Strategic Analysis and Research by the

Center for Strategy, enterpriSe & intelligenCe

I left this nation stronger than when I came into office ~ Former president Gloria Arroyo in her paper, 'It's the Economy, Student!' The performance of her government, both economic and political, has been exposed as a huge failure ~ Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, responding to the Arroyo paper

Volume 2 - Number 2 January 16-22, 2012

NATION

04 The Corona Impeachment

The eight Articles of Impeachment, Chief Justice Renato Corona's responses, plus constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas's questions and issues for the 23 senator-judges to ponder. Plus the Prosecution and Defense teams. Tilting the scales of justice? A detailed review of how justices voted on 19 cases allegedly showing Corona's favor toward former president Gloria Arroyo. You be the judge: bias or no bias?

BUSINESS

32 Publishing Goes Digital

With 30 million Filipinos online and tablet computers all the rage all over the world, digital opportunities are exploding. Will Philippine publishers be go electronic and win or stick to paper and die?

40 How To Breed Innovation

A major study expounds on the art and science of cultivating a corporate culture of innovation. The Philippine connection: Jollibee, Rags2Riches and other top innovators in the country

WORLD

47 Reform Slowly Sprouts

It's got a long way to go, but reform is moving in the longtime pariah state. The big questions: Will people's lives get better? And will the West end its sanctions?

in Myanmar

TECHNOLOGY

54 Computing in the Clouds

From the ether, massive memory, number-crunching and media streaming power is coming to companies and consumers. The IT grid in the sky: Making computing plug-anywhere like electricity

POINT & CLICK You can access online research via your Internet connection by clicking phrases in blue letters

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Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence provides expertise in strategy and management, enterprise development, intelligence, Internet and media. For subscriptions, research, and advisory services, please e-mail report@censeisolutions.com or call/fax +63-2-5311182. Links to online material on public websites are current as of the week prior to the publication date, but might be removed without warning. Publishers of linked content should e-mail us or contact us by fax if they do not wish their websites to be linked to our material in the future.

The CenSEI Formula for Sound Decision-Making

In founding the Center for Strategy, Enterprise & Intelligence, publisher of The cenSEI Report, Managing Director Ricardo Saludo sought to bring to cenSEI clients and subscribers exactly those three ingredients of sound deliberation and decision. Start with strategic focus on what matters fundamentally and in the long term, explains the graduate of Said Business Schools Strategy and Innovation program at Oxford University. That perspective is often missing or obscured in blow-byblow news. Next, intelligence: harness expertise and research to profoundly understand and analyze issues. That includes world-class studies and compelling footage available online, plus topnotch policy and management experts on call. Finally, there is enterprise, says Saludo. Enterprising solutions and innovations, to be exact. Not just options learned from Oxford and the University of Londons School of Oriental and African Studies, from which he earned his M.S. in Public Policy and Management while serving in the Arroyo Cabinet and, for a time, leading the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Saludo: 'Focus on what truly matters'

More than academic scholarship, however, its his decades in international journalism and national governance that honed Saludos strategic insight. As editor with Asiaweek magazine for 17 years, then Secretary of the Cabinet handling top-level discussions and CSC Chairman, the Ateneo cum laude alumnus applied strategy, enterprise and intelligence on unfolding developments week in, week out; leading to major Asiaweek reports and Cabinet agenda and action. The same strategic discipline guides The cenSEI Report in our meticulous analysis and research. And that formula of strategy, enterprise and intelligence is available every week to subscribers as well as high-value clients and senior executives of our sponsors. Thank you for your trust and confidence.

NATION

The Corona Impeachment

The charges, responses, and issues that 23 senatorjudges must ponder
By John Carlo Gil M. Sadian

With the start of Chief Justice Renato Coronas Senate impeachment trial this week, The CenSEI Report presents prosecution allegations in the 56-page Articles of Impeachment and defense arguments in Coronas formal Answer to the charges. Plus: Questions for the Senate from one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, constitutionalist and law professor Fr. Joaquin Bernas. Of the six exclusive grounds for impeachment laid down in Section 2, Article XI of the Constitution, the eight Articles of Impeachment filed against Corona cited three grounds: (1) betrayal of public trust, (2) graft and corruption, and (3) culpable violation of the Constitution. This report on the allegations of the prosecution and the counter-arguments of the defense

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provide the facts and expert knowledge to help readers assess whether or not the impeachment against the Chief Justice rests on solid legal ground.

whether he be the Chief Justice or the most junior associate, his vote is of equal weight with that of the others. Regarding his past posts in the Arroyo Administration, Corona noted that it is not uncommon for Justices to have previously worked as professionals in close association with the President. The Chief Justice also observed how the complaint in effect asks the Senate to review certain decisions of the Supreme Court contrary to the essential feature of checks and balances in a republican form of government that no other department may pass upon judgments of the Supreme Court. Coronas Answer cites the 1990 decision on Maglasang vs. People, in which the High Court declared: No other department or agency may pass upon its judgments or declare them unjust. Consequently, and owing to the foregoing, not even the President of the Philippines as Chief Executive may pass judgment on any of the Court's acts. On His Midnight Appointment. Prosecution: Corona is a midnight appointee in violation of Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution, which states: Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies t herein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety. Defense: Corona cites the Courts overwhelming majority decision in De

ARTICLE I. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his track record marked by partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo administration from the time of his appointment as Supreme Court Justice which continued to his dubious appointment as a midnight Chief Justice and up to the present. On Coronas Alleged Partiality Prosecution: The First Article of Impeachment alleges that Corona betrayed public trust by his track record marked by partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo Administration, which is traced to his history as Arroyos chief of staff, spokesman, and acting Executive Secretary. In relation to this, a press release by Senator Franklin Drilon enumerated 19 cases where Corona allegedly voted in favor of the Arroyo Administration. (Our supplemental review of these 19 cases is appended to this discourse.) Defense: Corona argued that he cannot be held accountable for the outcome of cases before the Supreme Court which acts as a collegial tribunal. He stressed that by mentioning decisions and actions of the High Court in the impeachment complaint, the prosecutors demonstrate their lack of understanding of the concept of a collegial body like the Supreme Court, where each member has a single vote, and that

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Castro vs. Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) as legal basis for his appointment. Penned by Justice Lucas Bersamin, the ruling said the Constitution confined the prohibition to appointments made in the Executive Department. It added: The framers [of the Constitution] did not need to extend the prohibition to appointments in the Judiciary, because their establishment of the [Judicial and Bar Council] and their subjecting the nomination and screening of candidates for judicial positions to the unhurried and deliberate prior process of the JBC ensured that there would no longer be midnight appointments to the Judiciary. Selected Issues: Fr. Bernas wrote: I too opposed the exercise of the appointing power during the two-month prohibited period. But the Supreme Court decided otherwise. May the Senate review the Courts decision? Is it illegitimate to assume that the votes of Corona represented independent judgment? Section 17 states: A public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. In the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law. The complaint also alleges that Corona and his wife acquired a 300-sq.m. apartment in the Fort, Taguig worth beyond his income as a public official, and the property was not reported this in his SALN. Defense: What the Constitution requires is the submission of officials SALNs. Disclosure to the public shall be in the manner provided by law. The implementing law is Section 8 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (R.A. 6713). It prohibits any person to obtain or use SALNs for (1) any purpose contrary to morals or public policy; or (2) any commercial purpose other than by news and communications media for dissemination to the general public. Corona stated in his Answer that he has faithfully complied with this requirement every year, and this may be verified upon a proper request with the Office of the Clerk of Court. He further explained that once an official submits his SALN, public disclosure is no longer up to him. The Answer also says Corona has not prevented the public disclosure of his

ARTICLE II. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayed the public trust when he failed to disclose to the public his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth as required under Sec. 17, Art. XI of the 1987 Constitution. Prosecution: Corona failed to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) in violation of Section 17, Article XI of the Constitution as well as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019).

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declarations of assets, liabilities, and net worth. Firstly, it is not for the Chief Justice to unilaterally decide whether to disclose or not to disclose them. Secondly, the release of the SALNs of Justices is regulated by law and the Court's various Resolutions cited above. Thirdly, CJ Corona never issued an order that forbids the public disclosure of his above declarations. On the Taguig property, Corona said he and his wife purchased the apartment on installment and declared it in his SALN, as may be verified upon a proper request with the Office of the Clerk of Court. Selected Issues: News and commentary have cited the September 22, 1992 Supreme Court circular A.M. No. 92-9851-RTC regulating public access to the SALNs of justices and judges to protect them from circumstances which may endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions or expose them to revenge for adverse decisions, kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, or other untoward consequences. Fr. Bernas asks: The command on making assets and liabilities public is qualified by the clause in the manner provided by law. Is there a law providing the manner and did Corona violate it? Alternatively, if there is no law applicable specifically to the judiciary, may Corona follow instead the manner prescribed in Resolutions of the Supreme Court before him? (Which I am told he does regularly.) What evidence will be presented on the alleged illegally acquired property?

ARTICLE III. Respondent committed culpable violations of the Constitution and betrayed the public trust by failing to meet and observe the stringent standards under Art. VIII, section 7 (3) of the Constitution that provides that [a] member of the judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence in allowing the Supreme Court to act on mere letters filed by a counsel which caused the issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and executory cases; in creating an excessive entanglement with Mrs. Arroyo through her appointment of his wife to office; and in discussing with litigants regarding cases The Third Article alleges that Corona betrayed public trust in three instances: the 2011 review of a 2009 Philippine Airlines labor case; the 2010 review of Vizconde Massacre verdicts; and then-President Arroyos appointment of Coronas wife to a government post: board director of John Hay Management Corp., a state firm. Regarding the PAL case, on October 2, 2009, a Special Division of the Court found the airline guilty of illegal dismissal and ordered the reinstatement of 1,423 employees. Later on, in a September 7 resolution, the Courts Second Division denied with finality PALs motion for reconsideration (MR) and ordered that no further pleadings be entertained. On October 4, 2011, however, the Court en banc issued A.M. No. 11-10-1-SC recalling

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the September 7 resolution, in response to a letter from PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza alleging a procedural lapse: the September 7 resolution was issued by the Second Division, not by the Special Division which rendered the original decision. Recall of the FASAP vs. PAL Ruling. Prosecution: Corona allowed the Court to act on mere letters from counsel in Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) vs. Philippine Airlines (PAL), leading to flip-flopping decisions. The Court did not even require FASAP to comment on those letters of PALs counsel, Atty. Estelito Mendoza, betraying Coronas lack of ethical principles and disdain for fairness. Defense: According to Coronas Answer, Lawyers and litigants often write the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice regarding their cases. The Supreme Court uniformly treats all such letters as official communications that it must act on when warranted. Letters are endorsed to the proper division or the Supreme Court en banc in which their subject matters are pending. No letter to the Supreme Court is treated in secret. The Answer also explained that A.M. No. 11-10-1-SC did not reverse the FASAP vs. PAL ruling, but merely recalled it for review by the proper division of the Court. That division has yet to decide the case, so no decision has been reversed. On the Vizconde Case. Prosecution: Corona betrayed public trust by discussing the Lejano vs. People case, then pending with the Supreme Court, with Lauro Vizconde, whose wife and daughters were killed in the massacre that is the subject of Lejano vs. People. Moreover, Corona allegedly told Vizconde that Senior Justice Antonio Carpio was lobbying other Justices to secure the acquittal of Hubert Webb and other convicts jailed for the massacre. Defense: Corona does not deny the meeting with Vizconde. But, he stressed, only Dante Jimenez, as head of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) was cleared to make a courtesy call on the newly appointed Chief Justice, who was thus surprised to see Lauro Vizconde come into his chambers with Jimenez. The Answer admits that Vizconde remained during that meeting as a result of etiquette and manners, but Corona denied telling him that Carpio lobbied with other Justices. On the Government Post of Coronas Wife. Prosecution: Corona compromised his independence when his wife accepted an appointment from Mrs. Arroyo to the Board of John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC). Moreover, complaints have been filed against Mrs. Corona by disgruntled members of the Board of JHMC and certain officers and employees. Defense: No law prohibits the wife of a Chief Justice from pursuing her own career in the government. The Answer added that Mrs. Corona was already part of JHMC even before her husband was appointed to the Supreme Court. Regarding the alleged complaints against Mrs. Corona, the Answer noted that Corona is not being impeached for alleged offenses of his wife.

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Selected Issues: Fr. Bernas asks: Is the flip-flopping of the Court in collegial decisions attributable to Corona alone or to a body struggling to arrive at justice? Did Corona himself flip-flop? Is the Court prohibited from modifying prior decisions or doctrines? When and by whom was Mrs. Corona appointed to John Hay Management Corporation? Is a husband obliged to compel his wife to turn down an appointment? Or did he try to dissuade her at all? Or was he overruled by the wife? Can a husband be made answerable for acts of the wife? Will Justice Carpio be asked to testify about the alleged lobbying about pending cases?

The Supreme Court eventually ruled in Gutierrez vs. House Committee on Justice that the second impeachment complaint did not violate the Constitution. Thus, the Court allowed the House proceedings, which eventually led to Gutierrezs impeachment. Prosecution: The Courts issuance of the status quo ante order against the House of Representatives was a blatant disregard of the principle of separation of powers in order to protect thenOmbudsman Gutierrez. Defense: The landmark decision in Francisco vs. House of Representatives, penned by Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, affirmed the Supreme Courts power to determine whether the House violated the Constitution or gravely abused its discretion in exercising its power of impeachment. Selected Issues: Fr. Bernas asks: What can be made of the fact that the status quo ante order was a resolution of eight justices? How did Corona vote on the later reversal of the status quo ante order?

ARTICLE IV. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed culpable violation of the Constitution when it blatantly disregarded the principle of separation of powers by issuing a status quo ante order against the House of Representatives in the case concerning the impeachment of then Ombudsman Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez.

Background: On July 22, 2010, an impeachment complaint was filed against Gutierrez. On August 10 that same year, another impeachment complaint was filed against her. Considering that the Constitution prohibits two impeachment proceedings against one official within one year, the Supreme Court, voting 12-0, issued a status quo ante order stopping the House impeachment proceedings until it could decide the case.

ARTICLE V. Respondent committed culpable violations of the constitution through wanton arbitrariness and partiality in consistently disregarding the principle of res judicata and in deciding in favor of gerrymandering in the cases involving the 16 newly-created cities, and the promotion of Dinagat Island into a province.

