Ria Soneja

Manilakbayan 2014 is a national social movement lead by the Indigenous People of Mindanao (Lumad) and of the rest of the IPs in the Philippines. This paper shall thread the multi-faceted issues that are being raised by this movement. Issues that hamper the right of the IPs for self-determination and their right to their ancestral domains, and the issue of militarization and mining.Most importantly this paper shall be integral in determining State policies and institutional barriers that exacerbates the Human Rights violations and Militarization in Mindanao. As the mining corporations that perpetuate these injustices are also culpable in the inception of this movement.

The interdisciplinary feature that has been the recent focus in academic decision-making has not only introduced itself as a matter of administration and management of the academe in a comprehensive and holistic endeavor and decision-making. More importantly it has been in aid for the process that underlies a less biased decision in the academe.

Not a conspiracy, rather a brewing controversy that more frequently than not, has been the common subject in international relations may it be in the media commentaries and academe or scholarship- is Japan’s so-called “Return to Asia”. This topic has turned itself into a meme, attracting further attention and discussion on either the question of the mechanisms and probabilities of its occurrence, or the logic and validity of asking the question or query of its return to Asia in the very first place. However, limited to the parameter of its culture, the following section shall primarily focus and concern itself on the aspects or factors that reflect or shall indicate how and why this “Return to Asia” has surfaced. For only until then can we properly provide, albeit not in a holistic degree, any form of prospects or prognosis on Japan’s return to Asia.

Correspondingly, it will be imperative to address:

“What aspect of Japanese culture is deemed to be ‘Western’ and on the other hand what part of it have retained its ‘Asian-ness’ and what has sparked to suggest any renewed interest to the purported return to Asia? Moreover, who particularly among the Japanese is pushing for either or?

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY OR DIPLOMATIC IMPUNITY?
ABSTRACT
Diplomatic immunity is the legitimate excuse that could exempt any individual from civil or criminal legal prosecution or proceedings despite any offense that they have committed. It is established as a customary diplomatic law of international law. . As formerly mentioned, from the moment a foreign diplomat has invoked its diplomatic immunity, the foreign office or receiving state shall recognize such immunity through their exemption from any administrative, civil and criminal proceedings - provided of course that the offense invoked with immunity has been corroborated to have been committed during the performance or execution of their function as diplomats.  However, during the past decade, evidence of  petty or minor offenses such as failure to pay parking tickets, non-compliance to traffic regulations, and of serious or major offenses such as rape, murder, and even slavery has accumulated - bringing to our attention the abuse of this immunity. Diplomatic immunity as the sincere manifestation of the international law is in fact capable of turning into a compromising and threatening impunity. And this is where this study shall focus on.

This study shall first, provide the roots and background of diplomatic immunity in the history of international relations and affairs. Pertinent international laws and conventions that shall effectively determine and describe the nature and limitations of diplomatic immunity will be included.
The objective is to account for the different kinds of offenses or crimes that some diplomats committed in the country and cite cases wherein immunity was recognized or not.

Furthermore, this study also aims to problematize through the different cases or court decisions, the manner in drawing the line between minor and major offenses that can be invoked with diplomatic immunity, to deduce the existence or prevalence of impunity especially in instances wherein the grant of immunity supersedes not only the respect for the domestic law but the protection of human rights.

And as the last part of this study, it is of great significance to determine the availability of judicial remedies that are the sole agents in the guarantee of the protection of human rights that highly matter in times when diplomatic immunity turns out to be a form of impunity.