EMONG'S JOURNALS

How would a DNA test prove one's citizenship? Presidential hopeful Grace Poe two weeks ago underwent a DNA testing for two reasons: first, to prove that she's a natural born citizen of the Philippines; and second, to resolve a disqualification case slapped against her at the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET). Senator Poe's camp earlier said if the DNA test showed she's born to Filipino parents than it will be a conclusive evidence that she's a natural born citizen and not "naturalized" as claimed by her critics. Her lawyer, Atty. George Garcia, said in a TV interview of a Supreme Court decision that "DNA tests are conclusive insofar as the courts are concerned. In fact it is already part of the rules of evidence," Garcia is talking about a decision penned by Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice and Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) Chairman Antonio Carpio. Carpio earlier said that Poe, as a foundling, is considered a naturalized Filipin...

THE Anti-Hazing Law, or Republic Act 8049 gets to sink its teeth on real flesh for the first time, after the Supreme Court's conviction of two Alpha Phi Omega (APO) members for the hazing of University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) student Marlon Vilanueva in 2006. This is the first conviction since the Anti-Hazing Law was passed on 1995, in the light of the death of Leni Villa, a law student from Ateneo de Manila who similarly died from hazing. According to Inquirer.net , the high court's 39-page decision through Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza affirmed the penalty of reclusion perpetua (20 years and 1 day to 40 years imprisonment) imposed by the Calamba Laguna Regional Trial Court Branch 36 against Dandy L. Dungo and Gregorio A. Sibal Jr. The Laguna RTC ruled that the prosecution has “undeniably proved” that the victim was seen with Dungo and Sibal entering a resort where the initiation rites were conducted and that the same two brought the victim to JP...

THE United States Supreme Court has recently issued a decision allowing same-sex marriage in all US states, a landmark ruling embraced as a victory long sought by US gay rights movements. The Philippines Supreme Court, likewise, also has a pending petition in their office seeking a similar decision. But this petition, filed by lawyer Jesus Nicardo Falcis III, may come as hard as passing through the eye of a needle, as the country's law contains provisions that limit marriage exclusively between a man and a woman. The Family Code of the Philippines and same-sex marriage According to a Philstar report, Atty. Falcis filed his petition on May 18 of this year, asking the SC to nullify and declare as unconstitutional provisions of the Family Code, which laid down the legal framework for the ban on same-sex marriage. Unlike in the US where there is no law that does not allow same-sex marriage in the country, the Philippines has the Family Code of the Philippines (Ar...