“LAGAY SYSTEM” IN THE GOVERNMENT FRONTLINE SERVICES: THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF SELECTED TRANSACTING CLIENTS

By: Feloteo S. Alonsagay, III,  JD1

INTRODUCTION

Early human beings or species in the first century had no rules, laws, or governments to follow. They could do whatever they wanted without any restriction until they formed tribes or ethnic groups and formulated their own rules and regulations based on their traditions, practices, and cultures. Since then, every tribe has had a small government that ruled over their members. Such governments were not united as different tribe leaders or chieftains headed every government; this was the time when sets of complicated laws slowly began and emerged simultaneously. At first, since there were only a few people, the people’s demands were low, so tribe governments could easily do their duty to the community. Nevertheless, when the population of human beings increased, tribal governments could not meet people’s demands. Thus, availing projects and support from governments was difficult. 

In today’s time, governments –particularly of developing countries– are still struggling with the same problem due to complex procedural systems and their exploitation of it. When people need to process their documents in government frontline agencies, they cannot finish and have their documents on time, as they have to line up and wait in a queue for a couple of hours and undergo many steps or procedures. Because of this situation, some people used the Lagay system–an act of giving bribes to fast-track or fix applications (Gaje, 2005)– to exploit such a long process. People, who have been using the Lagay system, are called transacting clients, and the ones who receive payments are fixers. In other words, fixers are individuals involved in an official or non-official function of a government agency or office who have access to employees working inside to facilitate the speedy completion of transactions for monetary gain, advantage, or consideration (sec. 4 (e), R. A. No. 11032); their objective is sometimes to help, but mostly to scam people. 

The Philippines, one of the developing countries in Southeast Asia, experiences the same problems as well. Due to bureaucracy, Philippine government frontline agencies –particularly the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Land Transportation Office (LTO), Social Security System (SSS), and National Bureau Investigation (NBI)– cannot cater to the needs and demands of citizens, so fixers come into play. According to Ballesteros (2019), fixers roam around the area of government frontline agencies and transact with people who need to process and secure their documents: drivers licenses, SSS pensions, Identification Cards, police clearance, NBI clearance, and the like; by engaging with people working inside offices, fixers then fulfilling their obligation arises from the oral contract made between or among their clients. One of the examples, as illustrated by Mickieann (2018) citing the information from Land Transportation Office (LTO), the average time to process a driver’s license is 3 to 4 hours, however, fixers can reduce the period to an hour. Even though the process is fast and licenses obtained from the fixers are legitimate physical cards, they are fake and illicit under the law; therefore, if someone tries to look up his details in the LTO Management Information Division, no records will be found. Through this, many Filipinos got scammed by fixers, and to combat the problem, the Philippine government enacted and implemented laws that could help improve government frontline services and eliminate the existence of graft and corruption brought by the Lagay system. 

As mandate is expressly stated in section 27, Art. 2 of the 1987 Constitution –the State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption– the Philippine government implemented the Republic Act No. 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007. The Anti-Red Tape Act was passed in response to the urgent need to establish an effective system that will eliminate bureaucratic red tape, avert graft and corrupt practices and improve the efficiency of delivering government frontline service. Through the course of implementation, the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 was amended by Republic Act No. 11032, also known as the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, to provide a program for the adoption of simplified requirements and procedures that will reduce red tape and expedite business and nonbusiness related transaction in the government. In other words, R.A. No. 9485 promotes transparency by mandating every agency to make procedures basic and known to the public, whereas R.A. No. 11032 merely concurs but strengthens the former law to facilitate prompt actions or resolution of all government transactions with efficiency. Thus, section 13 of R.A. No. 11032 deleted section 11 of the Anti-red tape act of 2007 and renumbered it into section 21, which states that “Violations and Persons Liable. – Any person who performs or causes the performance of the following acts shall be liable: (h) Fixing and/or collusion with fixers in consideration of economic and/or other gain or advantage.” Indeed, Lagay System (fixing) and fixers are prohibited and illegal in the Philippines, nevertheless, they still exist. 

