S1L15 – Everything that “Persona Non Grata” Resolution means or does not mean
One of the myths that law students are able to dispel quickly is the popular impression that their law professors know everything.
They hold them in such high esteem that many become disillusioned when they realize their favorite teacher didn’t really walk on water, after all.
“Sir, we read a post on Facebook that somebody who was recently declared persona non grata is going to avail of some remedies under Philippine law. We don’t remember you mentioning that in any of your lectures,” said a bunch of Third Year smartalecks who demanded to know, “what are those remedies, Sir?!”
“I don’t know,” I answered sheepishly, trying to avoid eye contact. Out of the corner of one eye I spied them looking around at one another as if to ask, “He doesn’t know? What kind of law professor is this?!”
One of them, a feisty young girl who graduated cum laude in Political Science, followed up, “Somebody said the DILG secretary would issue a departmental censure against the city council and the provincial board, what would that censure contain, Sir?!”
“I’ve never seen one,” I replied, throwing my gaze as far away as I can. I could hear them sigh in disappointment and whispering, “edi ba siyang teacher natin sa local government? Hindi pa raw siya nakakita ng censure letter against a local sanggunian?!”
A young man who excels in recitation lifted my chin up and looked me straight in the eye, “A resolution declaring persona non grata is a self-binding order by the resolver unto himself. That’s what makes it impossible to negate. Why, is there any way to stop a city council or provincial board from thinking and feeling the way they think and feel, Sir?! Tell us!!”
“I can’t think of any,” I said softly, wishing the school bell announcing end of class would ring soon. I could hear my students groaning, “anobayan, wala raw siyang alam na paraan para i-negate ang PNG resolution…aaay..”
Another girl with a big stupid grin on her face confronted me, “But, sir, once a PNG resolution is made public, people who agree with it have the right to behave in accordance with it. Can you prohibit the public from enforcing the essence of that PNG resolution in their own spheres of influence?!”
“I don’t see how,” I answered, feeling as tiny as an amoeba now because I couldn’t come up with better answers. I saw them roll their eyes all at the same time, whistling softly in total disbelief, “awan sa met ammo ni sir…”
Mercifully, a young transferee from another school across town intervened, “Wait a minute, let us get this straight. Are you telling us that a PNG resolution is a sovereign act by a legislative body, whose enforcement by a sovereign citizenry, cannot be prevented by an unelected minor official? Is that what you’re trying to tell us, Sir?!”
“I suppose so,” I said, my voice starting to shake.
Then they all erupted in joyful shouting and clapping, and started cheering and giving each other “high fives” and saying, “O kitam? Sabi ko na nga eh!”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Juan Dimacaawat, the class president explained, “We made a bet that if we asked you how anyone can escape the effects of a resolution declaring a person ‘persona non grata’ EVEN YOU cannot think of an imaginative way to do it!”
The author is a writer and lawyer based in Baguio City, Philippines. Former editor of the Gold Ore and Baguio City Digest, professor of journalism, political science and law at Baguio Colleges Foundation (BCF). He is a photographer and video documentarist. He has a YouTube channel called “Parables and Reason”