Pawikan oh la la :)

Ano ba ang pawikan?

     Ayon sa wikipedia, ito ay isang uri ng malaking pagong o galapagong na may mga palikpik imbis na paa at karaniwang nabubuhay sa dagat. Ito raw ay reptilyang mga pandagat na naninirahan sa lahat ng karagatan maliban sa arctic ocean.

   
Noong 2011, ay isinama akong mamasyal sa Maitum, Sarangani Province ng kaiban ko. At isa sa mga pinuntahan nga namin ay ang Pawikan Sanctuary. Doon, nakita ko ang madaming malilit na pawikan na inaalagaan ni Kuya Danilo Dequina.

pawikan holding pen

Ayon sa mga "mini-notes" (hmm..sort of mini diary) ko sa mga travel escapades, ang sanctuary ay pinangunahang itayo talaga ni Kuya Danilo. Kinukuha nya ang mga itlog na nakikita nya sa beach at inililipat sa nka screen na nesting sites. Tapos pagnapisa na ang itlog ay inililipat ang mga cute pawikan sa "holding pen".At kapag lumaki na ng konti ay pinakakawalan na sa dagat upang suungin ng mga ito ang "tunay na buhay".

  

"My pawikan"

...at tiyempo naman ng pagbisita nga namin doon ay ready na daw yung mga malilit na pawikan na harapin ang buhay sa dagat. Kaya ayun napaka excited namin dahil yun ang unang pagkakataon na mkapag "set-free" kami ng pawikan.
   

 Ang karanasan na ito ay hinding-hindi ko talaga malilimutan. Sana lang, ang mga pawikan na ito ay lumaki na malusog at masagana. At sana mkabalik ang mga ito dito sa Maitum, Sarangani Province       para mangitlog at magparami.


Kung gusto nyo palang pumunta dito at kararating nyo lang ng Bulaong Terminal, General Santos City, dapat ay sumakay kayo ng tricycle papunta sa Quezon Avenue kung saan nka alley ang mga van papuntang Maitum (huwag mabahala sabihin nyo lng sa tricycle driver alam nila yan). Pagnkasakay na kayo ng van ay huminto kayo sa Maitum Municipal Hall. Mula doon ay pwede kayong mag habal-habal ride patungo sa Pawikan Sanctuary (kilala naman ang lugar na ito kaya don't worry). Pero I strongly suggest na magprivate vehicle kayo dahil pwede kayong mag picture2 on the way sa lugar na ito at hindi kayo magwoworry sa transpo pauwi.

Bon voyage "my pawikan"

    Prayers are powerful. No matter what happen to us, we can always call to God for help. Whenever we are lonely, lost and confused He is always there for us. We may not see Him but we know that He is there.

    And there are a lot of prayers out there, different prayers for all our various needs yet there really is no format for one because we can just say anything to God, thanking HIM for our trials and blessings which help us to become stronger. Asking HIM for guidance, protection and strength. 

    But one such prayer that I really like is this one made by Paulo Coelho:


Lord, protect our Doubts.
Because Doubt is a way of praying.
It is doubt that makes us grow 
because it forces us to look fearlessly
at the many answers that exist to one question.
And for this to be possible...

Lord, protect our Decisions.
Because making Decisions is a way of praying.
Give us the courage, after our doubts, 
to be able to choose between one road and another.
May our Yes always be a Yes 
and our No always a No.
Once we have chosen our road,
may we never look back nor allow our soul
to be eaten away by remorse.
And in order for this to be possible...

Lord, protect our Actions.
Because Action is a way of praying.
May we, through work and Action,
share a little of the love we receive.
And in order for this to be possible...

Lord, protect our Dreams.
Because to Dream is a way of praying.
Make sure that, regardless of our age
or our circumstances, we are capable 
keeping a  light in our hearts 
the sacred flame of hope and perseverance.
And in order for this to be possible...

Lord, give us enthusiasm.
Because enthusiasm is a way of praying.
It is what binds us to the Heavens and to the Earth,
to grown-ups and to the children;
it is what tells us that our desires are important
and deserve our best efforts.
It is Enthusiasm that reaffirms to us that 
everything is possible as long as 
we are committed to what we are doing.
And for this to be possible...