Therefore, through extensive literature review, the researcher found insufficient study; thus, there is a gap of knowledge that has to be filled concerning the existence of the Lagay system and laws that penalize it. In this light, the researcher conducted this legal research to gather insights and experiences of selected transacting clients who have engaged with fixers, determine the factors that make the Lagay System exist; and identify and compare laws that penalize the Lagay System.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This legal study aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. gather insights and experiences of selected transacting clients who have engaged with fixers;
2. determine the factors that make the Lagay System exist; and 
3. identify and compare selected laws that penalize the Lagay System.

METHODOLOGY

This section shows the methods of the study: the research design, research instrument, participants, data-gathering procedure, and ethical considerations. 

Research Design 

Colaizzi’s (1978) strategy – the descriptive phenomenological approach– is the research design of this study. The vital purpose of such a phenomenological approach is to analyze, interpret, and formulate meanings of the experiences of the participants in processing their documents in a few of the government frontline agencies with the aid of fixers under the Lagay System. This design may give the researcher a deep understanding of how the Lagay System exists, and how selected Philippine laws define, prohibit, and penalize such a system.

Colaizzi’s (1978) strategy has seven (7) step processes, and these provide a rigorous analysis, with each step staying close to the data. The result is a concise yet all-encompassing description of the phenomenon under study, validated by the participants that created it. The method depends upon rich first-person accounts of experience; these may come from face-to-face interviews but can also be obtained in multiple other ways like surveys, written narratives, research diaries, blogs, online interviews, and the like. 

Research Instrument

The research instrument used in this study is a researcher-made survey guide question. The first three (3) questions are about the participant’s personal information: name, age, sex, address, and the like. The remaining seven (7) questions are about the participant’s insights about fixers, the Lagay system, laws that penalize such systems, and the participant’s first-hand lived experiences about processing governing transactions involving fixers.

Participants

There are five (5) participants involved in this study. They are residents of the City of Bacolod and have recently engaged with fixers in processing their documents in selected government frontline agencies. They are of legal age where three (3) are males, and the remaining two (2) are females. Moreover, they are selected based on the inclusion-exclusion criteria. 

Nickname of the participants	Sex	Age	Address	Selected Government frontline agencies
Mayang	Female	32	Brgy. Banago	LTO
Shine	Female	37	Brgy. Vista Alegre	LTO
Noynoy	Male	29	Brgy. Bata	BIR
Kerso	Male	23	Brgy. 39	LTO
Leo	Male	23	Brgy. Villamonte	LTO

Data Gathering Procedure

The researcher used online questionnaires for the data gathering. In preparing the guide, the researcher based the questions on the three (3) objectives of the study, which eventually created ten (10) survey questions. After that, the researcher encoded all questions in a Google form, and before the questionnaire was sent to the participants who were chosen based on the inclusion-exclusion criteria, the researcher had given them prior informed consent as part of data gathering ethical consideration. 

Ethical Consideration

The researcher observed ethical considerations to preserve and promote the integrity of this study. This ensures that the participants involved are safe and well-informed about the purposes and objectives of the study. Elaborating on the ethical norms in data gathering, the researcher had also given informed consent before surveying the insights and experiences of the participants in government frontline services transactions with the help of fixers inside the paradigm of the Lagay System. Further, concerning the information of the participants and the data gathered, the researcher secured their anonymity, and their data were sheltered confidentially. This ensures that their personal information is handled with respect and due care, and after a month from the time of collection, the data of the participants will be disposed of and erased.

DISCUSSION

Based on the responses of participants, five (5) themes emerged: protracted procedures, backer culture, fast transaction, hybrid fraudulent practice, and loopholes in the law. These themes are crucial and significant in understanding how fixers and the Lagay system work and how the law penalizes them. These are elaborated below with fictitious names of participants to maintain secrecy and confidentiality. 

Protracted Procedures

In this study, protracted procedure emerged as one of the themes based on the ideas and experiences of participants. The term protracted means long in duration, lengthened, extended, or prolonged in time (The Notion of “Protracted Armed Conflict” in the Rome Statute and the Termination of Armed Conflicts Under International Law: An Analysis of Select Issues, 2019). In other words, protracted procedure, in this legal research, refers to a lengthy or complex series of steps in every transaction. 

