inquirer.net pasted the link of a 42.55-minute youtube video of the Yolanda Nov. 14 Tacloban Roxas-Romualdez meeting.
my notes:
1.The source of the youtube video is Philippine Star columnist Cito Beltran, who confirmed this in his column today. He said that Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez gave it to him.
2. DILG Secretary Mar Roxas yesterday did not deny the shorter version of this video except to say that it was not complete or not contextualized. Secretary Roxas himself has a full verbatim transcript of the Nov. 14 meeting, therefore, he apparently has a full audio recording or a full video of that meeting.
3.Based on these – the confirmation by the uploader Cito Beltran and by the Tacloban mayor and the indirect confirmation by the DILG secretary — the video seems to be a faithful recording of 42.55 minutes of the Nov. 14 meeting (there’s a teeny-weeny jump in the middle but it does not seem to alter the information contained in the video).
4.Legal implications: The Nov. 14 exchange is not a form of “private communication” but an official meeting of government officials therefore RA 4200 does not apply; besides, even the DILG secretary recorded it — he showed on TV yesterday that he had a full transcript of it.
2.The video is not of broadcast quality, and one needs to strain one’s ears to hear some parts of it; a full transcript is required.
3.Why is the Nov. 14 meeting important (including the meetings that took place between the President and the Tacloban mayor)?
It gives us the context of the rescue operations, the relief operations, the desperate looting of warehouses, the scattered dead bodies on the streets of Tacloban that remained uncollected, and now uncounted for not being identified.
(i’m trying to get a full transcript of the video).
Both parties do not deny that: The Tacloban mayor was required by the national government to execute a letter saying that he was no longer functioning, or that he could no longer discharge the functions of his office.
The explanation of the DILG secretary for this is that they would not want to be perceived as being improper in taking over the functions of the local government (“there may be questions about the legality” is what he said in the Nov. 14 meeting).
The explanation of the Tacloban mayor is that: his lawyer said that declaring that you were no longer able to discharge the functions of your office was tantamount to “constructive resignation”.
My notes: The lawyer had basis – there are Supreme Court decisions that state: Even if the government official did not expressly use the word “resign”, the court would construe the surrounding circumstances as a form of “constructive resignation” . (I don’t agree with this SC Decision but there it is. )
Today, gma7 news online indirectly quotes the DILG secretary: “The secretary went on to warn those “spreading lies” to “better be careful” as the DILG has a mandate to act for a local government official rendered “ineffective” by a disaster.”
In other words, if this news story is accurate, the DILG secretary yesterday warned the Tacloban mayor to stop “spreading lies” and “better be careful” because … “DILG has a mandate to act for a local government official rendered “ineffective” by a disaster.”
Is the DILG secretary referring to the preventive suspension powers of the President under the Local Government Code?
Can you… preventively suspend the Tacloban mayor for “spreading lies” on ground that he has been rendered “ineffective”?
Can you?
The palace (but speaking thru Sec. Coloma) had distanced itself from what it characterized as “Roxas-Romualdez issue” (DZMM) but in that Nov. 14 meeting, the DILG secretary was representing the national government and was speaking for the President (“you are a Romualdez and the President is an Aquino”). President Noynoy never disavowed the DILG secretary.
3.What kind of evidence is the video?
maybe we should paraphrase SOCO and Gus Abelgas “dahil hindi nagsisinungaling ang ebidinsya…SOCO scene of the crime operative. dadalhin kayo ng abs-cbn soco… sa mismong sentro ng imbestigasyon… bawat hakbang ng mga forensic investigations… ay aming sasabayan hanggang sa ang pagpupursigi sa paghanap ng katotohan… gamit ang siyensya, lohika at pagkamaparaan… ay humantong sa pagkalutas ng kasong aming tinututukan…” For two pennies, i will give you my best Gus Abelgas voice impersonation.
In the hierarchy of evidence, a video, properly authenticated, is considered documentary evidence; and object and documentary evidence are deemed more reliable than testimonial evidence, or more reliable than the say-so or the after-the-fact statements of the parties.
ANC announced that an hour from now (at 11am), the DILG secretary, the defense secretary, the social welfare secretary, would hold a press briefing.
(Updated) PNoy to submit for CA confirmation Roxas as local government secretary and Abaya as transportation secretary: Distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim appointment
PNoy will forthwith submit the nominations of transportation secretary Mar Roxas as local government secretary and Cavite Rep. Jun Abaya as transportation secretary to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation.
Upon announcing their appointment, the President fielded questions from the media and said, “They cannot sit in their respective posts until they are confirmed …Congress is in session so we cannot make an ad interimappointment. This is why we are asking the CA to act on these appointments immediately.” (ANC News)
The following are the pertinent provisions of the Constitution:
“Art. VII. Section 16. The President shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint the heads of the executive departments, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, or officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, and other officers whose appointments are vested in him in this Constitution. He shall also appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint. The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of other officers lower in rank in the President alone, in the courts, or in the heads of departments, agencies, commissions, or boards.
“The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment of the Congress.”
The first sentence provides: : “shall nominate and, with the consent of the Commission on Appointments, appoint…”
The appointments do not take effect unless “consented to” by the Commission on Appointments.
The second paragraph provides: “shall have the power to make appointments during the recess.. shall be effective only until disapproved by the Commission on Appointments or until the next adjournment…”
In other words, when Congress is not in session, the chief executive has more leeway in the sense that the “appointee” can start working but is an “unconfirmed” appointee or he/she has to go to the trouble of going back to the Commission on Appointment for confirmation (an ad interim appointment).
For purposes of academic discussion, the following news feature from the archives of Vera Files illustrates the distinction between a regular appointment and an ad interim appointment:
“ Robredo no longer ‘acting’ DILG secretary, gets regular appointment from Aquino June 27, 2011/ By Ellen Tordesillas. After almost a year, President Benigno Aquino III has decided that he can work with Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, whom he is keeping in the Cabinet and to whom he is finally handing over supervision of the Philippine National Police.
“Last June 13, Aquino issued Robredo, who assumed the post in an acting capacity, an “ad interim” appointment.
“The appointment elevates Robredo to the status of full-fledged secretary, with Malacanang finally submitting his name to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation once Congress reopens in July.
“ `We confirm that last June 13, President Aquino issued an ad interim appointment to Mr. Jesse Robredo as secretary of Interior and Local Government,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message in answer to VERA Files’ query about Robredo’s change of official status.
“Lacierda also confirmed that the PNP will now come under Robredo’s supervision.
“Ad interim appointments are issued when Congress is not in session to allow the official to legally perform his duties until the Commission on Appointments confirms or bypasses the appointment. The first regular session of the 15th Congress adjourned on June 8. It will resume for its second regular session on July 25.
“Aquino came under fire after VERA Files revealed last year that Robredo, despite his credentials, was excluded from the first batch of appointments Aquino made at the start of his administration on June 30, 2010. Aquino appointed Robredo in an acting capacity on July 9, 2010, but did not give him control over the PNP. xxx ”
