Make my day

In DOH’s Fireworks Related Injury Surveillance recording as of 6 a.m., Jan. 1, 2020, there were 164 cases. This figure was down 35 percent from the previous year. The explosively garbed Presidential Spokesman Sal Panelo was provoked to comment: “that’s huge!” But, as of 6 a.m. of Thursday, Jan. 2, the count increased further to 288. Not so huge anymore, Mr. Secretary. Its only eight percent lower than the 2018 statistics.

This tradition of revelry with firecrackers/fireworks/pyrotechnics as an integral part of the new year celebration can’t shake off the complementary tradition of injury. Even under President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Executive Order No. 28 confining use to community fireworks display “to minimize the risk of injuries and casualties,” we continue to harvest the ill-fated consequences of a foolhardy policy.

We haven’t heard of any suits filed against violators of R.A. 7183, the firecracker regulation law. Not the buyers nor the vendors who sold the contraband. We’ve asked year after year since Congress crossed the Rubicon in 1992: is it finally time for an absolute ban? 

Industry self-regulatory bodies such as the Philippine Pyrotechnics Manufacturers and Dealers Association and the Bulacan Pyrotechnics Regulation Board were supposed to provide added layers of protection. The PNP decides what to allow and who to permit. But the annual carnage continues. The sad fact is that, for the 2019 celebrations, 59 percent of injuries were caused by PNP authorized firecrackers. Another distressing statistic is that 63 percent of the injured are below 15. What else to expect from a jurisdiction that allows firecrackers to be directly handled by its citizens? 

PRRD has now come out in favor of a total ban. If the argument against this is the possibility of smuggling and the black market exploitation of these products, then go ahead and try. Make the President’s day.

The end not the means. Though universal acclaim welcomed the Court’s unanimous decision to publicize the promulgation of the Ampatuan decision, the fact remains that the Supreme Court remained firm in disallowing live coverage during the Trial.

Resolution 10-11-5-SC of the Court, dated Jan. 13, 2015, on the petition to allow the radio and television coverage of the trial was interesting for an incidental reason. The Supreme Court here inordinately relied on citations of articles from law journals to support its continued stringent stance.

Timely utility. The Legal Education Board, since the time of esteemed former chair, Justice Hilarion Aquino (Ret.) and now under incumbent chair, the tenacious and dynamic Emerson Aquende, has been strict with law schools in the requirement of law journals/reviews as a venue for student scholarship. Over at the 52 year old Philippine Association of Law Schools, we proudly inaugurated our own Philippine Journal of Legal Education in 2012.

The Ampatuan Supreme Court decision in 2015 confirms that the nation’s Justices are also among the principal audiences of law journals. Under the Puno Court, the Philippine Law Journal garnered several mentions. If our Judges of first level courts have not adopted this habit, its time they start.

Law journals are counterpoint to the passion and partiality of the contending arguments in court. Their dispassionate discussion of principles, specially in matters of first blush, provide courts with bonus utility. The esoterica of the new confronts more and more members of the bench across the board. Areas of human experience today may not be tomorrow’s reality. Judges are not always trained nor prepared in their scholarship or experience to confront novelty and innovation.

Law journals also expedite and facilitate research. At a fraction of the cost in terms of time and money, doctrinal analyses to backstop decisional argumentation are handily accessed. In the age of the internet, this facility becomes exponentially practical and economical. Of course, it’s the foreign journals that are readily available on online databases. This is surely the reason why even in the said 2015 decision, purely US journal articles were cited.

MVPs. Sports moments of the decade (curated to sports with universal appeal). Moments of singular brilliance, duels for the ages; sustained excellence. The Tiger Woods comeback at the Masters; Serena Williams in Women’s Tennis and the Federer, Nadal, Djokovic hegemony in Men’s Tennis; Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Football; Floyd Mayweather and our very own Manny Pacquiao in Boxing (regardless of whether WBN snubbed him in the Boxer of the Decade sweeps), all gave us performances seared into memory. 

Ateneo Law School offers an elective on emerging issues on sports law. Our SEA Games success has surely galvanized interest in this field of convergence which provides sport obsessed legal professionals (or law obsessed athletes) with the opportunity to marry vocation with avocation. 

A pioneer in this field was David Stern, the 30-year NBA commissioner that elevated the league out of its doldrum state as third best US sports league behind American Goliath, NFL and the boys of summer MLB to its current global dominance. I had the pleasure of meeting this fellow alumnus when he spoke at our alma mater during the 1996 Columbia Law School commencement exercises. His keynote address was on his experience with the NBA and about how lawyers are held to a higher benchmark of commitment and ethics. Mr. Stern walked his talk. The impact of this man and his legacy on American Sport can only be approximated by the statements of our heroes at his passing. Vide: Lebron James – “I think him and Dr. James Naismith were two of the most important people for the game of basketball. Obviously, Dr. Naismith because he created the game and then David because of his vision to make the game global”; Michael Jordan – “Without David Stern, the NBA would not be what it is today … He guided the league through turbulent times and grew the league into an international phenomenon, creating opportunities that few could have imagined before.”

Milestones. Happy Birthday to our family MVP, Manny P. Maceda of Bain & Co.