The following statements of Kerso describe how he experienced protracted procedures in processing important documents in government frontline services. He explains:

“nag process ko license. When I arrived at the LTO office, someone approached me and asked me about my appointment. While we were talking, I saw a long queue. Tapos sina gin process ko akon mga kinanglanon kag nag pasa requirements. Sa tood lang Grabi ka dugay sang proseso, kung lantawon mo lang kag basahon ang proseso daw kadali lang pero kung e apply na sa practical, budlay kag dugay Katama sang proseso. Sulod ka aga, hapon kana maka gwa.” (I processed my license. When I arrived at the Land Transportation Office (LTO), someone asked me about my appointment. I saw a long queue while we were talking, and after we talked, I processed and handed in my requirements to the person in authority. Actually, the duration of the process was so long. If you only read the process of application, you would say that it is easy; however, if you apply the process in a practical situation, it is so difficult and lengthy. I entered in the morning, but I left the office in the afternoon.)

Kerso explained that the process of transactions inside the office is lengthy and that he had a hard time falling in line in a long queue just to fulfill his objective for the day. He also said that since there is a long procedure or slow-paced procedure, a simple transaction consumes a lot of time. In addition, Mayang –one of the participants– also corroborated the experiences of Kerso. She asserts:

“pag abot ko sa opisina, damo katama tawo kay wala pato ya ang virus virus nga na. Kahinay sang lakat ka linya daw malupog kana ya sang pakadto pakari kag hulat para lang makuha mo ang kinanglanon mo  nga dokomento sa ila.” (When I arrived at the Land Transportation Office, there were many transacting clients since COVID19 had not yet been there in the Philippines. My feet were swollen because of staying in a long queue and going back and forth just to get the documents you needed from them.)

Mayang’s unforgettable experiences in processing her documents leave bad memories that shaped her beliefs about the existence of fixers.

Backer Culture

A Backer is a person or group of persons that assist someone (Backer Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary, n.d.). This aid may be money, actions of support, and the like. Nevertheless, in this study, backer refers to fixers or those individuals who give aid to transacting clients in exchange for pecuniary gain or any other advantage or consideration. In essence, Backer culture is a practice in which clients can easily negotiate with backers/fixers to speed up or shorten the period of the transaction. 

According to the participants of this study, most of the frontline services agencies are observing the so-called Backer Culture. Leo exemplifies his experiences:

“ara ni ang fixer sa gwa pero lapit sa office lang… sa vicinity sang office lang. gin approached yako kag nag storya kami. amoto nag transact ko sa iya. nag hatag lang ko requirements ko kag bayad kag siya nato ang nag process sa sulod..nag hulat lang ko didto sa sulod mga 45 minutes guro…pag gwa ya ara dayon ang dokomento ko.” (The fixer I am talking about was near the vicinity of an office. She approached me and we talked about my appointment. Eventually, I transacted with her and gave her my requirements and payment. Afterward, she went inside the office while I was waiting somewhere in the vicinity of such an agency. When she went out, I had only waited for more or less forty-five minutes, but she already had my documents).

Leo had a favorable experience in processing his documents with the help of fixers. Thus, Nonoy affirms that backers or fixers are essential to speed up their transaction process. He explains: 

“kahinay sang proseso, kag kabudlay kung wala ka backer or kilala sa sulod sang opisina. Usik lang sa oras kung mag pila ka nga wala sang kilala kay daw indi ka masapakan kung wala ka backer” (The process is slow, and it is difficult if you have no backer or acquaintance inside an office. It is only a waste of time if you fall in line without a fixer that you can contact with since somehow, they will not entertain you without a fixer).

Kerso also added that: 

“need gid ya backer para mapa dasig ang transaction. Kung wala ka backer or indi ka mag bayad sa backer mo, madugayan ka gid. Daw ka tradition nani para mapa dasig ang obra” (Backers are needed to speed up a transaction. If you have no backer or you fail to pay him, you will have a hard time. It seems that having a backer is a tradition to hasten the process of a transaction).

Leo, Nonoy, and Kerso are used to having backers or fixers in their transactions. They have been culturizing the use of backers to hasten the process of their transaction. They believe that the services of backers are essential in the interaction among government frontline service agencies. 

