Law of Duterte Land

From July 2016 to December 2021, 427 human rights defenders were killed, 2,807 arrested, 1,161 jailed, and 1,367 raided, according to data from human rights group Karapatan. That sums up the war that President Rodrigo Duterte waged against dissent. In this episode, justice reporter Lian Buan talks to lawyer Jobert Pahilga of Sentro para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (SENTRA) on what it was like to be a dissenter during the last six years of the Duterte administration, and their outlook for president-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs was unconstitutional, said retired supreme court senior justice Antonio Carpio, adding it's the one policy of the last six years “that should be redressed.”

In this episode of Law of Duterte Land, we discuss estate tax more extensively with tax lawyer Jean Francois “Punch” Rivera III, the assistant national treasurer of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr.'s spokesman Vic Rodriguez continues to insist that the case is pending, even though Supreme Court records show that the 1997 ruling is final and unappealable, and became executory in 1999. Rodriguez said it's because there are still pending ill-gotten wealth cases, even though the Supreme Court in 1997 already said they have no bearing on the assessment. Both the BIR and the Department of Finance confirmed trying to collect from the Marcoses to no avail. How come a powerful family is able to go on without paying this much tax?

With so much confusion and misinformation about the unpaid P203-billion estate tax of the Marcoses, we digest the issue with a taxation law expert in the easiest way possible. In this episode, Rappler justice reporter Lian Buan talks with lawyer Mickey Ingles, who teaches tax law at Ateneo Law School and who authored the book 'Tax Made Less Taxing'.

In this episode of the Law of Duterte Land podcast, Lian Buan speaks to Fernando Peñarroyo, Integrated Bar of the Philippines' presidential adviser on energy, who said that for the group, it is more sound for the government to instead take up the 90% shares of Shell and Chevron instead of allow it to be transferred to Dennis Uy's subsidiaries.

Amid a pandemic, joblessness, and sinking economy, will Filipinos care about killings in the drug war when they fill in their ballot in May 2022? Rappler's Lian Buan talks to Filipino lawyer Perfecto "Boyet" Caparas about human rights as an election agenda. Support fearless and independent journalism, visit https://rplr.co/supportRappler to donate to Rappler.

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan recently ordered the Royal Traders Holding Co. Inc to pay the Philippine government around P1 billion in Marcos ill-gotten wealth. So, where to find that money, and all the other loot? How has the PCGG been doing it, and what remained as the challenges all throughout these years? In this episode, Lian Buan talks to international lawyer Ruben Carranza who was PCGG commissioner from 2001 to 2004. Carranza was involved in the landmark 2003 ruling where the Supreme Court declared as ill-gotten $658 million worth of Marcos Swiss deposits. Support fearless and independent journalism, visit https://rplr.co/supportRappler to donate to Rappler.

Is it time for the Philippines to pass its own memory law that would prohibit denial of the atrocities of the Marcosian martial law? Lawyers Raphael Pangalangan, Gemmo Fernandez and Ross Tugade discussed it in their 2018 paper "Marcosian Atrocities: Historical Revisionism and the Legal Constraints on Forgetting." They sit down with Lian Buan in this episode of Law of Duterte Land podcast.

Now that the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor has been authorized to seek evidence to potentially request a warrant of arrest for President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war and the Davao City killings, what happens then? Lian Buan talks to Filipino international human rights lawyer Emerlynne Gil, the deputy regional director for research of Amnesty International.

Listen to this episode as we unpack how the justice system, for all its good intentions of due process for all, has fueled the culture against impunity

We talk to International Law expert Professor Andre Palacios for this episode

In this episode, Rappler's Lian Buan talks to constitutional expert and retired Supreme Court justice Vicente V. Mendoza, who says Duterte can run for vice presidency, and can also succeed as president – if the new president who wins in 2022 resigns.

In this episode, Rappler's Lian Buan talks to former justice undersecretary Jose "JJ" Justiniano, who was a deputized prosecutor in the pork barrel scam cases which were started by the Aquino government.

We talk to Param-Preet Singh, associate director of the Human Rights Watch International Justice Program

In this episode, we catch up with Angelo Karlo "AK" Guillen and talk about what it's like to be a lawyer facing an immense threat, as he survived an attempt on his life.

Where do lines blur, between national security and civil liberties, and between protected and seditious speech? For this episode, Lian Buan talks to NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Marlon Bosantog, who is part of the task force's legal cooperation cluster on the laws involved in hunting down their perceived communists.

This episode is a recap of all the 9 sessions of the anti-terror law oral arguments in the Supreme Court, and how Captain Ri – a fictional character inspired by the hit Korean drama Crash Landing on You – embodied the fundamental issue of the law. What is the balance between personal freedoms and national security?

In this episode, we conduct a deep dive into the crazy world of electoral protests, and why Bongbong Marcos' annulment of elections bid in 3 Mindanao provinces failed. Rappler's justice reporter Lian Buan talks to former Comelec commissioner Luie Guia, who says what we have is an underdeveloped jurisprudence on annullment of elections.