Lord, protect us because Life is only the way
we have of making manifest Your miracle.
may the earth continue to transform seeds into wheat,
may we continue to transmute wheat into bread.
And this is only possible if we have Love;
therefore, do not leave us in solitude.
Always give us Your company,
and the company of men and women
who have doubts, 
who act and dream and feel enthusiasm,
and who live each day 
as it were totally dedicated to Your glory.

Amen

Case Digest: Bellis vs Bellis

Civil Code Article 16                         Real Property as well as personal property is subject to the law of the country where it is situated.

                                                                However, intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of succession and to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated be the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found.

TESTATE ESTATE OF AMOS BELLIS, deceased. PEOPLE’S BANK & TRUST COMPANY, executor. MARIA CRISTINA BELLIS and MIRIAM PALMA BELLIS, oppositors-applellants,

Vs.

EDWARD A. BELLIS, ET AL., heirs-appellees

FACTS:

Amos G. Bellis, born in Texas, was “a citizen of the State of Texas and of the United States.”  By his first wife, Mary E. Mallen, whom he divorced, he had five legitimate children; by his second wife, Violet Kennedy, who survived him, he had three legitimate childred; and he also had three illegitimate children. On Agugust 5, 1952, Amos G. Bellis executed a will in the Philippines, in which he directed that after all taxes, obligations, and expenses of administration are paid for, his distributable estate should be divided, in trust, in the following order and manner: (a) $240,000.00 to his first wife, Mary E. Mallen; (b) P120,000.00 to his three illegitimate children Amos Bellis Jr., Maria Cristina Bellis and Miriam Palma Bellis, or P40,000.00 each; and (c) after the foregoing two items have been satisfied, the remainder shall go to his seven surviving children by his first and second wives, namely: Edward A. Bellis, et. al, in qual shares. Subsequently, Amos G. Bellis died and the People’s Bank and Trust Company, as executor of the will, paid all the bequests therein including the amount of $240,000.00 in the forms of stocks to Mary E. Mallen and to the three illegitimate children various amounts totaling P40,000.00 eachin satisfaction of their legacies. On January 17, 1964, Maria Cristina Bellis and Miriam Palma Bellis filed their respective oppositions to the prejudice of partition on the ground that they were deprived of their legitimes as illegitimate children and, therefore, compulsory heirs of the deceased.

ISSUE:

                Whether or not Texas Law or Philippine Law must apply.

RULING:

                Article 16 of the Civil Code render applicable the national law of the decedent, in intestate or testamentary successions, with regard to four items: (a) the order of succession; (b) the amount of successional rights; (c) the intrinsic validity of the provisions of the will; and (d) the capacity to succeed. It also provide that intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect to the order of succession and to the amount of successional rights and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be regulated be the national law of the person whose succession is under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and regardless of the country wherein said property may be found . Furthermore, Article 1039 decrees that capacity to succeed is to be governed by the national law of the decedent. Hence; since Amos G. Bellis was a citizen of the State of Texas, U.S.A., and that under the laws of Texas, there are no forced heirs or legitimes. Accordingly, since the intrinsic validity of the provision of the will and the amount of successional rights are to be determined under Texas law and the Philippine law on legitimes cannot be applied to the testacy of Amos G. Bellis.

Case Digest: Salcedo vs Francisco

FELIPE SALCEDO, petitioner-appellant,

vs.

FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ, respondent-appellee. 

In re contempt proceedings against Attorney VICENTE J. FRANCISCO.

[G.R. No. L-42992, August 8, 1935]

FACTS:

Attorney Vicente Francisco, representing the petitioner-appellant, inserted alleged contemptuous paragraph in his motion for reconsideration read as follows:

We should like frankly and respectfully to make it of record that the resolution of this court, denying our motion for reconsideration, is absolutely erroneous and constitutes an outrage to the rights of the petitioner Felipe Salcedo and a mockery of the popular will expressed at the polls in the municipality of Tiaong, Tayabas. We wish to exhaust all the means within out power in order that this error may be corrected by the very court which has committed it, because we should not want that some citizen, particularly some voter of the municipality of Tiaong, Tayabas, resort to the press publicly to denounce, as he has a right to do, the judicial outrage of which the herein petitioner has been the victim, and because it is our utmost desire to safeguard the prestige of this honorable court and of each and every member thereof in the eyes of the public. But, at the same time we wish to state sincerely that erroneous decisions like these, which the affected party and his thousands of voters will necessarily consider unjust, increase the proselytes of “sakdalism” and make the public lose confidence in the administration of justice.

