESS STATEMENT Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman (LP-Albay) 0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137 05 August 2016
The call of Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo C. Fariñas for the Congress to stop making laws in anticipation of charter change is ludicrous.
In an interview that was published by media, Fariñas said “we may have to have to stop the legislative mill. Why? Because we are already rewriting the Constitution. We might as well stop legislation first. If we are talking about divorce, death penalty, then what if these may all be excluded in the next Constitution?”
The so-called Legitimate 8–the lawmakers who dubbed themselves such after being excluded from the House minority bloc–is still insistent on its minority stature and is seeking membership, meaning voting rights, in various committees.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, in a letter to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, said he, Teddy Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao, Raul Daza of Northern Samar, Edgar Erice of Caloocan City (Metro Manila), Tomasito Villarin of Akbayan party-list, Rodante Marcoleta of 1-Sagip party-list, Emmanuel Billones of Capiz and Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list are minority members pursuant to the Rules of the House and accepted tradition.
The eight lawmakers voted for Baguilat in the Speakership race who garnered more votes than Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, 8 to 7.
In his letter, Lagman attached the minimum committee preferences of the “Legitimate 8” members whom Lagman said are not only members of the minority but also members of the House of Representatives who are entitled to committee memberships.
The Philippines is one of only two countries in the world where divorce is illegal. Is that about to change?
An op-ed published in the International New York Times on July 28, by the writer and filmmaker Gin de Mesa Laranas, raised an important question: will the Philippines legalize divorce? It is one of only two countries where divorce remains outlawed, the other being the metropole of Catholicism, the Vatican City. As Laranas wrote, although the Constitution formally recognizes the separation between church and state, the Catholic Church “still wields considerable influence,” especially over politics, and has been vehement in its opposition to what it describes as “D.E.A.T.H” laws — divorce, euthanasia, abortion, total population control, and homosexual marriage. For the Catholic hierarchy in the Philippines, divorce is “anti-family” and “anti-life.” And those who endorse it are job-sharing with the devil.
“Being a country where divorce is not legal is an honor that every Filipino should be proud of,” Oscar Cruz, an archbishop emeritus, has stated. “Love for the family is the heart of Filipino cultural identity and cannot be destroyed by divorce.” Employing the tiresome rhetoric of the reactionary, he blamed demands for divorce on the caprice of foreigners and “globalization.” That’s not the case. For decades, Filipinos have been demanding divorce and politicians have tried to introduce the necessary legislation, albeit without success. The latest attempt came in early July when a bill (House Bill 116, commonly called the Divorce Bill) was put before Congress by Edcel Lagman, a human rights lawyer and long-serving politician from the province of Albay, in the southeast of Luzon. (It remains unknown when, or if, the bill will be debated.)