In this episode, we talk to former justice assistant secretary Geronimo Sy, who was chairman of the criminal code committee during his time in the Department of Justice, about how to balance criminal laws and common sense governance in this pandemic.

In this episode we will talk about the process of choosing who gets to sit on the Supreme Court Bench, and whether the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is accountable for appointees who turn out bad.

This disproportionate number and an alarming surge at that have compelled lawyers to call on the Supreme Court – exercise your extraordinary powers to respond to this extraordinary problem. For them, this is no time to be passive.

In this episode, we talk to lawyer Carlo Brolagda of the group IDEALS, or the Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), which is the latest group to investigate the drug war.

If you're still high over Day 1 of the Supreme Court oral arguments on the anti-terror law and anticipating Day 2, here's a podcast episode to recall the highlights of the stirring hearing held by the High Court. Our guest for this episode is constitutional law professor Tony La Viña, who is counsel to one of the 37 petitions.

This podcast summarizes key issues of the highly contentious pet law of President Rodrigo Duterte - the Anti-Terror Law

We talk to young lawyer Dino de Leon who filed the mandamus petition to disclose President Rodrigo Duterte's state of health

We talk to FLAG's Chel Diokno about the laws that can be invoked by anyone who is red-tagged

We talk to CHR Commissioner Roberto Cadiz for this episode, and we discuss how we use domestic and international law mechanisms to, quite literally, save the world.

We take a look at the evolution of SALN in the political process – from being ignored, supposedly weaponized, and being overly glorified

In this episode, Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay talks to Rappler's justice reporter Lian Buan about the anti-terror law, its implementing rules and regulations, and what it can mean in actual situations.

On a reduced court furlough, 23-year-old activist Reina Mae Nasino would have 6 hours split on two days to say goodbye to her 3-month-old daughter River, who died due to pneumonia complications on October 9. Listen to this podcast for a deeper discussion on her case.

What are the chances of the revived communication against Chinese President Xi Jinping in the International Criminal Court?

In this episode, we take a look at the deluge of drug cases filed that overwhelmed already clogged dockets. We discuss the struggle of prosecutors to win these cases.

In this episode, take a deep dive into RA 10592 and how this law has had to adjust to wave the tide of a public opinion always bent against the criminal.

A human rights and IP rights lawyer finds out his name is on a government terrorist list. What happens?

From the death penalty's demise in Congress in 2017 to its resurrection now, the Duterte government and its allies still have no data to prove its deterrent effect

ABS-CBN is looking at shutdown for the next 2 years or the remainder of President Rodrigo Duterte's term – unless a people's initiative turns the tide. Joining this episode is PIRMA Kapamilya co-convenor Atty Eirene Jhone Aguila

In this episode, Rappler's justice reporter Lian Buan talks to UP Constitutional and Political Law Professor John Molo on why press freedom is legally protected from government interference.

The government trying to make systems work is a welcome thing, but is it sincere and is it moving fast enough? In this episode, we take a nuanced look at policy work.

Did you know that during the 2013 Supreme Court oral arguments, then solicitor general Francis Jardeleza categorically said cyber libel has a prescription period of only 1 year?

In this episode, Rappler's Lian Buan explains how the definitions in the 2020 anti-terror bill are broader, detention is longer, and how it has a 'killer' provision that equates dissent to terrorism.

In this episode, Lian Buan takes us back to 2007, parse the loopholes in the rules of these extraordinary writs, and try to imagine where we are headed with the current Supreme Court.

Embattled broadcast giant ABS-CBN is back to square one after the House of Representatives withdrew the bill that would have given the network a 5-month provisional franchise. We talk to President Rodrigo Duterte's former government corporate counsel, Rudolf Jurado, who says the 10% public service ad clause violates the constitutional guarantee to just compensation

In this episode, we break down the different laws that come into play, from the alleged franchise violations, to the legal contention of whether ABS-CBN can continue operating while Congress hears its franchise renewal bills.

In this episode, we talk to lawyer Kristina Conti of the Public Interest Law Center about the petition for a humanitarian mass release of prisoners amid the coronavirus pandemic

Will a mandamus petition to compel President Rodrigo Duterte to disclose his state of health work at the Supreme Court? We talk to University of the Philippines Constitutional Law Professor Dan Gatmaytan

In this latest episode, we discuss how freedom of speech can be restrained, and how these restraints applies to the coronavirus pandemic.

In this latest episode of Law of Duterte Land, we tackle the different laws and rules that come at play as Duterte implements a police solution to a health crisis.

In the 2nd and final part of the pilot War on the Law episodes, we take a look at the evolving definition of warrantless arrests under the Department of Justice

In this first of a two-part pilot episode called War on the Law, we will look back at the decisions of the Supreme Court slammed by the bench's own dissenters.