The court required him to show cause, if any, why he should not be found guilty of contempt, giving him a period of ten days for that purpose. In his answer Atty. Francisco, far from regretting having employed the phrases contained in said paragraph in his motion, reiterated them several times contending that they did not constitute contempt because, according to him it is not contempt to tell the truth.

ISSUE:

Whether or not respondent-appellee is guilty of contempt.

HELD:

YES. Atty. Francisco ordered to pay a fine of P200.00 in ten days and reprimanded.

RATIO:

As a member of the bar and an officer of this court, Attorney Vicente J. Francisco, as any attorney, is in duty bound to uphold its dignity and authority and to defend its integrity, not only because it has conferred upon him the high privilege, not  right (Malcolm, Legal Ethics, 158 and 160), of being what he now is.

It is right and plausible that an attorney, in defending the cause and rights of his client, should do so with all the fervor and energy of which he is capable, but it is not, and never will be so for him to exercise said right by resorting to intimidation or proceeding without the propriety and respect which the dignity of the courts require. The reason for this is that respect of the courts guarantees the stability of their institution. Without such guarranty, said institution would be resting on a very shaky foundation.

Case Digest: People vs. Villanueva

Case Digest: People vs. Villanueva
14 SCRA 109 (1965)


FACTS: 

On September 4, 1959, the Chief of Police of Alaminos, Laguna, charged Simplicio Villanueva with the crime of Malicious Mischief, before the Justice of the Peace Court of said municipality. Said accused was represented by counsel de oficio, but later on replaced by counsel de parte. The complainant in the same case was represented by City AttorneyAriston Fule of San Pablo City, having entered his appearance as private-prosecutor, after securing the permission of the Secretary of Justice. The condition of his appearance as such, was that every time he would appear at the trial of the case, he would be considered on official leave of absence, and that he would not receive any payment for his services. The appearance of City Attorney Fule as private prosecutor was questioned by the counsel for the accused.


ISSUE:

Whether or not the isolated appearance of Atty. Fule as private prosecutor constitutes practice of law.


RULING:

No. Assistant City Attorney Fule appeared in the Justice of the Peace Court as ah agent or friend of the offended party. It does not appear that he was being paid for his services or that his appearance was in a professional capacity. As Assistant City Attorney of Sail Pablo he had no control or intervention whatsoever in the prosecution of crimes committed in the municipality of Alaminos, Laguna, because the prosecution of criminal cases coming from Alaminos are handled by the Office of the Provincial Fiscal and not by the City Attorney of San Pablo. As such, there could be no possible conflict in the duties of Assistant City Attorney Fule us Assistant City Attorney of San Pablo and as private prosecutor in this criminal case. Furthermore, the isolated appearance of City Attorney Fule did not constitute private practice, within the meaning and contemplation of the Rules. Practice is more than an isolated appearance, for it consists in frequent or customary action, a succession of acts of the same kind. In other words, it is frequent habitual exercise. Practice of law to fall within the prohibition of statute has been interpreted as customarily or habitually holding one's self out to the public, as a lawyer and demanding payment for such services. Thus, the appearance as counsel on one occasion, is not conclusive as determinative of engagement in the private practice of law. And, it has never been refuted that City Attorney Fule had been given permission by his immediate supervisor, the Secretary of Justice, to represent the complaint in the case at bar who is a relative. Decision affirmed.

