September 18, 2026

The tribunal posed three closely connected legal questions. What does “all Members of the Senate” mean? Does Avelino v. Cuenco actually govern this dispute? May an absent senator-judge still cast a valid vote?

September 5, 2026

The military received no DepEd confidential money. Still the flagged ₱15.54 million stays unexplained. I wrote that gap in my diary. The summits happened, yet the trail vanished. I thought about accountability in our region. Public money funds our schools and soldiers. Mindanawons deserve a clear paper trail.

August 29, 2026

Atty. Mae Divinagracia, a fellow law professor in Ateneo de Manila Law School and Ateneo de Naga College of Law, stood out as the perfect prosecutor. Her questions drew clean admissions with calm precision, moved in a clear, patient order. She built each point on the last one. She rarely raised her voice at all. Precision seemed to be her steady weapon.

August 16, 2026

I echo Dean Mel Sta. Maria: "... Lawyers are human. We make mistakes, miss things, and mess up sometimes. Criticism of how she handled things has already been said—and that’s fair. But turning that criticism into personal harassment and relentless bashing crosses the line. A mistake is not an invitation for public dehumanization."

August 10, 2026

The Pulangi has watched over Mindanao for centuries. It carries our red silt toward the open sea. Money, much like water, leaves a trace somewhere. In Manila this month, auditors followed one such flow.

August 3, 2026

An opening statement previews the case ahead. Prosecutors are meant to outline their theory. De Lima was doing exactly that work. Cutting her short narrowed a basic right. Testing her claims belongs to the evidence. That is what cross-examination exists to do. Silencing the preview served no one well.

July 17, 2026

Vice President Sara Duterte skipped three more trial days. The impeachment trial finished its second week. Mindanao’s fingerprints were all over the proceedings.

July 12, 2026

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte opened on July 6, marking the first time a sitting Vice President has faced an impeachment trial in Philippine history. Duterte did not attend the opening session and was represented by her legal team.

July 9, 2026

Impeachment is democracy’s way of demanding an accounting. It answers to the people, not the Rules of Court. Dismiss the nuisance suits and let the trial breathe. The Senate should correct course before form swallows substance.

July 5, 2026

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte begins on Monday. All eyes will be on the Philippine Senate. But for Mindanao, this is no distant Manila spectacle.

April 10, 2026

Emmanuel Macron’s warning at Davos that we are entering a “world without rules” captures a profound shift in international relations. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, he observed that powerful states increasingly bypass international norms when those rules conflict with immediate interests. This represents a dangerous return to “the law of the strongest,” where coercion replaces cooperation and might trumps multilateral governance.

February 6, 2026

If the erosion of the rules-based international order creates vulnerability for smaller nations like the Philippines, the question becomes: who defends multilateralism and democratic values when major powers abandon them?

As climate litigation gains traction globally, The Hague and the Global South emerge as powerful frontlines in the fight for accountability and justice. From landmark cases to indigenous advocacy, a new wave of legal action is reshaping how we confront the climate crisis.

March 3, 2025

Taken from an article published on October 2023

February 21, 2025

Impeachment is a constitutional process in which a government official, such as a president, justice, or public officer, is formally charged with wrongdoing. It serves as a mechanism to hold officials accountable for crimes or misconduct committed while in office. It is neither a purely legal nor a totally political process.