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Prosecution: The Fifth Article specifically attacks the Supreme Court decisions in League of Cities vs. Comelec regarding 16 new cities created by R.A. 9009, and Navarro vs. Ermita on the creation of the Province of Dinagat Island by R.A. 9355. FASAP vs. Philippine Airlines gets the spotlight again with the allegation that Corona disregarded the principle of res judicata, which puts an end to judicial proceedings, by abandoning a final ruling in that case. Defense: Coronas Answer quoted Justice Roberto Abads concurring opinion in Navarro to show there was no flip-flopping in the League of Cities case: Of 23 Justices who voted in the case at any of its various stages, 20 Justices stood by their original positions. They never reconsidered their views. Only three did so and not on the same occasion, showing no wholesale change of votes at any time. In League of Cities, 23 Justices participated because seven retired while the case was under review. Only three switched votes; they did not flip-flop but switched just once. As for Navarro, the Answer declined to dwell on it since it is still under motion for reconsideration. On FASAP vs. PAL, Corona inhibited from this case and therefore was not party to the ruling still under review. Selected Issues: Fr. Bernas asks: Were not the League of Cities case and the Dinagat case collegial decisions upholding acts of Congress? Was not the FASAP decision also collegial? The lawyer-priest apparently wonders why Corona would be impeached by the House for affirming a law enacted by legislators.

ARTICLE VI. Respondent betrayed the public trust by arrogating unto himself, and to a committee he created, the authority and jurisdiction to improperly investigate an alleged erring member of the Supreme Court for the purpose of exculpating him. Such authority and jurisdiction is properly reposed by the constitution in the House of Representatives via impeachment. Prosecution: Corona betrayed public trust when he created the Supreme Court Ethics Committee to probe alleged plagiarism by Justice Mariano Del Castillo in the decision in Vinuya vs. Executive Secretary. The Court en banc, voting 10-2, eventually adopted the Ethics Committees recommendation to absolve Del Castillo of the charge in a resolution titled In re Charges of Plagiarism against J. Del Castillo. The impeachment complaint also questions the Supreme Courts power to create the committee for encroaching upon the impeachment power of the House. Defense: Corona argued: The Committees power is only recommendatory. If the offense is impeachable, the Supreme Court en banc will refer the matter to the House of Representatives for investigation. On the other hand, if the offense is nonimpeachable, the Supreme Court en banc may decide the case and, if warranted, impose administrative sanctions against the offender. As to the creation the committee, Corona traces it to the power of the Supreme

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Court to discipline its own members as provided for in Section 6, Article VIII of the Constitution, granting the High Court administrative supervision over all the courts and the personnel thereof. Notably, too, the Ethics Committee was created through A.M. 10-4-20-SC under Chief Justice Reynato Puno not under or by Corona. And the creation of the committee was a collegial act of the Court which cannot be attributed to one person alone. Selected Issue: Fr. Bernas asks: Is the Supreme Court powerless to look into the activities of its members (e.g, plagiarism) especially if it involves things that might affect the reputation of the Court?

to provide former president Arroyo the opportunity to escape prosecution and that the Court was coordinating with the Arroyos who made multiple flight bookings in expectation of the issuance of the TRO. Corona or the Court also violated the Courts own Internal Rules by disregarding one justices recommendation to have a hearing before issuing the TRO. Corona also distorted the Courts decision regarding the effectivity of the TRO in line with Justice Lourdes Serenos opinion that its effectivity was suspended pending Arroyos compliance with all the conditions laid down by the Court, including the amendment of the Special Power of Attorney (SPA) given to Arroyos lawyer. Defense: Corona denied that the Court coordinated with Arroyo on the restraining order, noting that Information that the Supreme Court en banc would be taking up those TRO applications on the morning of 15 November 2011 was widely known as crews of all major television stations and print reporters had been camping at the gates of the Supreme Court that very morning. Thus, it was not surprising that the Arroyos and their lawyers apparently prepared for the chance that the Supreme Court might favorably act on their applications for TRO and so, had their plans in place. Coronas Answer also denied the allegation that the Chief Justice (or the Court) violated the Courts Internal Rules. It argued that the Supreme Court en banc is not bound by the Member-in-Charges recommendation. As in any collegial body, the decision of the majority prevails. And it is not unusual for the Court to grant TROs without hearing.

ARTICLE VII. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his partiality in granting a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of former President Gloria MacapagalArroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in order to give them an opportunity to escape prosecution and to frustrate the ends of justice, and in distorting the Supreme Court decision on the effectivity of the TRO in view of a clear failure to comply with the conditions of the Supreme Court's own TRO. Prosecution: Article 7 dwells on the temporary restraining order (TRO) against a Department of Justice Watch List Order (WLO) that kept the Arroyos from leaving the country. Corona granted the TRO

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A Verified Complaint Signed, Sealed, Delivered and Read?

In blitzkrieg fashion. This was how the defense panel described the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona by 188 of the 285 members of the House of Representatives last month. Filed with the Senate before Christmas, Coronas Answer to the complaint added: It appears that [House] Members were expected to sign on being offered tangible rewards, even if denied the opportunity to read the Articles of Impeachment and examine the evidence against CJ Corona. That apparent haste has led to several petitions in the Supreme Court questioning the validity of the impeachment complaint. The challenges are based primarily on Section 4, Rule 7 of the Rules of Court which requires that a complaint be verified by an affidavit that the affiant has read the pleading and that the allegations therein are true and correct of his knowledge and belief. Like the High Court petitions, Coronas Answer cited Rule 7 and argued that it is impossible for all the 188 representatives to have read the document before signing. His response maintained that the Impeachment Court may not proceed to trial on the basis of the Complaint because it is constitutionally infirm and defective, for failure to comply with the requirement of verification. ... verification is not a mere procedural rule but a constitutional requirement. There are widespread doubts that the legislators read the articles they signed. Some signatories admitted signing without reading. In a Philippine Daily Inquirer story, Bayan Muna Partylist Representative Teodoro Casio admitted that they were not allowed to see the articles. Instead, they watched a slide presentation on the charges. Two ruling party congressmen, Tobias Tiangco of Navotas and Hermilando Mandanas of Batangas, refused to sign because they were not given the opportunity to read the complaint. One impeachment prosecutor, Representative Rodolfo Farias of Ilocos Norte, did not sign for the same reason, even though he had occasionally threatened the Supreme Court justices with immediately executory though Arroyo had yet to comply with the SPA requirement (she was able to comply within the 5-day period). Selected Issues: Fr. Bernas asks: The constitutionality of the restriction on the right to travel through DOJ Circular on HDOs is pending before the Court with the decision expected after New Year. Should the Senate preempt the SC decision? What is the import, if any, of the existence of a House Bill and a Senate Bill disempowering the DOJ? The continuing effectivity of the TRO has been affirmed by the Supreme Court. What power does the Senate have over it?

the Courts Internal Rules. It argued that the Supreme Court en banc is not bound by the Member-in-Charges recommendation. As in any collegial body, the decision of the majority prevails. And it is not unusual for the Court to grant TROs without hearing. For these reasons, the Court, voting 8-5, granted the TRO and set oral arguments in a week. As to Serenos claim that Corona distorted the Courts decision on the effectivity of the TRO, the Answer pointed out that it was majority of the Court, not Corona alone, that decided the TRO was not suspended. By a vote of 7-6 (the Answer misstated it as 9-4), the Court ruled that the TRO was

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impeachment if they ruled against the administration.

counter-arguments to those who want the Articles dismissed for lack of verification. Among them: the Senate acceptance of the In a late December press conference, the complaint; the presumption of compliance governing board of the Integrated Bar of the with rules absent evidence of signatories not Philippines (IBP), which groups reading the complaint; and permission all lawyers in the country, said under the Rules of Court to dispense Congressmen with verification in the interest of that lawmakers who agreed to impeach Corona didnt even can 'withdraw justice. see the complaint. As to the signatures if Articles themselves, the IBP The Reply added that the Constitution board declared after two days requires that the impeachment be filed, they find the of consultations with law school not verified, by one-third of the House. complaint deans: By impeaching the Moreover, even assuming (without wrong. No Chief Justice based on collegial admitting) that some of the decisions the 188 Congressmen complainants may not have initially one has.' have in effect arrogated upon read the Impeachment Complaint, themselves the power to interpret sufficient time has passed by now to the laws, which is a clear violation allow them to read it and withdraw their of separation of powers and signatures if they find anything wrong judicial independence. with it. None of them has withdrawn their signatures, and it can be deduced therefrom In the House Reply to Chief Justice Coronas that they are standing by their original Answer, impeachment proponents cited six signatures and verification. fiduciary funds in the amount of P5.38 billion; and, (5) correctly state the balance of the SAJ in the amount of P559.5 million. Defense: The Answer cites official records: (1) Statement of Allotment, Obligation and Balances for 2010 submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM); (2) Reports of Collections and Disbursements on the JDF and the SAJ Fund given to the Commission on Audit (COA), the DBM, the House, and the Senate; (3) Report of Collections and Disbursements on the Fiduciary Fund for 2008 and 2009 submitted to the Senate; and (4) Report on the Utilization of Savings for 2008 and 2009 submitted to the Senate.

ARTICLE VIII. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed graft and corruption when he failed and refused to account for the judiciary development fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary (SAJ) collections. Prosecution: Corona failed and refused to (1) report the status of the Judiciary Development Fund and the Special Allowance for the Judiciary; (2) remit to the Bureau of Treasury SAJ collections; (3) account for funds released and spent for unfilled positions in the Judiciary; (4) remit

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Report on the JDF. Corona invokes Section 3, Article VIII of the Constitution: The Judiciary shall enjoy fiscal autonomy. Thus, its accounts may only be examined, audited, and settled only after disbursement. Whether JDF and SAJ vouchers for 2010 (the year Corona became Chief Justice) were reported to the resident COA auditor can easily be determined by checking with the records of the COA. Corona then stated that all disbursement vouchers for the funds of the JDF and SAJ are submitted to the resident COA auditor. Remittance of SAJ Collections. The Answer cites R.A. 9227 empowering the Chief Justice to use the SAJ surplus for additional allowances to other court personnel. Thus, on January 13, 2011, the Supreme Court and the DBM executed Joint Circular No. 2004-1 providing that collection of the Judiciary from funds enumerated under items 2.1.1 and 2.1.2 above shall no longer be remitted to the National Treasury. Instead, these shall be deposited in an authorized government depository bank as may be determined by the Supreme Court. Funds for unfilled positions in the Judiciary. Corona highlights the constitutionally recognized power of the Chief Justice under Section 25(5), Article VI which provides that the President, the President of the Senate, The Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the heads of Constitutional Commissions may, by law, be authorized to augment any item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of their respective appropriations. How Corona realigned savings, including those for unfilled positions in the Judiciary, may be evaluated based on the Supreme Courts Statement of Allotment, Obligation and Balances (SAOB) for 2010 submitted to the DBM. Savings in 2008 and 2009, though not under Coronas term as Chief Justice, were also submitted to Congress during the 2011 budget hearing. Regarding unremitted fiduciary funds, A.M. No. 10-8-3-SC was also cited to clarify that the Chief Justice may not remit them to the Bureau of Treasury without authorization from Congress. They are private property, requiring a law to escheat or forfeit them in favor of the State. The Answer also noted that these amounts were accumulated in 2009, one year before Corona became Chief Justice.

IN THIS CORNER . . . Prosecution Panel

Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. (Iloilo, 5th District) Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya (Cavite, 1st District) Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao (Isabela, 4th District) Rep. Arlene Kaka Bag-ao (Akbayan party-list) Chief public prosecutor, Chairperson of the House Committee on Justice Team manager of the prosecution, Chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations Lead prosecutor for Article III, formerly with Siguion-Reyna Montecillo and Ongsiako, former reviewer in commercial law in Far Eastern University Lead prosecutor for Article IV, served as lead counsel for the Sumilao farmers

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Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, Jr. (Cavite, 2nd District) Rep. Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna party-list) Rep. Raul Daza (Northern Samar, 1st District)

Lead prosecutor for Article V, Chairperson of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms Lead prosecutor for Article VII, former secretary-general for the National Union of Peoples Lawyers Lead prosecutor for Article I, Deputy Speaker of the House, served as senior defense counsel in the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada Lead prosecutor for Article VI, Vice-Chairperson of the House Committee on Justice, the only public prosecutor who did not sign the impeachment complaint Lead prosecutor for Article VIII, former Deputy Customs Commissioner Lead prosecutor for Article II, Chairperson of the House Committee on Revision of Laws Secondary prosecutor for Articles III and IV, formerly with Angara Abello Concepcion Regalla and Cruz Founding partner of Poblador Bautista and Reyes Associate in Poblador Bautista and Reyes

Rep. Rodolfo Farias (Ilocos Norte, 1st District) Rep. Reynaldo Umali (Oriental Mindoro, 2nd District) Rep. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas (Pangasinan, 6th District) Rep. Sherwin Tugna (Citizens Battle Against Corruption party-list) Atty. Mario Bautista Atty. Joseph Joemer Perez

Defense Panel
Justice Serafin Cuevas Atty. Jacinto D. Jimenez Atty. German Lichauco II Atty. Jose M. Roy III Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Partner in Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc and De los Angeles Partner in Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako Former president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Partner in Roy Syquia and Corominas Partner in Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako Undersecretary of Justice under the Ramos Administration, Managing partner in Esguerra & Blanco Former dean of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay Law School, Partner in Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc and De los Angeles Associate in Quisumbing Torres

Atty. Dennis P. Manalo Atty. Ramon Esguerra

Atty. Tranquil Salvador III

Atty. Karen Olivia Jimeno

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Tilting the Scales of Justice?

My heart is in the right place and its loyalty is to the Constitution alone. So declared Chief Justice Renato Corona in upon taking his oath of office as 23rd Chief Justice of the Philippines. Senator Franklin Drilon disagrees. In late November he issued a press release urging Corona to inhibit himself from deliberations on the cases involving the former president to avoid doubts on the impartiality and objectivity of the Supreme Court. The senator and former Justice Secretary then criticized the Chief Justices judicial record for having consistently voted in favor of former President Gloria MacapagalArroyo in 19 cases brought before the Supreme Court and enumerated on the Senate website. The impeachment complaint also alleged partiality, and in his Answer, Corona cited an independent study by legal academics Nuno Garoupa of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Laarni Escresa Guillermo of the Universitat Hamburg to juxtapose his votes with those of two other Justices who served the Arroyo Administration before they were elevated to the High Court. Judicial Politics in Unstable Democracies: The Case of the Philippine Supreme Court, an Empirical Analysis 1986-2010 investigated judicial behavior in 125 High Court cases from 1986 to 2010, to show alignment between individual Justices and the interests of appointing Presidents. Citing the Guillermo-Garoupa paper, Coronas Answer points out that Justice Antonio Carpio, who served as GMAs Chief Presidential Legal Adviser, cast 19 pro-administration votes as against 11 anti-administration votes or around 66% pro-GMA votes. It was also noted that Justice Arturo Brion, who served as GMAs Labor Secretary, cast 5 pro-administration votes against 8

How the Supreme Court voted in Arroyo-related cases

anti-administration votes or around 33% pro-GMA votes. For his part, Corona cast 8 pro-administration votes against 28 anti-administration votes or around only 29% pro-GMA votes. This study, according to Coronas Answer, reveals that no conclusive evidence exists to support the allegations of Complainants. Note that the Guillermo-Garoupa study covered 125 Supreme Court decisions in a span of 24 yearsfar more comprehensive than Drilons 19 pre-selected cases which we will now look into. This discourse will digest the facts, issues, rulings, and voting patterns in these 19 cases to provide a factual basis in assessing accusations of partiality against the CJ. In the decision voting lists, Coronas name is highlighted in bold, along with those of Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio Morales, who are, by contrast, reputed to have often voted against the Arroyo Administration. The Driloncurated cases:

CASE 1: Corona concurred in the Dec. 7, 2010 SC ruling declaring President Aquino's order creating the Truth Commission unconstitutional. Louis Biraogo vs. Truth Commission / Edcel Lagman vs. Paquito Ochoa G.R. No. 192935 / 193036, December 7, 2010, per J. Jose Mendoza C.J. Corona filed his own concurring opinion

Early in his term, President Benigno Aquino III issued Executive Order 1 creating a Truth Commission tasked to conduct a thorough fact-finding

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investigation of reported cases of graft and corruption involving third level public officials during the previous administration. Main Issue: Whether the PTC mandate to investigate reported cases of graft and corruption during the previous administration only transgresses the guarantee of equal protection under the law.

