Lawyering's Ins and Outs

I joined the Facebook group We Condem the Maguindanao Massacre, Justice for the Victims! Like the almost three (3) thousand members of the group, I share the group description " All Filipinos should come out and condemn the Maguindanao massacre. let us not let this pass, let the world know, specially the Philippine government that we will not stop until justice is delivered to the victims of the Maguindanao massacre. We have come to be known to ourselves and to the world as a nation that suffered from the Ondoy and Pepeng, came together as one to help each other, drew strength from each other then to a glorious and magnificent definition of a Filipino capable of being a champion boxer making world boxing history admired by all to a simple man in Cavite who on his own efforts took the pains of educating his neighbors by pushing a push cart through the streets and becoming the CNN hero of the year. From that lofty and admirable high spot we are now, we Filipino are now redu...

Client wants to know if it can utilize an area constituting a salvage zone. Under Article 51 of the Presidential Decree No. 1067 , otherwise known as “ The Water Code of the Philippines ”, Salvage Zone is defined as “the zone of three (3) meters in urban areas, twenty (20) meters in agricultural areas and forty (40) meters in forest areas, along their margins, subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, flotage, fishing and salvage. No person shall be allowed to stay in this zone longer than what is necessary for recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing or salvage or to build structures of any kind ”. The Philippine Ports Authority has jurisdiction over all shorelines or salvage zones. It cannot, however, grant an exemption for the individual personal use of the shoreline. Based on our representation with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR ), we learned that the available option is for client to file a Foreshore L...