5/12/2018 A Filipino Conc e pt of Justic e - slide pdf.c om

A Filipino Concept of Justice (Jose W. Diokno)

Justice

- What the strong impose and the weak accept (real)

- What puts limits on what the strong can impose (ideal)

- First virtue of social institutions, as truth is of system of thought (John Rawls)

- Must yield to law if to perform in social function; essentially negative (Edgar Friedenberg)

Social Justice

- Determination on how to distribute the burdens and benefits of social life

Filipino Concept of Social Justice

JUSTICE

*Katarungan (tarong)  straight, upright, appropriate, correct

- Used by Tagalogs, Ilongos, Cebuanos and Pampangos

- Rectitude, morally right act, what is appropriate, embraces the concept of equity

RIGHT

*Karapatan (dapat)  fitting, appropriate, correct

- justice and right are related

LAW
*Batas  command, order, decree

- Law is not always just

*Kapangyarihan ( power and authority)

Concept of Justice

- highly moral concept, intimately related to the concept of right, similar but broader than to the
western, embraces equity

- fundamental element is fairness, eschews privilege and naked power

Just Society

First: Not only independent but in which the people are sovereign

Second: Respects the freedom and the equal dignity of all

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5/12/2018 A Filipino Conc e pt of Justic e - slide pdf.c om

Third: Protects workers and tenants, opposes oppression, exploitation and abuse, and seeks to
eliminate poverty

Fourth: United in brotherhood and relies on itself 

How Social Injustice is Committed

First: Not having a system of law at all, written or unwritten, or one so flawed that people do
not know what their legal rights and duties are. (form or procedure)

Second: Not enforcing law fairly. (form or procedure)

Third: Enacting laws that does not pursue the social values that constitute the Filipino vision of a
 just society, or that adopt means which subvert those values. (content or substance)

Having a System of Law is not enough, it must work by:

1. Authority of the law maker must be recognized by the majority of the people as legitimate
and as enacted must not exceed the limits on that authority imposed by the prevailing
consensus.

2. Laws must be published or made known to the persons who are to be affected by them.

3. Laws must not be changed so often or so quickly that people can not reasonably base plasn
on them.

4. Laws must be understandable and not contradictory, and must not prescribe acts beyond the
capacity of the people or against their conscience.

3 Basic rights of National Community

- right to survive
- right to external and internal sovereignty

- right to development

Poverty and Inequality

- the third malady aside from denial of human rights and the peoples rights

Four Factors which result to a persons income

1. amount of income-producing property he owns (inheritance)

2. his skills (products of education, genes and health; what his parents could pay for, wealth and
income)

3. his productivity (same with skills)

4. market value of his skills

(5.) closeness to the executive power

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5/12/2018 A Filipino Conc e pt of Justic e - slide pdf.c om

Effective means to attain Filipino Concept of Social Justice

1. eradicate poverty

2. select a means of developing and using natural resources

3. change those relations and structures of relations between each persons

Social Justice for Today

- coherent, intelligible system of law, made know to us, enacted by a legitimate government
freely chosen by us, and enforced fairly and equitably by a courageous, honest, impartial, and
competent police force, legal profession and judiciary:

1. respects our rights and freedoms both as individuals and as a people.

2. seeks to repair injustices that society has inflicted to the poor by eliminating or reducing
poverty as rapidly as our resources and our ingenuity make possible

3. develops a self directed and self sustaining economy that distributes its benefits to meet

4. changes our institutuions and structures, our ways of doing things and relating to each other

5. adopt means and processes that are capable of attaining these objectives

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