Ruling: Voting 10-5, the Court struck down EO 1 for violating the equal protection clause enshrined in Section 1, Article III of the Constitution. As observed by Justice Mendoza, the intent to single out the previous administration is plain, patent and manifest, since mention of it has been made in at least three portions." But the ruling also suggested a way out: extend the PTC mandate to all past regimes.

TAKING SIDES IN THE 'DRILON 19'

Supreme Court Justice (by seniority) Davide, Hilario Jr. Puno, Reynato Vitug, Jose Panganiban, Artemio Quisumbing, Leonardo Ynares-Santiago, Consuelo Sandoval-Gutierrez, Angelina *Carpio, Antonio Austria-Martinez, Ma. Alicia *Corona, Renato Carpio Morales, Conchita Callejo, Romeo Sr. Azcuna, Adolfo Tinga, Dante Chico-Nazario, Minita Garcia, Cancho Velasco, Presbiterio Jr. Nachura, Antonio Eduardo Reyes, Ruben *Leonardo-De Castro, Teresita *Brion, Arturo *Peralta, Diosdado *Bersamin, Lucas *Del Castillo, Mariao *Abad, Roberto *Villarama, Martin Jr. *Perez, Jose *Mendoza, Jose *Sereno, Ma. Lourdes * incumbent Justices Appointing President C.Aquino Ramos Ramos Ramos Ramos Estrada Estrada Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo Arroyo B. Aquino Voting vs Arroyo 2 8 2 3 4 8 6 10 9 0 10 4 7 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Voting for Arroyo 3 6 1 6 11 7 5 8 7 17 8 6 5 15 11 6 13 7 2 6 3 2 3 2 0 1 2 2 0 Percent for Arroyo 60.00 42.86 33.33 66.67 73.33 46.67 45.45 44.44 43.75 100.00 44.44 60.00 41.67 93.75 84.62 85.71 100.00 87.50 50.00 85.71 60.0 -

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Main Dissent: Senior Justice Carpio disagreed that EO 1 violates the equal protection clause, arguing that to prioritize [the Arroyo administration] based on reasonable and even compelling grounds is not to discriminate, but to act sensibly and responsibly. He added: "Surely there is no violation just because the authorities focus their investigation or prosecution on one particular alleged law-breaker, for surely a person accused of robbery cannot raise as a defense that other robbers like him all over the country are not being prosecuted. PTC Unconstitutional, 10 votes: R. Corona, P. Velasco, T. Leonardo-De Castro, A. Brion, D. Peralta, M. Del Castillo, L. Bersamin, M. Villarama, J. Perez, J. Mendoza PTC Constitutional, 5 votes: A. Carpio, C. Carpio Morales, A. Nachura, R. Abad, M. Sereno Grant Status Quo Order, 12 votes, no dissent: R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, A. Nachura, P. Velasco, T. Leonardo-De Castro, A. Brion, L. Bersamin, M. Del Castillo, M. Villarama, J. Perez, J. Mendoza, M. Sereno

CASE 3: April 7, 2010 ruling denying the petition of then Sen. Aquino against Republic Act 9716 creating a fifth congressional district in Camarines Sur. Benigno Aquino III vs. Commission on Elections G.R. No. 189793. April 7, 2010, per Justice Jose Perez Republic Act 9716 created a new legislative district in Camarines Sur from five municipalities of the first district and two municipalities of the second district, enabling Arroyo son Diosdado and her partymate Rolando Andaya Jr. to run in separate districts. But the law left the original first district with a population of 176,383. Then Senator Aquino and then Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo questioned the reconfiguration for violating Section 5(3), Article VI of the Constitution: Each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand, or each province, shall have at least one representative. Main Issue: Whether RA 9716 violated the Constitution by leaving a legislative district with a population of less than 250,000. Ruling: Justice Perez highlighted the use by the Constitution of a comma to separate the phrase each city with a population of at least two hundred fifty thousand from the phrase or each province to show that the 250,000 minimum population is required for a city, but not a province or any new district carved out of a province.

CASE 2: Oct. 10, 2010 status quo order stopping the Aquino Administration from revoking the appointment of an alleged Arroyo midnight appointee. Dianalan-Lucman vs. Paquito Ochoa G.R. No. 193519. October 12, 2010, not decided yet Arroyo-appointees Eddie Tamondong, Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil, and Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman asked the Supreme Court to nullify Aquinos EO 2 recalling, withdrawing, and revoking appointments issued by the previous administration in violation of the constitutional ban on midnight appointments. Dianalan-Lucman also filed an Urgent Motion to Issue Status Quo Order to prevent the Malacaang from removing her from office while her case is pending. The Court granted the motion. Note that the status quo ante order only applied to her, not to all allegedly midnight appointees.

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Main Dissent: Senior Justice Carpio contended that despite the text of section 5(3), the constitutional mandate of Section 5(1) still requires that districts in provinces be apportioned in accordance with the number of their respective inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio. This means that allowing a district with a population of less than 250,000 will create a special class of legislative districts represented by a new political elite exercising more legislative power than their votes command. RA 9716 Constitutional, 9 votes: R. Corona, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, T. Leonardo-De Castro, D. Peralta, L. Bersamin, M. Del Castillo, J. Perez, J. Mendoza RA 9716 Unconstitutional, 5 votes: R. Puno, A. Carpio, C. Carpio Morales, A. Brion, M. Villarama CASE 4: Decision reversing its previous decision ordering the Sandiganbayan to try former congressman Benjamin Kokoy Romualdez, whose son was supposedly an Arroyo ally. People of the Philippines vs. Benjamin Romualdez G.R. No. 166510. April 29, 2009, per T. Tinga On November 5, 2001, the Ombudsman charged Benjamin Kokoy Romualdez with violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019) for accepting double compensation as ambassador to China, Saudi Arabia, and the United States while serving as governor of Leyte till 1986. Romualdez wanted the case quashed on two grounds: (1) the elements of corruption under of RA 3019 were not present, and (2) the case was filed long after the 15year prescription period had lapsed.

The Sandiganbayan rejected Romualdez argument of prescription, but still quashed the case based on the first ground. Since the ruling was favorable to him, Romualdez did not appeal. The prosecution then went to the Supreme Court. In its first decision dated July 23, 2008, the Supreme Court ordered the continuation of the trial. Romualdez then filed a motion for reconsideration on the ground that the crime had already prescribed. Main Issue: Whether Romualdezs MR can invoke prescription when he did not appeal the Sandiganbayans ruling against it. Ruling: Majority of the Court believed Romualdez cannot be faulted for not appealing the prescription aspect of the Sandiganbayan ruling since the case was dismissed anyway. As Justice Tinga puts it, Why would he challenge a ruling favorable to him? No lawyer would conceivably give such advise to his client. Thus, the Court granted the motion and quashed the case due to prescription. Main Dissent: Justice Brion said the majority ruling rendered uncertain the state of final decisions of this Court if only because exceptions at will may now be possible and one has in fact been applied to the present case. Romualdez MR Granted, 8 votes: R. Puno, C. Ynares-Santiago, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, D. Tinga, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, L. Bersamin Romualdez MR Not Granted, 4 votes: A. Carpio, C. Carpio Morales, M. Chico-Nazario, A. Brion

CASE 5: Feb. 11, 2009 decision upholding the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) but voiding a Philippines-U.S. accord allowing U.S.

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serviceman and rape convict Daniel Smith to be detained in the American Embassy. Suzette Nicolas vs. Alberto Romulo G.R. No. 175888. Feb. 11, 2009, per J. Adolfo Azcuna J. Corona concurred with J. Azcuna

President Arroyo's peace negotiators and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Province of North Cotabato vs. Government Peace Panel on Ancestral Domain G.R. No. 183591. October 14, 2008, per J. Conchita Carpio-Morales Justice Corona joined Justice Tingas dissenting opinion

Main Issues: (1) Whether the Visiting Forces Agreement is constitutional; and assuming that it is, (2) Whether the Romulo-Kenney Agreement transferring Smith to embassy custody complied with the VFA. Ruling: The majority sustained the VFAs constitutionality in line with the Courts previous ruling in Bayan vs. Ronaldo Zamora. However, the Court ruled that the accord to jail Smith in the embassy went against section 10 of the VFA. It requires detention by Philippine authorities, which confinement in the U.S. Embassy is not. Main Dissent: Then Chief Justice Puno and Justice Carpio argued against VFA constitutionality because the U.S. Senate did not ratify the Agreement the same way our Senate did. Thus, the two magistrates viewed any accord under the VFA to be invalid. VFA Constitutional but No Embassy Detention, 8 votes: L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, R. Corona, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, P. Velasco, T. Leonardo-De Castro VFA Unconstitutional and No Embassy Detention, 4 votes: R. Puno, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales CASE 6: Corona dissented in the October 14, 2008, decision declaring unconstitutional the Memorandum of Agreement on

Main Issue: Whether the creation of a Bangsamoro associated state and the guarantee of amendment of the legal framework under the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain violated the Constitution. A secondary issue: Whether the Court should rule on the case even after the MOA-AD was scrapped. Ruling: Voting 9-6, the Court held that the MOA-AD provisions were unconstitutional, even though the government had voided the Memorandum. According to Justice Carpio Morales, the Constitution does not recognize any state within this country other than the Philippine State, much less does it provide for the possibility of any transitory status to prepare any part of Philippine territory for independence. Likewise, the Court invalidated government guarantees to enact needed constitutional amendments. According to the Court, the Peace Panel and even the President could not make such commitments because they do not have the power to propose amendments. Main Dissent: Since the government did not sign the MOA-AD, Justice Tinga argued that the case was moot, so no ruling was needed. MOA-AD Unconstitutional, 9 votes: R. Puno, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, A. Azcuna, R. Reyes, T. Leonardo-De Castro

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Moot Case and/or MOA-AD was constitutional, 6 votes: R. Corona, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, A. Brion CASE 7: July 16, 2008, decision declaring negotiation records for the 2006 JapanPhilippines Economic Partnership Agreement were covered by executive privilege and not subject to public disclosure. Akbayan Citizens Action Party vs. Thomas Aquino G.R. No. 170516. July 16, 2008 per J. Conchita Carpio Morales J. Corona concurred with J. Carpio Morales Main Issue: Whether there is sufficient public interest involved in the JPEPA negotiations to justify disclosure of the documents related to such negotiations. Ruling: The Court upheld confidentiality following the rule that secrecy of negotiations can be set aside only if disclosure is needed for the petitioner to fulfill some responsibility. The petitioning partylist groups failed to show that need. Main Dissent: Chief Justice Puno argued that the government claimed confidentiality during the negotiation. Afterward, the reasons for invoking the diplomatic secrets privilege while the JPEPA negotiations were ongoing no longer hold. JPEPA Negotiation Papers Confidential, 10 votes: L. Quisumbing, A. Carpio, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, R. Reyes, T. Leonardo-De Castro JPEPA Negotiation Papers Not Confidential, 4 votes: R. Puno, C. Ynares-Santiago, M. Austria-Martinez, A. Azcuna,

CASE 8: March 25, 2009 ruling that then SSS Chairman Romulo Neri was not liable for contempt for declining to give certain testimony in Senate hearings on the NBNZTE scandal because his testimony was covered by executive privilege. Romulo Neri vs. Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers G.R. No. 180643. September 4, 2008, per J. Teresita Leonardo-de Castro Justice Corona filed his own concurring opinion Main Issue: Whether the three Senate questions Neri refused to answer were covered by executive privilege, which accorded confidentiality to the Presidents discussions with Cabinet officials, executive sessions of Congress, and Supreme Court deliberations. Ruling: Voting 9-6, the Court ruled that the three questions were covered by presidential communications privilege validly invoked by the Executive branch. That shielded Neri from any Senate arrest for not answering the questions. Main Dissent: Chief Justice Puno opined that the Executives claim to confidentiality must give way to the Senates power of inquiry. He reasoned that in Neris case, the strength of [executive] privilege is weakened by the fact that the subject of the communication involves a contract with a foreign loan, a power not exclusively vested in the President, but is shared with the Monetary Board of the Central Bank. Neris Arrest Illegal, 9 votes: L. Quisumbing, R. Corona, D. Tinga, M. ChicoNazario, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, R. Reyes, T. Leonardo-De Castro, A. Brion

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Neris Arrest Valid, 6 votes: R. Puno, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Carpio, M. AustriaMartinez, C. Carpio Morales, A. Azcuna enough to support suppression of free speech and free press. Main Dissent: Justice Corona joined Justice Nachuras view that the warnings were valid because existing laws authorize the revocation of licenses of broadcast stations if they are found to have violated penal laws or the terms of their authority. DOJ/NTC Warnings Unconstitutional, 10 votes: R. Puno, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, R. Reyes DOJ/NTC Warnings Constitutional, 5 votes: R. Corona, M. Chico-Nazario, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, T. Leonardo-De Castro

CASE 9: Corona dissented in the February 15, 2008, decision allowing broadcast of the recorded conversation allegedly between then President Arroyo and Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano Jr. Francisco Chavez vs. Raul Gonzales G.R. No. 168338. February 15, 2008, per C.J. Reynato Puno J. Corona joined J. Nachuras dissenting opinion

In 2005, when the purported wiretapped phone conversations were made public, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales warned media that those possessing or broadcasting the recording could be arrested immediately and held liable under the Anti-Wiretapping Act (R.A. 4200). Later on, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) warned radio and TV stations that their broadcast/airing of such false information and/or willful misrepresentation shall be just cause for the suspension, revocation and/or cancellation of the licenses or authorizations issued to the said companies. Main Issue: Whether the warnings of Sec. Gonzales and the NTC violate the constitutional freedoms of expression and of the press. Ruling: Nullifying the DOJ and NTC warnings, the Court ruled that not every violation of a law will justify straitjacketing the exercise of freedom of speech and of the press. According to Chief Justice Puno, even assuming that the Anti-Wiretapping Act was violated, it would have only an adverse effect on a persons private comfort but does not endanger national security. Violation of the law by media is not

