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Marella inhibits self from steel firm-BDO case

COURT of Appeals Associate Justice Sixto Marella Jr. on Wednesday inhibited himself from trying the multi-billion peso corporate case lodged by Steel Corporation of the Philippines (SCP) against Banco de Oro-Equitable PCI Bank amid allegations of irregularities in the raffling of the case to his chamber.

SCP, one of the country's top steel manufacturers, has been asking the CA to stop the rehabilitation plan sought by one of its creditors, BDO-EPCIB. It said the move smacks of a takeover by the Henry Sy-led bank.

SCP also sought the help of Chief Justice Reynato Puno and CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr. to review the chronology of incidents where all litigation filed before the CA ended up being raffled to Marella's court. The firm said there may have been a "deliberate attempt" by certain persons to direct all cases regarding SCP's rehabilitation to Marella.

SCP counsel Ferdinand Topacio said the firm had already suffered an injustice before a special commercial court in Batangas City and the suspicious assignment and handling of cases at the CA made matters worse.

Yesterday, Marella informed CA 16th Division chairman Associate Justice Mario Guarina III that he was granting the SCP's motion for his inhibition but qualified that it was not because there was truth to alleged manipulations in the raffling of cases. He also directed the records of the case forwarded to the raffle committee of the CA for re-raffle. He is expected to also inhibit himself from hearing two other pending petitions for certiorari and SCP rehabilitation-related cases he is handling. - Evangeline C. de Vera

DepEd, teachers clash on graduation theme

THE Department of Education set this year's graduation ceremonies between March 24 to 28 and the theme "The Filipino Graduates: Celebrating Achievements, Pursuing Opportunities" as Education Secretary Jesli Lapus reiterated his appeal to insulate the education sector from partisan politics

The militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers, on the other hand, insisted that the theme for this year's graduation ceremonies should be "Search for Truth" in connection with the claims of government corruption by NBN-ZTE whistleblower Rodolfo Noel Lozada.

Lapus stressed that many academic requirements still remain to be fulfilled and partisan political activities during class hours can only distract students. He also said that DepEd has not banned the campus tours of Lozada to amplify the charges he has made against President Arroyo, her husband, and her officials in Senate hearings on the NBN-ZTE deal.

"We need to respect the solemnity of the occasion and the rights and views of others," Lapus said.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, however, said yesterday that Lozada will not be allowed to make the rounds of public schools, in the provinces this time, because these schools are government property.

The DepEd policy on graduation ceremonies, in part, reads: "Graduation rites should be conducted solemnly, befitting the graduating students and their parents and should not in anyway be used as a venue for political forum." - Ashzel Hachero

Priests join call against mining

THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines yesterday joined anti-mining groups in calling for the scrapping of the Mining Act of 2005, saying it has caused more harm than good.

Laoag Bishop Sergio Utleg, CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Indigenous People (ECIP) chairman, said mining has adversely affected the people and the environment by causing irreversible destruction. "The CBCP-ECIP and their partner indigenous peoples' communities in the country are calling for the cancellation of all types of mining applications and the revocation of approved mining agreements," Utleg said. "We are also calling for the stoppage of all mining operations, especially those in ancestral domains."

Utleg said rural areas are still feeling the effects of mining long after operations have stopped, particularly in concessions mined by Toronto Ventures in Dipolog, Ipil, Ozamis, Pagadian, Iligan and Marawi in Zamboanga and Lanao; and by Sagittarius Mines in South and North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Saranggani, General Santos and Davao del Sur.