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Martial Law's legacy? A legal system

in near collapse – FLAG chairman
Jose Manuel Diokno
By: Tricia Aquino, InterAksyon.com

April 29, 2016 5:11 PM

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The online news portal of TV5 Martial Law's legacy? A legal system in near collapse – FLAG
chairman Jose Manuel Diokno
MANILA - When Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairman and De La Salle University College of
Law dean Atty. Jose Manuel Diokno began his talk at the conference “Never Again, Never Forget: Martial WITH VIDEO | Former Chief Justice Corona dies
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state of our legal system at present is in near collapse,” Atty. Diokno said at the second day of the in 2001-2014 SALN
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Court cases could take anywhere from six to 10 years to be resolved, “if you’re lucky,” Diokno said. But
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Diokno acknowledged that the legal system was far from perfect before the declaration of Martial Law, EL NIÑO | Region 10 Quick Response Fund underway to
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But a few days after declaring Martial Law, then President Ferdinand Marcos issued Letter of Instruction confrontation
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Thus, all the members of the judicial branch of government worked under the threat of dismissal at any nationwide
time. Any time Marcos felt like it, he could replace them.

According to Diokno, veteran judges were dismissed through court notices bearing their acceptance of
compulsory resignations. Their names and careers were ruined and their futures shattered even without 404 Not Found
their side being heard, and without knowing what the charges against them were.

From the moment he signed LOI 11, Marcos stripped the judges of their independence. Thus, justice no
nginx/1.19.10
longer depended on the merits of case, but the closeness of the lawyers to the Marcoses, Diokno said.

Judiciary captured

“He owned every single judge in the country because he could accept the resignation any time he so
desired,” he said. “The Marcoses captured the entire judiciary, and held it in their pocket for the next 14
years.”

Describing Marcos as “an astute lawyer”, Diokno said the dictator knew he needed to capture the
judiciary so that after his time in power, he and his family could never be prosecuted and punished.

“And Marcos succeeded, perhaps beyond his wildest dreams,” Diokno said.

Marcos also succeeded in producing a new breed of lawyers.

While they used to be measured based on their professional skills and integrity, after Martial Law, they
were measured by how close they were to Marcoses. These new lawyers built connections with judges,
prosecutors, court personnel, police officers, military officials, and others.

These connections have outlasted the Marcos regime, and continued even after the EDSA People
Power Revolution, Diokno said.

Referring to the dictator’s abolition of Congress, Diokno said, “What Marcos did to our judiciary and legal
system was much more subtle, and also more far-reaching.”

Diokno explained that the government of former President Corazon Aquino tried to go after some of
these lawyers, but in at least one instance, the Supreme Court came to their rescue, illustrating just how
close their ties had become.

Mrs. Aquino also purged the judiciary, but within a few years, some of the dismissed judges found a way
to return, Diokno said.

“The government’s efforts never succeeded in dismantling the networks that were established during the
dictatorship,” he lamented, pointing out that these continued to operate with impunity.

After the 1987 Constitution, appointments in the judiciary were supposedly no longer politicized, because
these had to go through the Judicial and Bar Council. Unfortunately, the very same people responsible
for establishing the networks of Marcos during Martial Law found a way to capture that agency, Diokno
added. The Philippines continued to suffer from a highly politicized appointment system for judges.

These lawyers and members of the judiciary should be identified and held accountable for their acts
more than 30 years ago.

“I believe it is high time we bring this out into the open, into the light of day,” Diokno stressed. “If we do
not know where we came from, how can we know where we’re going?”
 Tweet
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Related Stories:
• Poe urges voters not to pick a candidate who might reprise martial law
• Former UP rivals Samasa, Tugon unite vs Bongbong
• MAR: Duterte win could reprise martial law
• NEVER AGAIN TO MARTIAL LAW: 5 students held for heckling Bongbong in VP debates
• Duterte would need martial law to solve criminality in 6 months - Enrile
• NAPC says Kidapawan violence avoidable as rights advocates blast 'martial law' in Cotabato capital
• PCGG exhibit of Imelda jewels ‘decades late’ - Colmenares
• Villar wants 'good law' on coco levy assets use
• PCGG stages online exhibit of Imelda jewelry to 'teach new generation'
• Neri calls Bongbong 'liar,' dares VP bets to waive bank secrecy

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