Fast Transaction

Fast transaction refers to the speed or urgency of movement or action; hurry (Brown,2017.) It also refers to haste which commonly means fast such as in completing a task (Singh,2016). In this study, fast transactions emerged as a theme which implies that participants need a fast bargain and quick result. As Mayang shared her experiences, she said:

”sa fixers, you can have easy and fast transactions. convenient especially kay may work ako..indi ako maka full time kadto didto. Mabayad ka lang ya sa ila kag e hatag mo lang ya requirement mo, sila nalang dayon bahala mag process sang dokumento mo. Indi kana mag kandarapa sang pangabudlay kag mahulat ka nalang ya.” (By having fixers, you will have easy and fast transactions. Because I have work, availing the aid of fixers is so convenient for me. You will only pay and give them your requirements, and they are the ones who will take charge of the process of your documents. You do not need to suffer; you only have to wait).

Nonoy also has the same exposure. He contends that:

“nag transact ko sa fixers para dasig ma proseso ang mga dokumento ko. Tested and proven na ni ya sa akon nga dasig man gid ma pa giho dokumento ang mga fixers. Para indi ko madugayan kay shempre damo man ko gina intindi kag sako man sa obra, transact nalang ko sa fixers para wala na libog bisan tood medyo mahal ang balayran compared sa required gid ya.” (I transacted with fixers to speed up the process of my documents. To me, fixers are tested and proven that they can hasten a transaction. Even though the payment is higher than the prescribed amount, I still transacted with fixers).

Leo likewise explains:

“dasigay kung sa fixer. no need na mag pa effort, balhas kag magpakapoy kay ang fixer ang ma process tanan para sa imo. Bayad ka lang ya, goods na ang proseso” (Fast-paced transaction for fixer. No need to give full effort because fixers will do all the work for you. Just pay them and the process is good already).

Three of the participants witnessed and experienced that fixer can transact fast compared to standard processes. They assert that availing the aid of fixers is convenient to them as they have other jobs as well. So, they give money to fixers, and fixers will do their obligation based on the oral contracts they made.

Hybrid Fraudulent Practice

Even though the services of fixers may be good to others, there are still some people who experienced bad from them. Before the implementation of Community Quarantine due to COVID-19, many transacting clients got scammed by fixers in face-to-face transactions. However, in this post-COVID-19 era, fixers elevate their scam techniques, and they have adopted online transactions. They advertise their offers and assistance, so many transacting clients have been fooled by them. In this theme, hybrid fraudulent practice refers to criminal deception intended to result in pecuniary or personal gain.

Shine shares her experience with it. She said:

“sa fb group ko na kita. they are offering services not only for applying for a driver’s license but also for getting a passport. so nag ask ko kag nag agreed kami sa transaction. nag bayad ko kag gin process niya ang documents ko. mga one to two days ara na akon nga dokumento. pero kulang kag peke tapos ang akon nabayad sobra sa prescribed amount.” (I saw them on a Facebook group. They are offering services not only for applying for driver’s licenses but also for getting passports. I inquired and agreed to transact with them. I paid and they processed my documents. My documents arrived one to two days, but they were fake, and the amount I paid was greater than the prescribed amount).

Nonoy also said:

“Ang isa ko ya ka experience sa fb ko man to sya na transact..nag bayranay kami thru gcash. Tapos nag salig man ko eh kay kapila naman ko maka transact fixers sa fb daw okay man. Amo lang to ang na hambal ko nga scam ko kay tapos ya baton sa kwarta gina pasalig ya lang ko asta nga gin blocked yako.” (One of my experiences on Facebook is that I transacted with him and paid him through Gcash. After that, since I had been satisfied with transacting with fixers, I trusted him. That was the time I concluded that I got scammed because after he received my payment, he kept telling me promises, and eventually, he blocked me on Facebook).

Shine and Nonoy had horrible experiences in availing the assistance of fixers. They are victims of scams of the so-called fixers. Since fixers now have a flexible tactic system which is accessible to different social media platforms, they operate anywhere either face-to-face or online transactions. Some fixers advertise their services on Facebook, YouTube, Google, and the like, while some remain in an old fashion way – person-to-person interaction. 

The loophole in the law

According to Ballesteros (2019) despite the implementation of laws in the Philippines, fixers still exist and they can be found in any government institution, office, or agency. Also, fixers are prevalent in government entities while some can be found in private individuals (Panganiban, 2018). Transacting clients are wondering why fixers exist. Thus, participants of this study concluded that there must be improvements to the services of government frontline service agencies to meet the demands of transacting clients.

