NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!

What applies to Maria, must be applied to Sara...

THIS REGIME is running after its critics, using full force of government resources, and every available trick in the book; while on the other hand, it is hell bent in protecting or ignoring its own abuses.

Obviously, Maria Ressa of Rappler is a clear example, now at the receiving end of a vindictive regime; a president who cannot tolerate criticisms or someone who has a lot to hide...

It started with SEC's executives unprecedented ruling: revoking Rappler's license to operate, citing foreign ownership issue. The attempt failed when CA remanded the case to SEC to allow Rappler a corrective measure, as it would normally do, in other similar cases.

Then it proceeded with another case through DOJ, employing a shady businessman known as Willy Keng, for a cyber libel case. What is odd is that the case was based on a published article in 2012 when Cyber Libel Case was not even in existence.

Anticipating a defeat, the government pursued tax evasion cases based on, again, an odd case, as it was based on an earlier finding that Rappler's Philippine Depositary Receipts amounted to foreign ownership, a "supposed defect" which the Court of Appeals said was already cured. In other words Court of Appeal already quashed the basis.

This regime has filed a total of 11 cases in a period of one year against Maria Ressa. If this is not harassment, I don't even know what to call it.

Now let's talk about the president's own transgressions...the Carpio & Duterte Lawyers firm, which has Sara and husband Manases ‘Mans’ R. Carpio as partners, was born over 10 years ago, 2008, but has NOT REGISTERED at all with Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In other words, it has no business to operate or practice law. But obviously, it has been engaged in many legal transactions, and three were known to be controversial cases.

As PCIJ would report: The Dutertes: Wealth Reveal & Riddles; Law firm not registered; some biz interests not disclosed; lender gets rice import deal... 

President's  disclosures in his asset records across 20 years are woefully inconsistent, or less than fully open. Including his son and daughter who are both LGU officials.

Daughter Sara, Davao City mayor, and son Paolo, resigned Davao City vice mayor, are similarly ambiguous in the declarations they have made under oath in their respective Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) across 11 years.

Checked against records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the businesses they declared they own or have interests in, the President, Sara, and Paolo separately and together offer a muddled mix of token or opaque data that, under the law, they are required to reveal in “truthful and complete” SALN submissions.

https://www.mindanews.com/special-reports/2019/04/the-dutertes-wealth-reveal-riddles-law-firm-not-registered-some-biz-interests-not-disclosed-debtor-gets-rice-import-deal/

Now let us focus on Sara Duterte and husband Mans Carpio's law firm. It would appear that the couple has been operating or serving as legal counsels to a number of clients for a decade, despite having NO license to operate, and obviously not paying the correct taxes.

The couple cannot deny this as they were embroiled in some controversial cases where they openly admitted and on public record that they represented or served as legal counsels, and while Sara is a public official, or serving her tenure as a mayor and her father as the president of the republic.

Conflict of interest? Ask the president and his sure reply will be, "wala kayong pakelam, or none of your business." 

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/national/pres-duterte-says-their-income-outside-the-govt-is-none-of-your-business/ar-BBVIfrC?li=AAb280R

Not too long ago, during the controversial BOC P6.4 Billion shabu hearing at the senate, resigned Customs Intelligence chief Neil Estrella earlier told lawmakers that he once saw Carpio, husband of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, leaving Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon's office.

His reply? Carpio, in a statement, explained that he was in the Customs office to represent 'several clients'.

"I represent many clients who have transactions with the Bureau of Customs. It is my job as a lawyer to appear before government agencies for and on behalf of my principals," Carpio said in a statement.

This was later on affirmed by no less than the president himself...

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/29/17/duterte-on-in-laws-customs-visit-i-have-no-control-over-other-people

In another controversial case, Mighty King Corporation, a company caught using fake BIR stamps to cover its imported cigarettes, depriving the government of billions of pesos.

Again, it was the president himself who revealed that he sees no problem with his son-in-law, Manases Carpio, representing the Filipino tobacco maker Mighty Corp. in legal cases.

In a speech at the 11th founding anniversary of the Eastern Mindanao Command in Davao City Friday (September 1), Duterte revealed that his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and Carpio, sought his blessing before taking on Mighty as a client.

“Yung pumutok ‘yung Mighty King, lumapit ‘yung anak ko, ‘yung asawa niya. Sabi niya, ‘Pa, kinuha ang law office namin ni Mighty King, para legal defense,'” he recalled.

https://abogado.com.ph/duterte-reveals-son-in-law-got-his-blessing-to-represent-mighty-basta-walang-hingin-sa-kin/

In Davao, no secret also that Mans Carpio represents or the legal counsel of Lapanday Foods Corporation in Davao, owned by the Lorenzos. The company is saddled with labor disputes and constantly under attack from the communist, New People's Army.

http://www.interaksyon.com/breaking-news/2017/05/01/69336/sara-duterte-asked-why-did-you-condemn-npa-attack-vs-lapanday-but-was-silent-on-firms-assault-vs-farmers/

The point is, the president has no qualms in attacking his critics using the government's full resources, while on the other hand ignores its own violation and to some extent a willing complicit to some activities outside of the law?