Inquirer: Chief Justice gets sweet reward for fighting words
http://newsinfo. inquirer. net/breakingnews /nation/view_ article.php? article_id= 62026
By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 08:49pm (Mla time) 04/23/2007
MANILA, Philippines — Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno won praises for his fighting words in defense of human rights and the sweetest praise came from the Kabataan party-list group, which gave him a mocha cake.
Kabataan vice president Carl Ramota delivered the cake to the court but court spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez said Puno was at a meeting and received it on behalf of the Chief Justice.
Marquez said Puno had been told about the cake and thanked the group for it.
The icing on the cake read: “CJ Puno Kampeon ng Karapatang Pantao. Idolo ng Kabataan (Champion of Human Rights. Idol of the Youth).”
Puno, in a commencement speech at the University of the East, warned against the “mindless” scramble to end terrorism at the expense of human rights and civil liberties.
He candidly said that a government with credibility problems could do little to solve the country’s problems of poverty and security.
“We are happy to know there are still people, like Chief Justice Puno, in government … who stand up for truth, justice and democracy,” Ramota told reporters.
He said Puno was someone the youth could emulate.
“That is what the youth are looking for, people who could inspire the youth to continue to stand up for their rights, for truth, justice and democracy,” he added.
Puno also said the anti-terror war has led to legal shortcuts that “have scarred the landscape of [human] rights in the Philippines. ”
He cited the escalation of extrajudicial killings in the country, which has earned the administration the increased scrutiny and criticism of the international community. The Chief Justice also noted that the extrajudicial killings invited retaliation from communist rebels. With Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net