CASE 10: Corona dissented in the May 3, 2006 decision declaring partly constitutional, partly unconstitutional Arroyo's Proclamation 1017 which placed the country under a state of national emergency in March 2006. Randolf David vs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo G.R. No. 171396. May 3, 2006, per J. Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez J. Corona joined J. Tingas dissenting opinion

Main Issue: Whether Presidential Proc. 1017 is unconstitutional for: (1) being an excessive exercise of the Commander-in-Chiefs powers; (2) requiring obedience to presidential decrees; (3) delegating to the President the power to take over privately owned public utilities; and (4) allowing warrantless arrests, searches and seizures during the national emergency. Ruling: The Court ruled that: (1) Proc. 1017 was a valid exercise of the Commander-in-Chiefs power to

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call out the Armed Forces. (2) It was unconstitutional in giving the President the power to issue decrees to enforce obedience to all laws, even those not related to lawless violence, and to impose standards or prior restraint on media. (3) Proc. 1017 validly declared a state of national emergency but unconstitutional in granting the President the power to take over private businesses. (4) Lastly, warrantless arrests, the violent dispersal of rallies, and warrantless searches and seizures on media offices, violated the right to peaceful assembly and the freedom of expression and of the press. Main Dissent: Justice Tinga, concurred in by Justice Corona, did not join the majority in declaring unconstitutional some portions of Proc. 1017. He argued that the provisions on decrees and take over were paper tigers that could not be exercised in fact. Tinga also disagreed with the majoritys declaration that certain arrests, searches and seizures were illegal because the ruling was based on obvious facts and not on proven facts. Proc. 1017 Partly Unconstitutional, 11 votes: A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. AustriaMartinez, C. Carpio Morales, A. Azcuna, M. ChicoNazario, C. Garcia, R. Callejo Proc. 1017 Constitutional, 3 votes: R. Corona, D. Tinga, P. Velasco

Main Issue: Whether the proposed peoples initiative complied with the requirements to amend/revise the Constitution. Ruling: A deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that the Lambino petition miserably failed to comply with the basic requirements of the Constitution for conducting a peoples initiative. The most important failure is that the changes sought were not specific amendments for which the peoples initiative was allowed, but major revisions which only Congress or a constitutional convention could propose. Under Article XVII, peoples initiative can only be done to amend, not to revise. Notably, then Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban voted with the majority, while his eventual successor Reynato Puno dissented. As explained by Justice Carpio, revision alters a basic principle or affects substantial provisions of the Constitution, while amendment refers to a change that does not alter the basic principle involved. By any legal test, a shift from a Bicameral-Presidential to a UnicameralParliamentary system, which involves the abolition of the Office of the President and the Senate, is beyond doubt a revision, not a mere amendment. Another failure of the Lambino petition is the absence of the text and a detailed explanation of the proposed amendment on the signature sheets. Justice Carpio argued: An initiative that gathers signatures from the people without first showing to the people the full text of the proposed amendments is most likely a deception, and can operate as a gigantic fraud on the people. Coronas Dissent: Justice Corona disagreed with the majority. He opined that the Court cannot unnecessarily and unreasonably restrain the peoples right to directly propose changes to the Constitution by declaring a law inadequate simply for lack of a sub-heading and other grammatical but insignificant omissions. Sigaw ng Bayan Initiative Unconstitutional, 8 votes: A. Panganiban, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Sandoval-

CASE 11: Corona dissented in the October 25, 2006, decision dismissing the petition of Sigaw ng Bayan to allow a people's initiative to amend the Constitution for failure to follow correct procedures. Raul Lambino vs. Commission on Elections G.R. No. 174153. October 25, 2006, per Justice Antonio CarpioJ. Corona filed his own dissenting opinion

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Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, A. Azcuna Sigaw ng Bayan Initiative Constitutional, 7 votes: R. Puno, L. Quisumbing, R. Corona, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, C. Garcia, P. Velasco GAG ORDER VALID , 13 votes, no dissent: A. Panganiban, R. Puno, L. Quisumbing, C. YnaresSantiago, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, D. Tinga, R. Callejo, M. Chico-Nazario, C. Garcia, P. Velasco *Note that Justice R. Corona did not vote in this case because he was on leave. Drilon claimed Corona concurred in the decision.

CASE 12: The Aug. 15, 2006, decision upholding President Arroyo's order barring executive and military officials from appearing before congressional investigations without the President's consent. The case was filed by then Marine General Francisco Gudani against the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, who enforced the Presidents order. Francisco Gudani vs. Generoso Sega G.R. No. 170165. August 15, 2006, per J. Dante Tinga Main Issues: (1) Whether the President can validly prevent members of the Armed Forces from testifying before congressional hearings; and (2) Whether the violation of such an order could lead to court-martial proceedings against the disobeying officers. Ruling: (1) A unanimous Supreme Court recognized the Presidents constitutional authority to prevent military officers to attend congressional hearings, neither because of executive privilege nor EO 464 (to be discussed in the next case), but by virtue of her power as commander-in-chief. (2) As a consequence, a military officer who defies an order prohibiting his attendance in such hearing may be held liable under military justice, i.e., court-martial proceedings. As Justice Tinga aptly puts it, Obedience and deference to the military chain of command and the President as commander-in-chief are the cornerstones of a professional military and beyond the sway of the officer's own sense of what is prudent or rash, or more elementally, of right or wrong.

CASE 13: Corona concurred in the April 20, 2006 SC decision upholding the controversial gag order known as Executive Order 464 which allowed Malacaang and other executive officials to invoke executive privilege in refusing to testify in congressional investigations. Senate of the Philippines vs. Eduardo Ermita G.R. No. 169777. April 20, 2006, per J. Conchita Carpio Morales J. Corona concurred with J. Carpio Morales

On September 2005, the Senate invited various officials of the executive department to appear in the public hearing on the alleged overpricing and other unlawful provisions of the North Rail Project contract. Before any of the invited officials could appear, President Arroyo issued EO 464 instructing that all heads of departments of the Executive Branch of the government shall secure the consent of the President prior to appearing before either House of Congress. Main Issue: Whether EO 464 contravenes the congressional power of inquiry. Ruling: The Court unanimously refused to strike down EO 464 in its entirety. In upholding the Presidents power to prohibit executive officials from appearing before congressional inquiries, Justice Carpio Morales clarified the distinction between

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Sections 21 and 22 of Article VI of the Constitution. Section 21 relates to the power to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation. Attendance here is mandatory because its aim is to elicit information that may be used for the enactment of laws. On the other hand, section 22 pertains to the power to conduct a question hour in pursuit of Congress' oversight function over the Executive branch. During this so-called question hour, Congress merely seeks to be informed on how department heads are implementing the laws it had enacted, and its right to such information is not as imperative as that of the President to whom such department heads must give a report of their performance as a matter of duty. In keeping with the principle of separation of powers, section 22 states that Congress may only request their appearance. Considering that EO 464 was limited in its application to section 22, the Court saw no reason to declare it unconstitutional. Nonetheless, the Court nullified section 3 in relation to section 2(b) of EO 464 because under these provisions, the determination of who are covered by executive privilege were left to the judgment of the department heads, the AFP Chief of Staff, the PNP Chief, the National Security Adviser, and the President. Because of the highly exceptional nature of executive privilege, the Court decided to limit to the President and the Executive Secretary (by order of the President) the right to invoke the privilege. In other words, the President may not authorize her subordinates (except the Executive Secretary) to exercise such power. EO 464 Partly Unconstitutional, 14 votes, no dissent: A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. AustriaMartinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, C. Garcia, P. Velasco

CASE 14: The April 19, 2006, cases declaring valid President Arroyo's EO 420 setting a national identification card policy. Kilusang Mayo Uno vs. National Economic Development Authority G.R. No. 167798, April 19, 2006, per J. Antonio Carpio J. Corona concurred with J. Carpio

In 2005, President Arroyo issued EO 420 directing all government agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations to adopt uniform data collection and a uniform format for their existing identification (ID) systems. Some leftist partylist groups questioned the constitutionality of the executive order for disregarding jurisprudence laid down in Blas Ople vs. Ruben Torres, where the Supreme Court rejected the National I.D. System introduced by then President Fidel Ramos. Main Issues: (1) Whether the President usurped legislative power by issuing EO 420, and (2) Whether EO 420 infringes on the right to privacy. Ruling: (1) The Court unanimously ruled that the President did not usurp legislative powers because the unified ID under EO 420 can be implemented through a mere executive issuance, since the information required are commonly collected and voluntarily given (hence, Ople vs. Torres did not apply). Justice Carpio noted: Any person who applies for or renews a drivers license provides to the LTO all these 14 specific data. (2) The Court also held that EO 420 does not infringe upon the right to privacy since the unified ID required less personal data with stricter safeguards than existing government ID systems. Justice Carpio even observed that All these years, the GSIS, SSS, LTO, Philhealth and other government entities have been issuing ID cards in the performance of their governmental

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functions, and there have been no complaints from citizens that the ID cards of these government entities violate their right to privacy. If there had been no complaints against the previous/existing ID systems, then there is even less basis to complain against the unified ID system under EO 420. EO 420 Constitutional, 12 votes, no dissent: A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing, A. SandovalGutierrez, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, C. Garcia, P. Velasco C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, M. ChicoNazario, C. Garcia

CASE 16: The October 18, 2005, decision declaring Republic Act 9337, also known as the VAT Reform Act, as constitutional. ABAKADA GURO Partylist vs. Eduardo Ermita G.R. No. 168056. September 1, 2005, per Justice Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez Justice Corona joined the concurring and dissenting opinion of Justice Sandoval-Gutierrez

CASE 15: The October 13, 2005, decision declaring that President Arroyo can make appointments in an acting capacity without seeking confirmation from the Commission on Appointments. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. vs. Eduardo Ermita G.R. No. 164978. October 13, 2005, per J. Antonio Carpio J. Corona concurred with J. Carpio

In 2005, Congress enacted RA 9337 to amend the Value-Added Tax provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC). One amendment granted stand-by authority to the President to raise the VAT rate to 12% when certain conditions are fulfilled. Main Issue: Whether the stand-by authority was an invalid delegation of the legislatures power to tax. Ruling: The Court ruled that the stand-by authority was not a delegation of legislative power. The rate increase was contingent on specified conditions, not the prerogative of the President or the Secretary of Finance. Justice Austria-Martinez explained: No discretion would be exercised by the President. She had to increase the rate to 12% once the Secretary of Finance determined that any of the two conditions were met. Main Dissent: Justice Sandoval-Gutierrez dissented on the validity of the stand-by authority. She opined that the President could control the conditions imposed by Congress: if [the President]

Main Issue: Whether the President can appoint acting secretaries without the consent of the Commission on Appointments while Congress is in session. Ruling: Since a department secretarys post may become vacant while Congress is in session, the entire Supreme Court agreed that the President must necessarily appoint an alter ego of her choice as acting secretary before the permanent appointee of her choice could assume office. Justice Carpio further explained: Since a department secretary is the alter ego of the President, the acting appointee to the office must necessarily have the Presidents confidence. Acting Appointments Valid, 15 votes, no dissent: H. Davide, R. Puno, A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing,

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does not wish to increase the VAT rate, she may discourage the Secretary of Finance from making the recommendation. ... If she wishes to increase the VAT rate, all she has to do is to strictly enforce the VAT collection so as to exceed the 2.8% ceiling. The same holds true with the national government deficit. The President will just limit government expenses so as not to exceed the 1.5% ceiling. Justice Corona voted in favor of Justice SandovalGutierrez opinion that the Presidents stand-by authority was unconstitutional. Concurred/In the Result: L. Quisumbing, A. Carpio, A. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, M. Chico-Nazario Separate Opinions: A. Panganiban, C. Ynares-Santiago Separate Concurring and Dissenting Opinions: H. Davide, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, R. Puno, R. Corona, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, R. Callejo, C. Garcia CASE 17: Corona dissented in the March 2, 2004, ruling dismissing petitions to disqualify then presidential aspirant Fernando Poe Jr. on the ground that he was not a natural-born citizen. Maria Jeanette Tecson vs. Commission on Elections G.R. No. 161434. March 3, 2004, per Justice Jose Vitug Justice Corona joined J. Carpio Morales dissenting opinion

A year later, on September 16, 1940, Bessie married the childs putative father, Allan Poe. According to records, Allans father Lorenzo died on September 11, 1954 at the age of 84. This leads to the conclusion that Lorenzo was born in 1870 and that he benefitted from the en masse Filipinization under the Philippine Bill which took effect in 1902. Meanwhile, on December 31, 2003, FPJ filed his certificate of candidacy for President of the Philippines. His qualification as a natural-born citizen was questioned. Main Issue: Whether FPJ was qualified to run for President of the Philippines. Ruling: The Court decided not to apply a statute that would have given FPJ his mothers U.S. citizenship, due to the failure of his Filipino father Allan to sign his birth certificate, as required by law. The Court adopted the view of amicus curiae Fr. Joaquin Bernas: To disqualify an illegitimate child from holding an important public office is to punish him for the indiscretion of his parents. The Court also noted that the 1935 Constitution explicitly states that those whose fathers are citizens of the Philippines are natural-born citizens, even if the parents are not married. Main Dissent: Justice Corona agreed with Justice Carpio Morales that without Allan Poes signature on FPJs birth certificate, Allans paternity was not established. Hence, the citizenship provision in the 1935 Constitution could not be applied. FPJ Qualified to Run for President, 8 votes: H. Davide, R. Puno, J. Vitug, C. Ynares-Santiago, M. Austria-Martinez, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, R. Callejo, A. Azcuna FPJ Qualified to Run for President, 5 votes: L. Quisumbing, A. Carpio, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, D. Tinga

On August 20, 1939, American Bessie Kelley gave birth to Ronald Allan Kelley Poe (later to be known as Fernando Poe Jr. or FPJ). No acknowledgment had been made by the father in the childs birth certificate.

