Salonga Law Center, PROCESS conducts forum
February 2, 2007
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Former UP College of Law Dean Froilan Bacungan discusses about constitutional reforms during a forum at the Moot Court, Villareal Hall, Silliman University.

       “Vision with action can change the world.”

       This was what Judge Alfredo F. Tadiar, one of the speakers, said during the Pre-MCLE Forum on Constitutional Reforms, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Elections held last February 2, 2007 at Moot Court, Villareal Hall, Silliman University, Dumaguete City.

       It was co-sponsored by the Dr. Jovito R. Salonga Center for Law and Development and Participatory Research Organization of Communities and Education towards the Struggle for Self-reliance (PROCESS).

       The speakers of the said event were Dean Froilan M. Bacungan, former dean of the College of Law, University of the Philippines, on the topic “Should Cha-cha be considered dead?”, Atty. Jove V. Aspiras on “Requirements for Party-List Accreditation and Implications on the Marginalized and Underrepresented”, and Judge Tadiar on “The Rationale for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Court-Annexed Mediation (CAM)”.

       In the matter of amending the 1987 Philippine Constitution inorder to change our country’s form of government, Dean Bacungan said that character change is what need aside from charter change.

       “We need a constitution that would bring about a constitution truly of the Filipinos, by the Filipinos, and for the Filipino people,” Dean Bacungan added.

       On the other hand, Atty. Aspiras included in his discussion the case of Ang Bagong Bayani, et al. versus COMELEC of limiting the participation in the party-list system to the marginalized and underrepresented.

       And on the rationale for ADR and CAM, Judge Tadiar emphasized its ultimate objectives of changing litigious culture that has resulted in the “overuse, misuse and abuse of the courts” and on restoring the role of the judiciary as the forum of last recourse of disputes that have failed earlier efforts of private accommodation.

       “The forum was part of the Salonga Center’s development-oriented information campaign program, with the objective of stimulating discourse, and increasing local awareness and participation in national issues so that law becomes a powerful tool to transform society into a better place to live in (Transformative Law).

       The said forum was attended by the faculty, staff, and students of the College of Law of Silliman University and Negros Oriental State University, and other guests in the legal profession. (by Christy Ann Marie R. Cong)

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