Kerso said: 

”need gid ya nga e pa lip oton ang process. ga gwa malang ni ang mga fixers tungod dugay ang processo sa sulod sang opisina. ang fixers kung may bayran..gina pa una niya ang imo documents process didto sa sulod.”(The process needs to be shortened. Fixers only exist because of slow processes inside an office. If you pay a fixer, your documents will be prioritized inside the office).

Mayang, on the hand, asserts that:

“para sakon improvements nga indi sila mag kinorap sa sulod office. kay ga dugay pa gid ang process kung gina pili lang nila ang unahon nila nga e proseso.”(To me, the improvement they need is that officials or employees should not practice corruption inside their office because the process becomes slow when they are choosing which documents should go first).

Meanwhile, according to Shine:

“need improvement sa pag handle sang tawo. ga dugay kay laba ang proseso kag kung wala ka kilala sa sulod indi ka dayon masapakan; corruption gid.” (There is a need for improvement in handling transacting clients. The process becomes slow and lengthy if you have no friends inside; it is really a corruption)

Furthermore, Nonoy and Leo contend that:

“procedures improvement gid dapat..para dasigay ang transaction” (There must be procedure improvement to hasten a transaction) and “they must be active gid ya dapat para madasig ang process kag indi mag usik sa oras ang mga tawo.” (They must be active to speed up the transaction process so that transacting clients will not waste their time anymore).

Based on the responses of participants, they believe that laws penalizing the Lagay System (fixing) and fixers – Republic Act No. 9485 or Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 and Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018– failed to fulfill its goals. However, to ascertain whether such laws failed to achieve their objectives, here is a simple comparative analysis of the aforementioned laws. 

The Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 has the objective “to improve the efficiency and delivery of government services to the public by reducing bureaucratic red tape, preventing graft and corruption, and providing penalties thereof”. Meanwhile, the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 has the goals to strengthen the former law and to facilitate prompt actions or resolution of all government transactions with efficiency. Since Republic Act No. 11032 and Republic Act No. 9485 are substantially the same, there are still salient point provisions that separate them from each other. The following are the salient provisions related to the subject matter that made them different:

Zero-Contact Policy

There is no Zero-contact Policy in Republic Act No. 9485. Thus, to strengthen the aforementioned law, lawmakers added such a policy to the new law. Therefore, section 7 of the Republic Act No. 11032 provides that, “Sec. 7. Zero-Contact Policy. – Except during the preliminary assessment of the request and evaluation of the sufficiency of submitted requirements, no government officer or employee shall have any contact, in any manner, unless strictly necessary with any applicant or requesting party concerning an application or request. Once the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has completed a web-based software-enabled business registration system that is acceptable to the public as mandated under Section 26 of this Act, all transactions shall be coursed through such system. All government agencies including LGUs shall adopt a zero-contact policy.”

The aforesaid provision removes and prohibits the “Lagay system” or fixing, or the so-called underground transaction among government employees, fixers, and transacting clients. In other words, it prohibits government officers or employees from having contact with transacting clients –except during the preliminary assessment of the request and evaluation of the sufficiency of submitted requirements– to combat fixing, collusion, bribery, and corruption inside the office. 

Shorter processing period

The Republic Act No. 9485 did explicitly state the period of how long must it take for applications or requests to be acted upon. Such law provides that, “Applications or requests must be acted upon within the period prescribed in the agency or office’s Citizen’s Charter which should not be longer than five (5) working days for simple transactions and ten (10) working days for complex transactions from the date of receipt.” The Republic Act No. 11032, on the other hand, sets the processing time for each type of transaction. 

For a simple transaction, it should be acted on within three (3) working days, whereas for a complex transaction, it should last no more than seven (7) working days from the date the request and/or complete application or request was received.

Actions or requests that involve activities that could be a threat to public health, safety, morals, policy, or a highly technical application should be done within twenty (20) working days or as determined by the agency concerned, whichever is shorter.

CONCLUSION

The Lagay system is a culture, tradition, or practice of corruption that people enjoy to adhere to. In availing the assistance of fixers by giving Lagay or bribe money, some transacting clients had favorable experiences while some had become victims of scams and fraud. Sixty percent (60%) of the participants of the study believe that fixers are beneficial to them, whereas the remaining forty percent (40%) assert that fixers are scammers. 