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CASE 18: The Feb. 3, 2004, decision declaring that President Arroyo did not exceed her powers in issuing Proclamation Nos. 427 and 435, and General Order No. 4 declaring a state of rebellion during the so-called Oakwood Mutiny. Sanlakas vs. Angelo Reyes G.R. No. 159085. February 3, 2004, per Main Issue: Whether the President has the power to declare a state of rebellion. Ruling: Declaring a state of rebellion was among the commander-in-chief powers. Explained Justice Tinga: At most, it only gives notice to the nation that such a state exists and that the armed forces may be called to prevent or suppress it. While such declaration, he added, may bring upon emotional effects upon the perceived enemies of the State, even on the entire nation, it has no real effect since the mere declaration of a state of rebellion cannot diminish or violate constitutionally protected rights. Lone Dissent: Believing that every presidential claim to a power must be scrutinized, Justice SandovalGutierrez dissented, stressing there is no provision in our Constitution authorizing the President to declare a state of rebellion. The President Can Declare a State of Rebellion, 12 votes: H. Davide, R. Puno, J. Vitug, A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, D. Tinga The President Cannot Declare a State of Rebellion, 1 vote: A. Sandoval-Gutierrez

CASE 19: Corona dissented in the January 13, 2004, decision voiding the election automation contract between the Commission on Elections and Mega-Pacific for lack of public bidding. That derailed the Arroyo Administrations push for automated elections. Information Technology Foundation vs. Commission on Elections G.R. No. 159139. January 13, 2004, per Justice Artemio Panganiban Justice Corona joined Justice Tingas dissenting opinion Main Issue: Whether the Comelec gravely abused its discretion in awarding the project to Mega-Pacific and Total Information Management Corp. Ruling: Having awarded the contract without testing the software, the Comelec not only abused its discretion, but, as Justice Panganiban said, also put at grave risk the holding of credible and peaceful elections by shoddily accepting electronic hardware and software that admittedly failed to pass legallymandated technical requirements. The Court declared unlawful the purchase of counting machines and the still-to-be-produced software, as well as all payments made. The Comelec was ordered to recover the funds paid out. In addition, the Ombudsman was told to investigate the contract for possible corruption. Main Dissent: Justices Corona and Velasco joined Justice Tingas dissenting opinion, noting that none of the more than 50 losing bidders questioned the award. Thus, the losing bidders have conceded MPCs eligibility and qualifications and deferred to the decision of the Comelec to award the Contract to MPC.

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Mega-Pacific Contract Void, 11 votes: H. Davide, R. Puno, J. Vitug, A. Panganiban, L. Quisumbing, A. Sandoval-Gutierrez, C. YnaresSantiago, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo Mega-Pacific Contract Valid, 3 votes:: R. Corona, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga When Corona thumbed down Arroyo. On December 11, a day before the House of Representatives filed the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Corona, Court Administrator Midas Marquez published a statement to reassure the public that these claims [of impartiality] being cast against the Chief Justice and the Court are pure fantasy and baseless. He cited cases where Corona voted to invalidate acts of the Arroyo Administration. CASE A: Unanimous decision in Central Mindanao University vs. Executive Secretary voiding Presidential Proclamation 310 that took property from a state university for distribution to indigenous peoples and cultural communities. Central Mindanao University vs. Executive Secretary G.R. No. 184869. September 21. 2010, per Justice Roberto Abad

field of agriculture [in 1958]. They have ceased to be alienable public lands. Proc. 310 Invalid, 9 votes, no dissent: R. Corona, A. Carpio, C. Carpio Morales, D. Peralta, L. Bersamin, M. Del Castillo, R. Abad, M. Villarama, J. Perez

CASE B: Unanimous decision in Secretary of National Defense vs. Manalo that the ineffective investigation and protection by government agents under the secretary of defense and the AFP failed to guarantee the right of security of respondents as required by the Constitution. Secretary of National Defense vs. Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo G.R. No. 180906. October 7, 2008, per C.J. Reynato Puno

This case involves the very first petition for the issuance of a writ of amparo filed by brothers Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo against a number of military officials, most prominent of which was M/ Gen. Jovito Palparan, for alleged abduction, forced disappearance and torture from February 2006 up to their escape in August 2007. Main Issue: Whether the Manalo brothers were entitled to the issuance of a writ of amparo in their favor, securing them against state intimidation and force. Ruling: The Court agreed with the claim of the Manalo brothers that there was a violation of their right to security when they were abducted by armed men sufficiently identified as elements of the military. The Court was also convinced that the reason behind the abduction was the militarys suspicion that the two were communist sympathizers.

Main Issue: Whether the President validly issued Proc. 310 taking 670 hectares of land from CMU in January 2003, in line with the governments efforts to distribute land to indigenous peoples. Ruling: The Court unanimously declared Proc. 310 invalid for taking land already registered under the name of CMU. The justices stressed that the land being taken had become inalienable from the moment President Garcia dedicated them for CMUs use in scientific and technological research in the

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Writ of Amparo Granted, 15 votes, no dissent: R. Puno, L. Quisumbing, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga, M. Chico-Nazario, P. Velasco, A. Nachura, R. Reyes, T. Leonardo-De Castro, A. Brion

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contain pork or its derivatives. OMA also sent letters to food manufacturers asking them to secure the halal certification only from OMA lest they violate EO 46 and RA 4109. Main Issue: Whether EO 46 violated freedom of religion by creating a state body with exclusive authority to issue halal certificates, affirming that food was processed according to Muslim rules. Ruling: Rejecting the governments argument that religious freedom is subservient to the police power of the State, the Court held that EO 46 encroached on the religious freedom of Muslim organizations to interpret for Filipino Muslims what food products are fit for Muslim consumption. By arrogating to itself the task of issuing halal certifications, the State has in effect forced Muslims to accept its own interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah on halal food. According to Justice Corona, If the government fails to show the seriousness and immediacy of the threat, State intrusion is constitutionally unacceptable. In a society with a democratic framework like ours, the State must minimize its interference with the affairs of its citizens and instead allow them to exercise reasonable freedom of personal and religious activity. EO 46 Unconstitutional, 13 votes, no dissent: H. Davide, J. Bellosillo, R. Puno, J. Vitug, A. Panganiban, C. Ynares-Santiago, A. Carpio, M. Austria-Martinez, R. Corona, C. Carpio Morales, R. Callejo, A. Azcuna, D. Tinga

CASE C: In Islamic Dawah Council of the Philippines vs. Executive Secretary, the Supreme Court nullified EO 46, issued on 26 October 2001 Islamic Dawah Council of the Philippines vs. Executive Secretary G.R. No. 153888. July 9, 2003, penned by Justice Renato Corona

In 2001, President Arroyo issued EO 46 creating the Philippine Halal Certification Scheme and designating the Office of Muslim Affairs (OMA) to oversee its implementation. OMA was given exclusive authority to issue halal certificates and perform other related regulatory activities. Prior to this, the Islamic Dawah Council of the Philippines (IDCP) was the private entity accredited by the Regional Islamic Dawah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP) to issue halal certifications in the country. Later on, OMA warned Muslim consumers to buy only products with its official halal certification since those without said certification had not been subjected to careful analysis and therefore could

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image from Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church despite reports of terror threats. The Philippine National Police has estimated that almost seven million people from all over the Philippines joined the procession which lasted twentytwo hours, the longest in the history of the Traslacion. The Feast of the Black Nazarene is famous for the procession which attracts throngs of devotees praying for their needs and offering thanksgiving. This devotion began in 1606 when the statue was reportedly brought to the Philippines by Augustinian Recollect friars. Filipino trait of making things fun and memorable for tourists and visitors. The campaign includes this dedicated website from which tourists can gather information about the Philippines so that they could make the most out of their visit.

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Govt eyes workfrom-home, rationing amid looming fuel crisis

The Department of Energy is looking at possible measures to mitigate the effect of a looming fuel crisis in case the tension between Iran and the US escalates. The government agency says that options include oil rationing as well as work-fromhome schemes to minimize trips to the workplace and save on fuel. Tensions began after the US enforced new sanctions against Iran over the Arab countrys continued refusal to stop its uranium enrichment program. The sanctions curtail Irans ability to transact with international consumers of its oil. In response, Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint in the Persian Gulf.

Palace stands by DFA in protesting China's incursions

Malacanang backs the diplomatic protest filed by the Department of Foreign Affairs against China for alleged incursions into the West Philippine Sea last month. The Chinese countered saying that the Philippines' accusations were groundless and hopes that the latter will not cause disturbances. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario invites China to validate the respective claims of the two countries and resolve their issues based on the rules of the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea. The protest involves the reported December 11 and December 12 entry of Chinese civilian and naval vessels in the Escoda Shoal, part of the contested Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea. The Philippine government insists that the Escoda shoal is within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

Caption

It's more fun in the Philippines

The new Department of Tourism slogan, "It's more fun in the Philippines", launched last week is now the official campaign ad of the Philippine government to promote the country's tourism and attract visitors into our shores. This report from The Philippine Star says that the whole campaign, which costs about P5 million, intends to project the

Millions escort Black Nazarene

A mammoth crowd of devotees of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila participated in the annual Translacion or procession of the

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BUSINESS

New Ways of Printing Money

By Ricardo Saludo

Huge digital opportunities await Philippine publishers

STRATEGY POINTS

Don't dismiss the local digital market: 30 million Filipinos have internet access, with broadband doubling yearly. Use online bookstores, print on demand, and e-readers to boost book exports. Tap into global publishing services demand: $4 billion a year just for textbooks. Digital publications are winning over more readers and advertisers.

In the book The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History, Nos. 7 and 8 are two inventors of print media. The 15th-century German Johannes Gutenberg, who invented printing, came in at No. 8, right behind the 1st-century Chinese eunuch Cai Lun, the creator of paper. In justifying the high placement of Cai and Gutenberg, above the likes of Columbus, Einstein, Galileo, Aristotle and Moses, scientist and author Michael H. Hart noted that before Cai invented paper, China was behind Mediterranean cultures in social and technological progress. The latter had parchment and papyrus to communicate ideas and information, while the Chinese used cumbersome woodblocks.

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But after wood-pulp paper was invented, China caught up with and passed the West in learning, governance and technology. This lead in development was maintained for centuries until the Gutenberg press. Then the West became the worlds dominant civilization until today. The lesson from history, of course, is that spreading and exchanging knowledge is the key to human progress. Today we have our own Cai Lun and Johannes Gutenberg. Our modern-day Cais, whose creations performed papers longtime task of recording, manipulating and transmitting information, are none other than the late Steve Jobs and his partner Stephen Wozniak. Their Apple Computer Company started the personal computer revolution in 1976, and in the past decade, Apple followed up that success with the iPhone and iPad. Thus, Jobs and Wozniak brought IT power to ordinary people. As for our 20th-century Gutenbergs, we have another pair of innovators: Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn. Also in the 1970s, these American computer scientists developed the Internet Protocol technology of splitting information into millions of tiny packets, transmitting them by different channels, wired or wireless, then reassembling the packets at their destination into the original text, numbers, sounds or images. Thus, Cerf and Kahn replicated Gutenbergs feat of disseminating knowledge to masses of people. The digital revolution: Threat or opportunity? The big question for the publishing business, of course, is whether the innovations of Jobs, Wozniak, Cerf

and Kahn will bring an end to the industry founded on the inventions of Cai and Gutenberg. Will digital platforms replace paper and ink, and what threats and opportunities does such a scenario present to publishers in the country? Those who see more threats in the digital world than opportunities should pay attention to some recent numbers mostly from Nielsen, the media survey company. One-third of Filipinos have access to the Internet. Thats 32 million people, based on the projected 2011 population of about 96 million.

Cai Lun

Johannes Gutenberg

Steven Paul Jobs

Stephen Gary Broadband capacity has been Wozniak doubling yearly since 2009, reports data source Point Topic. One-fourth of us are on Facebook, according to Internetworldstats.com.
Two out of every three teenagers aged 15-19 more than 6 million youths are online, three-quarters of them using Internet cafes. Half of Filipinos in their 20s another 8 million of our countrymen also have access to the Net. One-fourth of Filipinos use Robert Elliot their mobile phones to access Kahn the Internet, and another 56% will do so by the middle of next year.

Vinton Grey Cerf

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If publishers can deliver highly engaging, entertaining or educational online material to even a tiny fraction of the above consumer groups, thats a mammoth market to have. For instance, 10 a month from one out of every ten 15-to-19-year-olds online amounts to 72 million a year. If just one-half of 1% of Filipinos in their 20s took online courses at an average cost of 5,000 a year, thats a market of 200 million. If 1% of those with home broadband purchase 1,000 in online content annually, that would gross half a billion pesos a year. And remember that there would be minimal printing and delivery expenses in generating those sales. That would please both your accountants and Mother Nature. Tapping the global market online. But why stop at the national borders? The great thing about the Internet is that it provides fast and cost-efficient access to the world market. As TV5 Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in his speech to the 22nd Advertising Congress last November, When you put something on the Net, it is instantly global. A decade ago, a De La Salle University report titled An In-Depth Study on the Printing and Publishing Industry in the Philippines already pointed out: The printing and publishing industry of the Philippines currently caters primarily to the domestic market, but is slowly discovering a potential market abroad. Some players, particularly those that have the supply capability, have realized that a much larger market exists abroad, and that tapping this foreign market would increase their profitability. So how big is the global online market? Internetretailer.com publishes the Top 500 annual ranking of the largest online retailers in North America. Last year total sales of companies in the list grew a robust 18% to $150 billion. All e-commerce grossed $165 billion, up 14.8%, outstripping the 6.9% growth in total retail sales in the U.S. and Canada. Merchants selling only online hit $48.47 billion in turnover, skyrocketing 34.3%. Top 500 topnotcher Amazon.com grew even faster in 2010, lifting net sales by nearly 40% to $34.2 billion. Its North American business surged even faster: by 46.1% to $18.7 billion. Sales in the rest of the world werent far behind: $15.5 billion, up 32.5%. Global sales of books, music and videos managed a decent 16.4% rise to $14.9 billion. You can do your own sales potentials for Philippine-made content assuming they could garner tiny fractions of those megasales. If our books could get even just 1/1000 of Amazons book, music and video sales alone, that would amount to $15 million, or more than 645 million. Many Philippine titles are on Amazon, like those above on page 33. And there is no reason why we cant produce books on U.S. and other topics with mass appeal.

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e-Books: No paper, no shipping, no problem. What makes many publishers hesitate to venture into exports is the high cost of printing in the country and shipping books and periodicals abroad. Which makes e-books a welcome option, harnessing both the audiovisual and interactive power of computers and the Internet plus the cutrate delivery cost of online distribution.

that nearly half of Kindle owners in the U.S. earn $80,000 a year, and 27% have graduate degrees. The New York Times reported that eight out of every 10 American parents allow or encourage their kids to use e-readers. And there are iPad and Android tablets, not to mention laptops and PCs.

If U.S. digital media trends are any indication of how they would play out in other countries as those societies get more wired, then the future of Some publishers are books and periodicals already dabbling in is electronic. The e-books, including those who younger generation of attended the Future of the Book Americans are avid conferences on digital publishing readers of e-books held in September 2010 and last (see chart next page), November at the University of so expect more and more the Philippines' Bahay ng of the nation to pore Philippine books on Amazon.com Alumni. Vibal Publishings over e-readers rather About Vee Press has pioneered e-books than printed pages in the coming years and in the country with electronic versions of decades. dozens of titles. Indeed, consumers surveyed by U.S. Again, the really lucrative market is abroad. marketing consultancy Harrison Group Consider Amazons Kindle, one of a growing for its 2010 study, Content Consumption number of electronic readers on the market. in the Digital Age: Devices, Distribution & Founding boss Jeff Bezos says that for Desire, see newspapers, magazines and every 100 hardcover books Amazon sells, books being read in digital versions rather 143 Kindle titles are sold. Nielsen found than hard copy in the near future.

