‘Trash’ from Tan

Lawyer Oscar Franklin Tan wrote trash in his Aug. 10 Inquirer column titled “Law schools to teach ESP after Torre case.” His main argument in the column is that DMCI violated no law in constructing Torre de Manila and its enemies are only using nonexistent laws in opposing the construction of the condominium project.

I pity him for not researching enough. Or why would he research for an adversarial position when he lawyers for DMCI using his Inquirer column?

For the sake of those who love the Rizal Monument, let us not give consideration to Tan’s argument because there is Section 25 of Republic Act No. 10066. The section empowers cultural agencies of the government to issue a cease and desist order to suspend all activities that affect cultural properties. The provision’s keyword for the intervention of the government’s cultural agencies is “physical integrity”—of the national cultural treasures or important cultural properties, when this is found to be in danger of significant alteration from its original state. By the way, RA 10066 was approved on March 26, 2010, or two years before DMCI started to secure the permits for the construction of Torre de Manila.

Tan and the counsel of DMCI in the case before the Supreme Court argued correctly: Words of laws should not be understood as technical terms but from the perspectives of the citizens who would not understand these words as technical terms. Applying the same reasoning, the words “physical integrity” being used in the law should not be used in engineering terms but from the standpoint of ordinary people who took their pictures before the Rizal Monument and found instead that Torre de Manila dwarfed the monument.

May I suggest therefore to our Supreme Court justices that in deciding this case, they use their common sense by standing on the shoulder of Maria Orosa Street at the side of the Rizal Monument, face the monument upfront, and see for themselves whether the physical integrity of this cultural treasure is significantly altered from its original state.

—MAGNO SIMBULAN, [email protected]