Lawyers run to the UN for help; and a subtle hint of corporate ‘tokhang’

TWO disquieting events occurred last week that sent some sectors to the verge of desperation. The inevitable questions come up: “Are we desperately in need of a sane governance that we look up to the UN for succor?” Or, “Are the allegations for real?”

In the first event, officers of seven legal associations ran to the United Nations to seek urgent help. In the second, business firms who engage in labor-only contracting may face a harsh sanction that is tantamount to corporate “tokhang.”

These two extremely crucial happenings have caused Filipinos to worry about the country’s image here and abroad as a sovereign nation. All indications point to an apprehension that ours is a pitiful country for Filipinos to live in.

Unfortunately, the double whammy of events mentioned above have again sparked the molding of an adverse scenario conceived by the international community. A situation that urgently needs the dexterity of our foreign press attaches abroad to work fast, and counter the spawning of bad news items for the country.

In the first event, a misconception of it can come as an official sanction by the world body on the Philippines.

The move of the lawyers’ groups has similar bearing on what happened in Pakistan a few years back. The lawyers there staged a massive protest with their joining the march in their business suits.

They showed their massive support to their Supreme Court justices who the lawyers believed were being unjustly harassed by the president of Pakistan.

In our case, the most famous move by the Philippine government to a UN commission was on the issue as to which country had a rightful navigational and territorial claim to the disputed South China Sea. We all know the decision went our way.

And, of course, recently some private groups filed criminal complaints against the Philippine government on the so-called “extra-judicial killings,” as an offshoot of the administration’s war on illegal drugs, their manufacture, importation, distribution, coddlers and users. The complaints have caused a ruckus in Philippine officialdom.

A planned preliminary examination by the International Criminal Court has been halted when President Duterte vowed to arrest the female prosecutor as soon as she steps out of her plane here.

Meanwhile, “The Philippine judiciary is under attack.” This is what is all about the petition sent to the UN contained in 16 pages coordinated by officers of seven groups of legal practitioners led by the nationwide Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

In what nature of “attacks” are the lawyers talking about? This is what our readers would initially ask. Hereunder is the summation:

“The inability of the State to prevent the apparent weakening and undermining of the judiciary gives rise to international responsibility, especially considering the pronouncement of the President relating to immediate ouster of Chief Justice Sereno and against the legal profession that performs their duties under its Code of Professional Responsibility.”

IBP President Abdiel Dan Fajardo has this to say for emphasis: “The purpose of filing the report was to relay to the United Nations the recent events in our country (that) we believe will impact negatively on the independence of judges and lawyers in the country.”

Meanwhile, in the light of the non-signing of the Endo Executive Order by President Duterte because of apparent legal implications (only an act of Congress can put an end to contractualization, or Endo), he went ballistic against the “cabo” practice of contractual employment.

Thus, he ordered DOLE to submit to him a list of companies practicing Endo through the “cabo” system thatsupplies workers to an employer, contracting out of job work through an in-house cooperative by reason of a strike or lock-out, and contracting out of job or work being performed by union members.”

It appears that provisional or contractual workers are at the mercy of the “cabo” system that, among others, terminates a worker’s contract before the end of a six-month mandatory employment edict of the government.

The Chief Executive is mad at the system and would like to face those firms that adopt the “cabo” system and the “555” contract. And woe to those who hide and cancel their identities for they face the prospects of a “tokhang” punishment.

“Do not test the President’s resolve. You know how strong it is,” warns the unsmiling presidential spokesman.