Ready to read on e-readers

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READERS GO DIGITAL . . .

Chart from The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines, Smarter Media Sales (2010)

POD and BPO: The world trade in publishing services. Vee Press also offers its e-books via print on demand (POD), another burgeoning segment of digital publishing. POD can produce books when they are ordered in print runs of one to 100. Print-on-demand machines can be expensive, between $50,000 to $250,000 by one estimate. The good news for those aiming to sell in the U.S. and other advanced markets, there are hundreds of POD outfits there, so one can contract strategically situated printers to serve cities where, say, most Filipino-Americans live. According to one U.S. publisher, for a print run of 25-50 copies, 10-20 must be sold to cover POD costs. For 500 copies netting just $10 a book, printing would cost $2,000, leaving $3,000 for content expenses. Since many firms already have existing titles to convert to POD, most of the $3,000 would be profit. Do that for 50 books and one could come away with $150,000, or more if the copies net $15-$20 each and sales exceed 500. All that without shipping a single book abroad. A further business model besides online marketing, e-books and print on demand is business process outsourcing for publishers abroad. According to The Changing Face of Indian Publishing BPO Industry online

primer, estimated earnings of the sector for India was $1.4 billion last year, with annual growth in excess of 30% and employment of more than 70,000. Services range from writing, design and other aspects of content production, to typesetting and related prepress production services. For this year, BPO opportunities in scientific-technical-medical (STM) publishing are valued at $1.7 billion, while potential for services for other educational publishing is forecast at $4 billion. Beyond learning materials, there are also clientele among publishers of newspapers, magazines, phone books, and corporate materials. U.S. newspaper publishing alone is believed to offer $4 billion in offshoring opportunity, especially with revenue constraints forcing the press to cut costs to the bone. With 15,000 technology graduates coming out of our higher learning institutions every year, the Philippines has the expanding base of knowledge workers to get a decent slice of the global publishing BPO market. But the Philippine potential is largely untapped, with total turnover of possibly just $200 million today, based on annual growth of 20%-30%. The countrys workforce in the industry is estimated at one-fifth of Indias.

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. . . AND PAPERLESS
For Each Medium Shown, % Who Believe More Will Be Read Digitally Than on Paper Within the next 5 years
Total Consumer Sample Tablet Users Dedicated eReader Users Industry Sample

56%

63% 60% 57% 47%

56% 55% 44% 41%

58% 55% 33%

Newspaper

Magazines

Books

Chart from Content Consumption in the Digital Age, Harrison Group (2010)

But we do have some of the biggest global players in knowledge process outsourcing, such as PLDTs SPi Global, Innodata, Asiatype and Xlibris, operating in the country. Last month SPi acquired an Indian publishing BPO firm, Laserwords, a recognized player among major U.S. publishers, with facilities in India and America.

Whats lacking in Philippine BPO for publishing are middle-tier firms with 200-500 staff, compared with 5,000 for giants like SPi. Thus, two companies Many of you may generate fourhave seen the Zinio fifths of total and Pressmart industry turnover digital magazine and in the country, newspaper platforms, Publishing BPO pioneers compared with a featuring established dozen vendors in as well as new India. More midsize firms will enable the publications. The periodicals are presented country to snare smaller projects that in the same layout and paging as the tend to seek the substantial cost savings of printed versions, but with clickable links outsourcing to Asia. to go to any page in the journal, as well as to online material including advertisers Moreover, the flexibility and speed of many websites. Ads are not just still pictures, but small firms would be a further advantage also video and audio. The e-journals can in competing for BPO in publishing. This be downloaded and read offline, although midsize niche may be one that some of your online links require Internet connections firms may find a good and lucrative fit. to work.

e-Reading: The future is here. Nonetheless, even with print on demand, BPO for publishing, and other enhancements of the Cai-Gutenberg paper printing technology, electronic publishing may still the way to go for the future. With broadband-linked tablets fast becoming as widespread and indispensable as cellphones, more and more people will prefer digital books and periodicals, with whole libraries and newsstands ready for reading on a device smaller and lighter than a college dictionary.

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Probably because the e-publications use the familiar formats of their printed versions, readers find digital journals more appealing and useful than the websites of reader uses the same table of contents and page numbers in the printed journal, rather than having to figure out the websites completely different navigation. The enhanced reader experience rubs off on the advertising too. The same study reports that ads in interactive digital publications are more appealing to readers than those on websites with the same content. Digital magazine ads got the nod from about 70%80% of readers across a range of attributes, from being less intrusive and easier to read, to having more authority, credibility, information and fun. Digital magazine ads give even broadcast commercials a run for their money. Asked which types of advertising is interesting and useful, 63.2% picked interactive magazine ads, higher than all other ads, including TV (53.4%) and radio (34.8%).

DIGITAL IS MORE FUN . . .

Chart from The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines, Smarter Media Sales (2010)

. . . CREDIBLE AND USEFUL

On the other hand, survey respondents are more likely to ignore website pop-up ads (91.7%), mobile phone and website banner ads (about 70%), and emailed ads (63%). But those more likely to ignore digital magazine ads comprise the lowest percentage, at 21.7%. Digital Chart from The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines, magazine advertising also draws the Smarter Media Sales (2010) lowest percentage of respondents such news sources, as seen from the survey who regard it as negative in their online or results below from the 2010 report, The broadcast experience: 16.5% vs. 90.5% for Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital website pop-up ads. Magazines, by U.S. online marketing consultancy Smarter Media Sales. To find International consulting firm FTI articles in an e-publication, for instance, a Consultings August study, "The

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Effect of Tablet Use on U.S. Content Consumption, reports: Between one-third to one-half of respondents report reducing or stopping their use of conventional media when provided online alternatives, though the amount of substitution varies by age and (of course) by type of media. Internet use is highest for news, social networking and music. As for the future, the Harrison survey expects digital ads to offer one-click purchasing, which should offer sales commissions on top of ad fees to digital publishers. For textbook publishers, tablets will be the learning platform for the future along with enhancing learning, a boon to kids now struggling with bags full of heavy books. And for book firms, there could be greater competition to publish big-name talents: the writers themselves, who can now market and distribute their work globally through the Internet. The impact of Cai and Gutenberg on the development of civilizations underscored the power of technological advances in empowering those who develop and adopt them to overtake the laggards. So do the impact of the innovations of Cerf and Kahn, Jobs and Wozniak, and a host of other modern-day Cais and Gutenbergs. Let those be essential history lessons in innovation and competitiveness for those still unsure about the rapidly growing challenges and opportunities in digital publishing. This report was first presented to the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. annual meeting in Boracay last December.

RADIO, TV OR DIGITAL?
Which forms of electronic advertising do you find helpful or interesting?
70.0% 60.0% 50.0% 40.0% 30.0% 20.0% 10.0% 0.0%

63.2% 63.2% 63.2% 63.2% 63.2% 63.2% 63.2%63.2%

Ads in digital magazines Television ads Radio ads E-mail advertising in your inbox Ads on e-mail newsletter Website banner ads Website pop-up ads Ads on your mobile phone

Chart from The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines,

TUNING OUT ADS

Which forms of electronic advertising do you ignore most of the time?
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

91.7% 74.8% 72.1%

65.3% 53.1% 35.2% 31.9% 21.7%

Website pop-up ads Ads on your mobile phone Website banner ads E-mail advertising in your inbox Ads on e-mail newsletter Radio ads Television ads Ads in digital magazines

Chart from The Case for Advertising in Interactive Digital Magazines, Smarter Media Sales (2010)

YOUNG AND ONLINE Use of internet to access media content in the U.S., 2011
74.1% News/newspaper 77.1% Social Networks 62.4% Music 50.3% TV show episodes 76.1% Games 40.7% Movies

38.4% Magazines

32.5% Sports
eReader Users Tablet Users Total Sample

Chart from Content Consumption in the Digital Age, Harrison Group (2010)

2015 VISION
Things you think will happen within the next five years
Advertising in digital publications will allow for one-clisk product purchasing Tab - based devices will be an integral part of the classroom experience for children Most well-known authors will publish their work privately

51%

64% 62% 63%

42% 49% 27% 38% 48%

Chart from Content Consumption in the Digital Age, Harrison Group (2010)

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Breeding a Culture of Innovation

Learn from Apple, Samsung and other game-changers
By Marishka Noelle M. Cabrera Innovate or die is one catchphrase business leaders seem to hear (or use) more and more of nowadays. In a fast-changing world where technology and innovation are becoming the pillars of success for many companies, traditional and time-tested methods are taking a backseat. After all, where would industry leaders like Apple and Google be sans innovation? In Booz & Companys annual Global Innovation 1000 study, the management and strategy consulting firm surveyed 1,000 public companies around the world to determine the impact of innovation, strategy, and culture on business performance. The report The Global Innovation 1000: Why

STRATEGY POINTS
Booz & Companys report on The Global Innovation 1000 study suggests that strategic alignment and an innovative culture drive results. Innovation is about valuing creativity, imagination, and the sharing of ideas to deliver great products and services to the market.

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Culture is Key suggests that more than R&D spending, strategic alignment and a culture that supports innovation are what ultimately drives results. The report adds, There is no statistically significant relationship between financial performance and innovation spending. Apple, for instance, consistently underspend their peers on R&D investments while outperforming them on a broad range of measures of corporate success, such as revenue growth, profit growth, margins, and total shareholder return. Whereas the top R&D spenders like pharmaceutical companies have much less to show for. Tables from the report show the top R&D spenders and the top 10 most innovative companies and their corresponding rank in terms of R&D spending.

R&D Spending of the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies

The 10 Most Innovative Companies
Innovation executives we surveyed again chose Apple as most innovative. Facebook edged onto the list at number 10.

R&D Spending Company

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Apple Google 3M GE Microsoft IBM Samsung P&G Toyota Facebook

2010 $US Mil.

$1,782 $3,762 $1,434 $3,939 $8,714 $6,026 $7,873 $1,950 $8,546
Not Supported

Rank
70 34 86 32 4 15 7 61 6 n/a

as % of Sales (intensify)
2.7% 12.8% 5.4% 2.6% 14.0% 6.0% 5.9% 2.5% 3.9%
Not Supported

Chart from The Global Innovation 1000: Why Culture is Key

Top R&D Spenders

The Innovation Top 20
Roche Holding claimed the number one spot among the top 20 spenders for the second year running, and, for the rst time, four of the top ve slots were held by pharmaceutical rms. Rank 2010 2009 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 5 6 2 14 4 10 3 11 7 13 18 9 15 12 8 19 22 17 16 Company Roche Holding Pfizer Novartis Microsoft Merck Toyota Samsung Nokia General Motors Johnson & Johnson Intel Panasonic GlaxoSmithKline Volkswagen IBM Sanofi-Aventis Honda AstraZeneca Cisco Systems Siemens TOP 20 TOTAL: 2010 $US Millions $9,646 $9,413 $9,070 $8,714 $8,591 $8,546 $7,873 $7,778 $6,962 $6,844 $6,576 $6,176 $6,127 $6,089 $6,026 $5,838 $5,704 $5,318 $5,273 $5,217 $141,781 R&D Spending Change As a % from 2009 of Sales 1.5% 20.0% 21.4% -3.3% 53.0% 0.7% 23.2% -0.8% 16.0% -2.0% 16.3% 10.7% 0.3% 19.4% 3.5% -4.0% 5.2% 20.6% 1.3% -1.4% 10.1% Avg. Headquarters Location Industry

21.1% Europe Healthcare 13.9% North America Healthcare 17.9% Europe Healthcare 14.0% North America Software and Internet 18.7% North America Healthcare 3.9% Asia Auto 5.9% Asia Computing and Electronics 13.8% Europe Computing and Electronics 5.1% North America Auto 11.1% North America Healthcare 15.1% North America Computing and Electronics 6.1% Asia Computing and Electronics 14.0% Europe Healthcare 3.6% Europe Auto 6.0% North America Computing and Electronics 14.5% Europe Healthcare 5.5% Asia Auto 16.0% Europe Healthcare 13.2% North America Computing and Electronics 5.1% Europe Industrials 11.2% Avg. Chart from The Global Innovation 1000: Why Culture is Key

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But beyond the numbers, innovation is and groups in the organization interact important for driving economic progress with one another and with parties outside and competitivenessboth for developed it, according to Knowledge Solutions, a and developing economies, as shown in the collection of quick reference guides for staff report, The Global Innovation Index 2011: of the Asian Development Bank. Accelerating Growth and Development, Culture is also described here as the of graduate business school INSEAD. The premier competitive advantage of highglobal rankings for the year 2011 reflected performance organizations. the innovation performance of the different countries. The creative spark in Switzerland came out on top from fourth place in 2010, corporate Philippines followed by Sweden, Singapore, One of the biggest conglomerates in the country, and Hong Kong. The Philippines Jollibee Foods Corporation has been consistently ranked 91, which trailed outperforming competitors because of its strategy behind El Salvador, Kenya, to capture the distinctly Filipino taste through and Azerbaijan. new product offerings every now and then (like Culture matters. Innovation is more than making great products. Innovation is about putting a premium on imagination and creativity in solving problems, big or small. It is about allowing the individual to push the boundaries of what is to what could be. And it is not just about making things work, but making them work better. But how does a company actually put innovation to work? Quite simply, through a culture that supports it. the Jollibee Hash Brown Burger). In Asia 200, an interactive graphic by The Wall Street Journal, even ranked Jollibee as the top Philippine company in terms of innovation from 1997 to 2010. Being innovative is not and should not always be about profit. It can, instead, be used to make life better for others. In the case of social enterprise company Rags2Riches, co-founder Reese Fernandez, recipient of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise Young Laureates Programme, established the business with the intention of helping women in urban poor communities by arranging for them to sell their products directly to retailers. Not only that, they trained these artisans

The Booz & Company report suggests that by bridging the gap between strategic alignment and corporate culture overall growth can be achieved. Corporate or organizational culture comprise the attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values of the organization, acquired through social learning, that control the way individuals

Leadership expert Heidrick and Struggles emphasizes in its article Breeding Innovators Inside Your Company: Innovation no longer simply means throwing money at R&D. It means outperforming the competition through the power of ideas in any aspect of the enterprise.