Case Digest:PLA vs Agrava

Case Digest: Philippine Lawyers Association vs Agrava,
 105 Phil 173 (1959)

FACTS:

   This is a petition filed by the Philippine Lawyers Association for prohibition and injunction against Celedonio Agrava, in his capacity s Director of the Philippines Patent Office. On May 23, 1957, respondent Director issued a circular announcing that he had scheduled for June 27, 1957 an examination for the purpose of determining who are qualified to practice as patent attorneys before the said office. Petitioner contends that one who has passed the bar examinations, and is in good standing, is duly qualified to practice before the Philippines Patent Office and that the respondent Director's holding an examination for the purpose is in excess of his jurisdiction and is in violation of the law. The respondent, in reply, maintains that the prosecution of patent cases "does not involve entirely or purely the practice of law but include the application of scientific and technical knowledge and training as a matter of actual purpose so as to include engineers and other individuals who passed the examination can practice before the Patent Office. Furthermore, respondent contends that he has previously conducted such examinations and that this is the first time that he is questioned formally.


ISSUES:

1. Whether or not members of the bar should first take and pass an examination conducted by the Patent Office before he would be allowed to practice law in said office; 

2. Whether or not appearance before the Patent Office and the preparation of applications or patents, etc. constitutes practice of law or is included in the practice of law; and,

3. Whether or not the Director of the Patent Office is authorized to conduct examinations for patent attorneys.



RULING:

The Supreme Court has the exclusive and constitutional power with respect to admission to the practice of law in the Philippines and  any member of the  Philippine Bar in good standing may practice law anywhere and before any entity, whether judicial or quasi-judicial or administrative, in the Philippines. Moreover, "The  practice  of law  is  not  limited  to the conduct of cases or litigation m court; it embraces the preparation  of  pleadings and other  papers incident  to actions and special proceedings, the management  of such actions and proceedings on behalf of clients before judges  and courts,  and in  addition,  conveying. In general, all advice to clients, and all action taken for them in matters connected with  the law incorporation sendees, assessment and condemnation services contemplating an appearance before a judicial  body,  the foreclosure of a mortgage,  enforcement of a  creditor's  claim in bankruptcy and  insolvency proceedings,  and conducting proceedings in attachment, and in matters of estate  and  guardianship have been held to constitute law practice,  as  do the preparation and drafting of legal instruments, where the work done involves the determination by the trained legal mind of the legal effect of facts and conditions. As such, , the practice of law includes such appear ance before the Patent Office, the representation of applicants, oppositors, and  other persons, and the  prosecution  of their applications for patent, their oppositions thereto, or the enforcement of their rights in patent cases. Thus, under the present law, members of the Philippine Bar authorized  by this Tribunal to practice law, and in good standing, may practice their profession before the Patent Office, for the reason that much of the business in said office involves the interpretation and determination  of the scope and application  of the Patent Law and other laws applicable, as well as the presentation of evidence to establish facts involved; that part of the functions of the Patent Director are judicial or quasi-judicial,  so  much so that appeals from his orders and decisions are, under the law, taken to the Supreme Court. In sum, the practice of law covers any activity in or out of court, which requires the application of law, legal procedures, principles or practice and calls for legal knowledge, training and experience. And, only the Supreme Court has  the exclusive and constitutional power with respect to admission to the practice of law.

Old Couples

Whenever I see old couples strolling together, holding hands, and with love radiating from their being together, I just can't help but wish the same for me. I mean, who wouldn't? Theirs is a love that prove that forever can exist. 

My friend's grandparents are like that. Although, when I first saw them I thought they were always fighting because they were always shouting at each other. It was later when I found out that their ears are not okay anymore, so that was the reason why of their "shouting"..hehehe..They really are fortunate to have found a love that's true and lasting that they have overcome so many trials together.

 However, their days are now numbered. Grandpa is diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. But both grandpa and grandma does not know that. All they know is that grandpa suffers from vertigo, arthritis and UTI. It is really a heartbreaking news, most especially now that my friend is pregnant with her first child (who would then be their first great grand child). I hope that the saying that "when someone new comes to life another would be taken" to balance the world. 

Still, the family is positive that even though it may come to that, it is best to enjoy the time he has with us. Which is why, they are coming to visit us this month from the mountains. And, with prayers, grandpa will live to see his great grand child and spend the new year with him/her or better yet, that cancer will just miraculously disappear..hopefully :)