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Corporate cultures need to be clearly identified and communicated to members of the organization. As Harvard Business School Professors James Heskett and Earl Sasser in 10 Reasons to Design a Better Corporate Culture posit, Organizations with clearly codified and enforced cultures enjoy great employee and customer loyalty,

from number three in 2010, followed by Twitter, Facebook, and Nissan. Groupon and Google came in at number five and six, respectively, while Amazon was at number 27, a huge drop from the number two spot, and Microsoft was at 37th place from 48th the previous year. Personal apparel brands Nike and Marks and more than smaller ones. This means that the firms are: product or process innovators, engaged in innovation projects, or engaged in expenditure for innovation activities. In addition, those surveyed deem cost factors to be the most important barrier to innovation. The sample included food manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, and information technology enterprises from Quezon City, Metro-Cebu, Davao City, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) areas in Cavite and Laguna. While Filipinos are known to be ingenious and resourceful, not many local companies are strongly identified as putting groundbreaking innovation at the center of their core strategy and corporate culture yet. Then again, times may be changing, as Filipinos are not known to be left behind by their Western counterparts, especially when it comes to global trends.

to create fashionable handbags out of scrap material used to make rugs. These bags can now be found in top-end stores. In an interview with Fernandez conducted for Futurechallenges.org by Monouchehr Shamsrizi, the company has positioned itself at the forefront of what has been labeled as eco-fashion. The leveraging of the social aspect of the enterprise, through the involvement of the underprivileged women artisans, has helped the company generate some cachet among socially, ecologically, and fashionably conscious Filipinos.

'Cost is the most important barrier to innovation'

Innovation as a business concept is starting to blossom among Filipino enterprises. Results of the 2009 Survey of Innovation Activities discussed in a Philippine Institute for Development Studies paper show that 54% of sampled firms were classified as innovation active, with larger firms innovating

in large part because they are effective in either altering ineffective behaviors or disengaging from values-challenged employees in a timely manner. Game-changers. In business media group Fast Companys 50 Most Innovative Companies 2011, Apple tops the list

Spencer, and luxury brand Burberry were also on the list. Todays business landscape, Fast Company says, is littered with heritage companies whose CEOs battle their industry's broken model with inertia, layoffs, lawsuits and that few would maintain dominance in, say,

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2025. Instead, [t]hat world will be ruled by the kinds of companies on this list. Bloomberg Businessweek, likewise, has a list of its own 50 Most Innovative Companies, based on data from longtime partner, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report found that, compared to 2009 where the list was predominantly made up of companies from the United States, the upturn in the global economy enabled new players to emerge in 2010. Asian companies such as Toyota and Sony from Japan, Samsung and LG Electronics from South Korea, and Indias Tata Group secured their place in the top 25. Taking off from author Ted C. Fishmans argument in his book, China, Inc., stating that China possessed a factory culture and could imitate, but not innovate, Bloomberg Businessweek warns current industry giants in a related article: If Asia ever did figure out how to design cutting-edge products comparable to those dreamed up in the West, however, the one-two punch of high-value research and development and low-cost manufacturing would make it almost unbeatable in the battle for global economic supremacy. Over time, companies have been dubbed as synonymous with innovation because they changed the gamethey not only upped the ante for industry players because of the products and services they created, they set their own unique standard for doing business. 3M, for instance, was founded as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. back in 1902, but it still invents products used in transportation, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing, and in the home or office, as if it were a start-up. To date, it has developed over 55,000 products and 30-plus core technologies. The book, A Century of Innovation: The 3M Story, chronicles the journey of the science-based company that thrived on innovation in order to survive. Indeed, one lesson to be gleaned from the 3M story is that outof-the-box-thinking will lead to as much failures as there are successesbut it will be all worth it.

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Google, for its part, encourages innovation through out-of-the-box thinking, tolerance for failure, sharing ideas, and blue-sky thinking or allowing engineers a full day each week to work on anything they want. Google employee Susan Wojcicki, in her article in Google online magazine Think Quarterly entitled The Eight Pillars of Innovation, shares these principles of innovation that the company has picked up along the way. Fostering a culture of innovation. Cultivating a culture of innovation in an organization requires, more than anything, transformational leadership in order to inspire its members to champion the cause.

systematically because, believe it or not, it can be developed; nurture passion; make the work matter and show members of the team that they are doing something beyond themselves; provide the time for creative thinking and do it on a regular basis; and, lastly, value renewal. The piece ends with, These activities are only possible in a workplace that doesn't overvalue face time and undervalue the power of renewal. Meanwhile, Inc.com, in the article 7 Steps to a Culture of Innovation, recommends: fueling passion and focusing that into a sense of purpose; celebrating ideas and rewarding creativity; fostering autonomy and extending trust so as not to stifle the creative process; encouraging employees to take risks without fear of judgment; learning to let go of the fear of failure and keep on trying; thinking small since smaller companies tend to be more curious and nimble than large corporations; and maximizing diversity in the workforce, whether it be due to race, religion, political beliefs, hobbies, and interests.

Transformational leadership is the sparkplug to spur bold out-of-the-box thinking and risk-taking

The Harvard Business Review blog entry Six Secrets to Creating a Culture of Innovation, encourages leaders to make transformational moves, such as: meet peoples needs in the workplace because the more people are preoccupied by unmet needs, the less energy and engagement they bring to their work; teach creativity

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NEWS ON THE NET

Business
Company (PLDT) to take an even larger stake in Digitel. BusinessWorld reports that PLDT, which currently controls 51.26% of Digitel shares, can increase its stake if it converts the zero-coupon, convertible bonds acquired as part of the P69.2 billion takeover deal late last year. According to a report by the Philippine Senate Committeee on Public Services, last year's merger of PLDT's Smart Communications and Sun Cellular (Digitel) gave PLDT a combined 70% control of the cellular communications market. attached agencies, bureaus and services. In conjunction to this, several connected agencies such as the Professional Regulation Commission and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration are also upgrading their online capabilities.

U.S. insourcing trend a cause for Philippine concern

The outsourcing sector of the Philippines should focus on developing and marketing higher-value services if it hopes to keep a competitive edge, in light of the move by the U.S. to insource more jobs. The trend could potentially signal a longterm slump in the demand for outsourcing services locally. Late last year, the Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act, which seeks to ban American companies from setting up call centers abroad, was filed in the U.S. Congress. In reaction to this, President Aquino said he is optimistic the measure will not be passed by the U.S. government.

Labor info systems Bioethanol to be available production cant online cope with demand
This 2012, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) plans to make available online six new information systems: case docket and monitoring; enhanced labor standards enforcement monitoring; foreign labor operations; human resource information; registry of establishments information; and a virtual integrated system. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement that one of DOLEs thrusts this year is to develop new information systems to ensure fast, extensive and integrated delivery and monitoring of all services being provided by all DOLEThe Philippines has to import more bioethanol this year, about 400 million liters, because of local producers inability to supply more, says the Department of Energy. The government agency said that expected demand for the alternative fuel could reach up to 500 million liters, of which only 100 million liters can be produced locally. Energy Secretary Rene Almendras also cited the full effectivity this year of the Biofuels Act of 2006 which requires that all gasoline sold in the country should have at least 10 percent bioethanol in the mix.

PLDT poised to corner up to 88% of Digitel stock after capital increase

Governments approval of Digitels bid to nearly triple its capital stock paves the way for the Philippine Long Distance Telephone

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A Glimmer of Hope for Myanmar

The world wants to be cautiously optimistic about the government's reform-minded moves
By Marishka Noelle M. Cabrera A year after Myanmar's military-backed regime held elections following decades of harsh repression, the world is waiting to see if recent developments reflect genuine political and economic reform in this reclusive nation. After all, a string of modest yet significant initiatives from President Thein Sein i.e., freeing democracy icon and National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi from years of house arrest and conducting subsequent dialogues with her, easing of Internet and media restrictions, suspending a multi-billion

STRATEGY POINTS
ASEAN and the West are taking notice of developments in Myanmar President Thein Sein is seen as the "careful reformist" Improvement of the lives of ordinary citizens will be the true test of reform

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dollar hydropower project with China, and releasing hundreds of prisoners under a broad amnesty would have been utterly unthinkable a year ago. The world is taking notice of these positive developments. Welcoming the once-pariah state into the fold of international affairs, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed at the blocs summit last November to allow Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2014, a victory for the new government seeking international legitimacy, an Agence France Presse report published on the Ethnic Nationalities Council website says. All leaders are in agreement that significant changes, significant developments, have taken place in Myanmar and those changes have made it more conducive for Myanmar to carry out this responsibility, Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa explains. He adds that ASEAN will continue to monitor developments to ensure that Myanmar will be more than where they are now come 2014, amid concerns that the move may be premature. The ASEAN chairmanship has been denied Myanmar over criticism of its historic hardline policies and humanrights abuses. The NLD returns to the political system. In November, Suu Kyi expressed her intention to run in the upcoming by-election, with the NLD unanimously deciding to re-register as a political party. Before 2011 came to a close, Suu Kyi officially registered her party. Photos from a video from Reuters show Suu Kyi meeting with Myanmar officials in the remote capital, Naypyitaw, and then arriving at the election commission office to register the NLD. The Associated Press reports no date has been set for the by-election, but Election Commissioner Tin Aye says the announcement will be made three months before the elections to give candidates time to campaign. The NLD boycotted the 2010 electionsand the entire political system, for that matter, ever since the partys victory in the 1990 general elections was not recognized by the junta. The international community has been looking to Suu Kyi for guidance as to how to regard the new government's actions. So far, Suu Kyi has been cautious in welcoming the developments, while admitting that talks with government officials felt real. A report from Singapore's The Straits Times as published in Asia News Network quotes Suu Kyi: "I know we are not there yet, but we can see the way clear ahead more than we have ever been able to." Nevertheless, that there have been changes no matter how small or cosmetic cannot be denied. In light of these apparent changes, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with both President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi in the backward yet resource-rich country on Dec. 1. The Economist, in its piece A new Great Game?, calls the visit an endorsement of a reform process that started slowly over a year ago, but which has been gathering momentum fast since August, when Ms Suu Kyi herself travelled to Naypyidaw to meet Mr Thein Sein for the first time. Sanctions not being lifted just yet. Although the lifting of sanctions that have long crippled economic development in the country remains to be seen, Clinton

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announced the U.S. will finally agree to and support assessment programs by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, based on reports from the Democratic Voice of Burma. Also included in the report is a video of a press conference in which Clinton says: Any steps that the government takes will be carefully considered, and will be, as I said, matched because we want to see political ' and economic reform take hold. And I told the leadership that we will certainly consider the easing and elimination of sanctions as we go forward in this process together.

Upon meeting Suu Aung San Suu Kyi Kyi, Clinton tells the BBC, "It was incredibly emotional and gratifying In The Political Economy to see her free from the many years of of China-Myanmar Relations: Strategic house arrest." In welcoming current and Economic Dimensions, published reforms in the country, Clinton adds, in the Ritsumeikan Annual Review of "There has to be a momentum behind International Studies, Poon Kim Shee, reform and we're waiting and watching visiting professor of international relations for that. at Kyoto, Japan-based Ritsumeikan University, maintains that Myanmar is Countering the growing influence of China. neither a strategic pawn nor an economic In an AP analysis published in The pivot of China, and that Sino-Myanmar Guardian prior to the visit, the Obama relations in the past have been administrations diplomatic efforts are said mutually beneficial. to be geared toward expanding U.S. ties in economically vibrant Southeast Asia as a Leadership at the crossroads. With counter to the growing influence of China. Thein Seins leadership at the crossroads, the new leader is faced with the challenge Despite Chinas support, the AP analysis of strengthening the credibility (and says, Myanmars nationalistic leaders acceptability) of his government. Despite have an ingrained suspicion of China and his strong association with the former

I know we are not there yet, butwe can see the way clear ahead more than we have ever been able to'

are wary of becoming in thrall to another power. Thus, the reclusive government has tried to balance Chinas influence by building ties with its western neighbor, India, which has, according to a paper by the Indian Council of World Affairs, until recently been ambivalent in dealing with Myanmar due to concerns about international opinion. Now, India has a stake in having friendly relations with Myanmar for economic and security reasons. Since Myanmars isolation from the world, China has supported Myanmar for geopolitical reasons, but an academic writing in 2002 says that Myanmars China policies since 1948 have been a combination of its internal needs and responses to external threats.

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junta leader General Than Shwe, Thein Sein is attempting to project an image of independence. An analysis from Aljazeera calls the Myanmar president the careful reformist because while he may be sincere, there are still those around him eager to keep the status quo. In September, the president suspended work on the $3.6-billion Myitsone dam project amid growing public opposition. The Irrawaddy, an online news service by exiled Burmese journalists living in Thailand, reports that the president wrote a letter to Parliament saying: Our government, being elected by the people, has to take great consideration of public opinion. Accordingly, we have an obligation to respond to the public concern with seriousness. Therefore, we will suspend the Myitsone project during the term of our government. As such, the proclamation was received by opponents of the dam as a welcome development. According to International Rivers, an environmental organization supporting Myanmars local groups, concerns over the Myitsone project involve its role in exacerbating the long-standing conflict between the ethnic Kachin people and the military government, not to mention the dams reservoir will submerge important historical and cultural sites and will cause irreversible damage to Burmas key river system. The Myitsone dam is said to be one of the seven damsthe cornerstone, in factof a grand hydropower project by China Power Investment, based on reports from The Washington Post. Through the years, China has managed to seal the deal with oftenrepressive regimes in its quest to find more sources for the countrys increasing energy needs. Fortunately for China, economic and political sanctions from the West have pushed Myanmar to forge closer relations with China. Slowly liberalizing previous hardline policies? Even as some critics might maintain that Thein Sein is merely a pawn used by the junta to perpetuate power, with the change in leadership, Myanmar is seen as slowly liberalizing its previous hardline policies. In defying China, the nominally civilian government is sending a signal that it is not beholden to China, and more importantly, that the peoples voice is actually being heard, a far cry from the countrys state of affairs under Than Shwe just over a year ago. In another surprising move, the government released some 200 prisoners in October, including key figures in the NLD and comedian-activist Zarganar, according

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to reports from The Telegraph. Some in the international community welcomed the move as an encouraging step, while others were disappointed that selected prisoners were not among those released. But now, in ushering the new year, the government was reported to have begun releasing more political prisoners, including Shin Gambira, a Buddhist monk who led the 2007 uprising, Sai Nyunt Lwin, a well-known ethnic Shan politician, and Min Ko Naing, a leader of the "88 Generation Students Group", who led the pro-democracy protest in 1988. A Reuters report published by GMA News reveals the amnesty could effectively cover 651 inmates, according to officials. Thein Sein needs to be given some room to move, a commentary from Radio Free Asia says. Further, the analysis describes Thein Sein as being overly cautious because he is aware that the hardliners are still waiting in the wings for their chance to contain him. As the commentary puts it: It is clear from talking with government officials and sources close to the new Burmese army that the old junta has gonewhether for good or not only time will tell. 'Meaningful and irreversible reforms' still needed. Still, some observers are not convinced. The Irrawaddy, in its editorial One Year Later: Bogus Election Offers

Some Hope, believes that while present reforms are welcomed and appreciated, more meaningful and irreversible reforms that put real political and economic power into the hands of the Burmese people are still needed. Sadly, deep ethnic conflict still plagues the country. The paper, Burmas Continuing Human Rights Challenges, of the Human Rights Watch concludes much has yet to be done in terms of resolving ethnic conflict and ending the culture of impunity pervading the military. In ethnic areas, the human rights situation remains dire. While there are grounds for hope that fundamental change will come to Burma, it is too early to conclude that it has in fact begun, the paper notes. The Transnational Institute provides a backgrounder on the tensions among ethnic groups and the government and says the new administration has the opportunity to resolve Myanmars long-standing political and ethnic crises through dialogue and participation. Sincere, inclusive and considered policies could mean that the new government will be the first to achieve ethnic peace in Burma since independence, the paper opines. Moreover, the international community is still calling on the Yangon government to free more political prisoners. Speaking out in

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2010, U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar Toms Ojea Quintana is urging the government to release all remaining political prisoners by the years end. He says the government must not use prominent prisoners as hostages to have the compliance of the international community. In an interview with Reuters, Thein Sein's chief political adviser, Ko Ko Hlaing, said that the government is also careful about instituting reforms, fearing pro-democracy uprisings similar to those during the Arab Spring may also happen in the country if it moves too quickly. A question persists: Is there enough reason to hope that these changes in Myanmar are in fact overtures to national reconciliation? The ultimate challenge is rebuilding a nation torn by decades of repression by a monolithic and rigid system. National reconciliation is the foundation upon which we want to build our new nation, Suu Kyi says in an interview with The Economist. Major reform underway? The International Crisis Groups policy briefing Myanmar: Major Reform Underway provides an analysis of developments in terms of economic, political, human rights, and legislative reforms. The paper

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maintains, nonetheless, that political reconciliation, ethnic conflict, international relations with others in the region, the West, and the United Nations are divisions that should be addressed. Renewed engagement with the world particularly ASEAN and the West notwithstanding, the true test of reform will be in the improvement of the lives of ordinary Burmese citizens. In a country rich in timber, minerals (including natural gas and oil), and marine resources, the general populace still suffers from slow economic development after years of isolation. (A December 2010 Asian Development Bank factsheet on Myanmar reveals that the bank has not provided direct assistance to Myanmar in more than 20 years. The bank does say, nonetheless, that it liaises with the country's major bilateral donors regarding their assistance programs, continues to monitor political and economic developments, and will formulate an operational strategy when appropriate. ) These days, hope is the only way to move forward in Myanmar, and now that the tide appears to be turning, the world is hoping the government won't try to turn it back.

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Iran starts uranium enrichment, condemns American to death
Iran defies U.S. sanctions and boldly begins to enrich uranium deep inside a mountain at the Fordow bunker near the city of Qom. The Middle Eastern country has also brought down the death sentence for Amir Mirza Hekmati, a 28-year old former U.S. military translator and dual citizen originally from Arizona. The two incidents made news just when U.S. sanctions have started to affect Iran economically. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been very vocal about the sanctions, and continues to question why the U.S. insists on punishing Iran. BBC News provides a profile of Kim Jong-un who took over the leadership of North Korea when his 69-year-old father, Kim Jong-il, passed away last month. breaking into the back of the gallery by forcing open a balcony door. The theft and smuggling of art and antiquities has long been a problem in preserving national heritage, especially for Greece. The Greece-U.S. bilateral agreement to protect antiquities, enacted in July and the 15th of its nature signed by the U.S., helps although more of these agreements should be proposed and signed all over the world to make heists such as these a thing of the past.

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Two more monks set themselves alight in China

Picasso's "Cabeza de Mujer" stolen from the National Gallery in Greece

North Korea announces prisoner amnesty

North Korea has announced that, in celebration of the late Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sungs birthdays, the country will grant amnesty for prisoners beginning February 1. Though there has been no mention of the number of prisoners to be released, Amnesty International estimates that there are as many as 200,000 being held in political prison camps all over North Korea.

Picasso painting stolen from Athens exhibit

The Athens National Gallery recently reported the theft of a Picasso painting, the Womans Head (given to the gallery by the artist himself), along with Mondrians Landscape with a mill, and a Caccia pen-and-ink drawing called il Moncalvo, valued at about 5 million euros combined. Police said that the heist took only seven minutes, with the thieves stripping all three artworks from their frames after

Acts of self-immolation are rising in China, with two more monks reportedly setting themselves on fire in separate incidents. These are the 13th and 14th incidents of self-immolation since March of last year, both claimed by Tibetan campaign groups as statements of protest against Chinese rule. Tibet has been a source of unrest for the Chinese government since the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, with intermittent incidents flaring up such as the Tibetan Uprising of March 2008. BBC News dedicates a section of its website to the historical background and the current movement of tensions between Tibet and China.

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TECHNOLOGY

Cloud computing: Up there and all around us

By Maria Carmina Olivar

With applications such as e-mail, virtual storage, and business services, cloud computing looms larger over our computing horizon
Cloud computing is one of those things that today's computer user avails of on a daily basis, and, most likely, without thinking twice about it. The most popular example is e-mail. Do you use Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, or any other web-based e-mail service? If you do, you're using an online service whose major benefit to you may seem obvious but worth reiterating nonetheless: you don't have to be in a fixed location i.e., your home or your office to access your mail. Where's your mail being stored? Does it really matter?

STRATEGY POINTS
Cloud computing is all around us, in online applications that have become commonplace. If you're a small business, you can avail of cloud-based services to run and develop your enterprise.

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(If you're used to web-based e-mail, you've probably discovered that storing important files and notes in draft letters without addressees has even freed you from the need to store them in flash drives, except, of course, if you need a physical copy. If you're only discovering that now, you're welcome.) Moreover, when you upload or download a document, video, or a photo through an online portal, or when you use online storage to back up important files using Google Docs or Dropbox, or the new iCloud to store your photos, documents, and personal music collection so they can be accessed by your desktop computer, your notebook, your tablet, and your music player, you're promoting the proliferation of online storage and applications in everyday life. You're contributing to what could be a major paradigm shift from personal, desktop-based computing to virtual, cloudbased computing. In fact, if you have a small venture that's not Internet-based but for which you'd like to establish an online presence, almost everything you need in order to be present on the Internet is based on applications made possible through cloud computing. If you sign up for an e-mail address on Yahoo or Gmail, upload video advertisements or teasers on Vimeo or YouTube, post pictures and manage an online store on Multiply, set up a payment system using PayPal, and/ or create a page to raise awareness of your product or services on Facebook, you're already using cloud computing technology. To be sure, virtual computing has been with us since the Internet's takeoff as a commercial medium in the '90s, but primarily through file transfers from one personal computer to another. What's

gaining traction these days is the promotion of cloud-based computing not just for file transfers and online payments but also for customized business applications. AMIs World Wide Cloud Services Study estimates that small and mid-size business (SMB) spending on cloud computing will approach a hundred billion dollars by 2014. What is cloud computing? According to a white paper published by Sun Microsystems in June 2009, cloud computing is the next generation of network computing. Quite simply, cloud computing works by increasing the speeds through which applications are deployed by endusers using information technology as a service over the network. The National Institute of Standards and Technology of the U.S. defines it as a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. In laymans terms, cloud computing can give end-users a network, applications, and data storage and access that don't require them to have anything more than a personal computer of their own. The end-users don't have to know where the applications and data are stored, nor do they have to be network troubleshooters or database programmers. There is no exact, precise definition of cloud computing yet, as there are different models being employed currently. A European Commission paper on The Future of Cloud Computing draws a distinction between private and public clouds. Private clouds

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such as eBays are usually owned or leased by a private entity, and their functionalities and inner workings arent made obvious to the customer. Meanwhile, public clouds such as Amazons allow end-users to take advantage of cloud features for their own purposes. Doing this allows other entities to outsource cloud services to providers, which reduces costs and eliminates the need to build their own infrastructure. Hybrid

The plug-anywhere cybergrid in the ether

As reported by Andy Patrizio in internetnews.com in March 2009, author and former Harvard Business Review executive editor Nicolas Carr likens the development of cloud computing to the early 20thcentury developments that made electricity the public utility and ubiquitous necessity it is today. According to Carr, cloud computing is like an electrical grid, and today's advances in cloud computing are analogous to the developments that facilitated the use of electricity in the early 20th century. In the 19th century, electric generators served very specific territories. Companies would build power plants specifically for their own usage. It was not a shared utility. This is similar to computing power before the cloud computing technology revolutionized the industry back in the day, a powerful computer handling many tasks and responsible for holding and processing huge amounts of information would need its own specific storage space, server, hardware and even software. Direct Current (DC) power (pioneered by Thomas Edison) allowed for power plants to exist as separate entities that generated power for companies, who then paid for the service. The only drawback was that DC power could be transmitted only over short distances. Then Nikola Tesla's Alternating Current (AC) made long-distance power transmission possible. So today we're all plugged in and comfortable, and taking electricity for granted. Cloud computing technology, Carr posits, will make it possible for computing machines to have that same convenience of being "plugged in and comfortable." It has changed the way we live by changing how we interact with and use computers and other online gadgets, and by changing how much we expect to be able to do. Whereas before computing power was a tedious and expensive thing to build up for your own use, today you can store a massive amount of information or run a complicated processing program elsewhere in a cloud, but retain control of it using your laptop, iPad, netbook, or even your smartphone. It is becoming cheaper and more accessible much like electricity after the development of DC and then AC power. That is the essence of Carr's electrical grid comparison that cloud computing technology, much like the electrical grid, will be the foundation for a whole new range of services and possibilities that will open up and permanently change any industry that utilizes it. future include community clouds and special purpose clouds. Cloud computing for personal and professional use. To illustrate cloud

clouds are a mix of both, and are still being developed. Private and public cloud features are intertwined to reduce cost while maintaining data security. Other types of clouds that may be more prevalent in the

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computing on a personal level, imagine for the uploading, downloading, and storage you're an end-user who wants to upgrade of large items such as media files. Imagine your Macbook's operating system to the the convenience of exchanging large files in latest Mac OS X Lion, which is being sold the cloud to facilitate your pre-press and by Apple only through its online App Store proofing tasks. through direct download. Instead of going to an Apple Center or another retailer to buy a What is a cloud platform? According physical installation DVD, you can download to a paper published by David Chappell & the installer of Lion upon payment through Associates, entitled A Short Introduction credit card. The content or app that you need to Cloud Platforms, a cloud platform is available to you online, allows developers to write anytime and anywhere. applications that will be able Anything that is stored to run in a cloud or use cloud The bottom anywhere other than your services, or both. Other terms line is computer's local hard drive is for a cloud platform include labeled as being in the cloud. on-demand platform and that cloud computing is platform as a service (PaaS). This is true whenever you are fast becoming Cloud infrastructure services looking for a device driver a dominant to run specific hardware that provide a foundation or peripherals of your PC, player in how by which applications on laptop, digital camera, or a cloud platform are made we live and smartphone. You just go to include the following: storage, operate in the integration, and identity. In their specific website, check out the technical support a nutshell, applications need Internet age section, and you will find the space for data, and currently file you need in their cloud. are also designed to talk or You download, install, and in a moment, connect to other applications for the users your device is running with the latest build! convenience. Lastly, applications typically need to know something about its users To illustrate cloud computing on a an identity service on the cloud makes it professional level: Imagine you are in easier for digital identities to be verified and the publishingindustry, and your latest utilized. An example of this is magazine issue is ready for printing. Say, for Microsofts Windows Live ID. example, that your printer is in Hong Kong or Singapore, while your office in Manila. An example that online businesses regularly You can send over the electronic copy of your benefit from is the feature that allows endmagazine for printing, not in a DVD that users to login to their sites via Facebook you still have to send via courier service, but Connect. Businesses that are just starting through FTP or File Transfer Protocol. An out dont have to waste time and money FTP facilitates an online repository that can hiring people just to program a way by which be set up by an individual or company, which they can control and keep tabs on who is is usually secure and accessible through a accessing their website. Facebook Connect username and password, and which allows does it for them. The tool allows users who

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may be too lazy or busy to set up a new account practically instant, non-anonymous, secure access to different websites otherwise not connected to Facebook; and thus, helps Internet-based businesses grow overall. What kinds of applications are being developed on cloud platforms? A paper entitled Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing published by the US Berkeley Reliable Adaptive Distributed Systems Laboratory enumerates the different kinds: mobile interactive applications, parallel batch processing, analytics, and more. The most visible of these, of course, are the mobile interactive applications. If you own a smart phone, chances are you are using one of these. The rest have more to do with the computing nature of cloud

Cloud computing: Up there and all around us

services since storage and computation are more efficient with cloud technology, computing times are sped up significantly, and thus make for more compact and very useful applications than their previous counterparts. What does this all mean? The bottom line is that cloud computing is fast becoming a dominant player in how we live and operate in the Internet age. There is a paradigm shift in the works. Although cloud service outages remain an issue, the fact of the matter is that computer power nowadays has been made so cheap by cloud computing technology that it outweighs the chance of failure. While industry leaders like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have all experienced downtime, and caused standstills for both large companies and end-users, cloud computing nevertheless remains a formidable technology that looks like it's here to stay.

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Technology
work behavior. The 2011 National Business Ethics Survey of the Ethics Resource Center confirms that, over the last two years, almost half of all U.S. employees committed a legal or ethical violation while at the workplace and that social media usage seems to be part of the problem; in no small part due to the ease by which peer pressure to conform and compromise, and retaliation against whistleblowers, can be done via the social media platform. sequencing as the process of determining the exact order of the 3 billion chemical building blocks that make up the DNA of the 24 different human chromosomes. A video by Life Technologies shows the implications of the medical and technological breakthrough.

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Kodak restructures amid bankruptcy battle

U.S. photography giant Eastman Kodak Co. is keeping bankruptcy at bay by reducing its business segments. Investors, initially spooked by reports of Kodaks bankruptcy, cheered the news of the companys restructuring. The Wall Street Journal first broke the news of an impending bankruptcy filing of what once was considered Americas biggest tech icons. A slideshow on the brief history of Kodak is provided by mashable.com. The troubles besetting Kodak is attributed to its failure to fully capitalize on technologythe digital camera-which it invented and pioneered.

Nicotine may help combat memory loss

A recent study cited by Bloomberg surveys 781 former smokers and reveals that almost a third relapsed and went back to smoking tobacco even after using nicotine replacement products. The results cast doubts on the effectiveness of products, such as gums and patches, which claim to help smokers stay off the habit. Relatedly, smoking may not entirely be bad to ones health, according to a new study cited by Livescience.com, which says that nicotine may help combat memory loss. Even smoking marijuana is not harmful, asserts a study by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which finds that a joint a week for up to 49 years does not result in a significant decline in lung function.

$1,000, one-day DNA mapping now a reality

Two rival U.S. companies have separately built machines which are able to sequence a genome in one day. The machines are hailed as an exceptional advance that can change the field of medicine, allowing people to easily elucidate a diseases underlying genetic causes as well as possible ways to treat it. The Human Genome Program of the U.S. government defines DNA

Social media contributes to ethical lapses in the workplace

New research is uncovering a disturbing trend in the workplace, showing that our social mediainundated culture is contributing to a significant slack in ethical

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