Based on their insights and experiences, the researcher was able to grasp new ideas that determine the enabling factors of why the Lagay system exists. Through this, the researcher found that four (4) components make the Lagay System exist: culture, government frontline agencies, fixers, and clients.

Culture

Citizens consider the Lagay system as culture because, since the very beginning, they have been engaging with it. They have been practicing the giving of bribe money, especially in their day-to-day transactions. Since people are used to giving bribes and it has become a practice, the government cannot easily eradicate or mitigate the existence of the Lagay System and the corruption itself. Culture is difficult to combat, and in fact, it takes time to change a tradition or practice. Without proper education, culture, and norms cannot be revised. This is one of the reasons why regardless of how many laws are passed to combat fixing, red tape, and the like, the Lagay System exists. 

Government frontline agencies

Public officials and employees are the ones initiating the Lakad system. There can be no fixing when there are no officials or employees who take charge of fixing. The Lakad system cannot exist without the collusion or connivance of government employees, and it cannot also exist if there is a strict implementation of the law inside and outside government frontline agencies.

Fixer

They are the ones who receive bribe money. A fixer may be a person working inside a government agency or a person not part of the agency but who has a connection with the individuals working inside of the frontline agency. 

Clients

Clients also called transacting clients are the ones who process documents in a government frontline agency. They are giving bribe money to fixers so that fixers will do their transaction. 

Culture, government frontline agencies, fixers, and clients are the four (4) elements or enabling factors why the Lagay System exists. To further illustrate the Lagay system, assuming that a client needs to process his document. The client will give money to a fixer. The fixer will process the documents of the client in the government frontline service agency. The bribe money which the client gave to the fixer was a “Lagay” and the fixer did his obligation in exchange for the money he received from the client. In other words, a fixer is acting as a middleman or mediator between Government frontline agencies and transacting clients. Therefore, Republic Act No. 11032 and 9485 penalize fixing or collusion between or among government officials or employees because bribes are one of the sources of corruption.

RECOMMENDATIONS

After a thorough assessment and consideration of the preceding findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations are presented:

The Frontline Services Agencies such as the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), and the like may employ, through the human resource office, the Anti-Fixing Educational Programs against the Lagay System. 

The academe/universities/schools/institutions may arrange educational forums like symposiums, seminars, and the like for transacting public or clients to disseminate information about the existence of the Lagay system and its legal consequences in engaging with it. 

Future researchers may anchor this study to provide and improve further understanding on what is the reason behind the existence of the Lagay system. In this instance, through a quantitative method, they can undertake deeper investigations of the Lagay system.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gaje, V. M. (2005). PIA daily news in English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Waray, Pangalatok from around the Philippines. http://archives.pia.gov.ph/?m=12

Break the Red Tape of Regulation. (2022, September 29). oklahoma.gov. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://oklahoma.gov/break-the-tape.html

Ballesteros, A. (2019, September 24). ‘Fixers’ as a product of corruption. Asean Economist. https://www.aseaneconomist.com/fixers-as-a-product-of-corruption/

Mickieann, M. (2018, February 19). Avoid FIXERS! Here’s how you can get your Driver’s License Philippines. #ICYMI! Sulit Philippines. https://sulit.ph/avoid-fixers-heres-how-you-can-get-your-drivers-license-philippines/

The notion of “protracted armed conflict” in the Rome Statute and the termination of armed conflicts under international law: An analysis of select issues. (2019, November 1). International Review of the Red Cross. https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/notion-protracted-armed-conflict-rome-statute-ir912

Backer Definition & Meaning | Britannica Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/backer

Colaizzi’s P. (1978). Psychological research as a phenomenologist views it. In: Valle, R. S. & King, M. (1978). Existential Phenomenological Alternatives for Psychology. Open University Press: New York.

Morrow, R., Rodriguez, A. and King, N. (2015). Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method. The Psychologist, 28(8), 643-644.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord God, Jesus Christ, for giving me wisdom and courage to write this legal study. My God, You have given me strength to finish what I started, and therefore, the happiness I am enjoying right now is for Your great honor and glory.

To my professor, mentor, and study adviser, Atty. Jocelle Batapa Sigue, thank you for assisting me in writing this legal study. You have been contributing a lot to me for more than half a year now. Thus, as I express my heartfelt gratitude, I pray that God may give us more wisdom so we can inspire and make many moral and legal minds to be vanguards of justice in our beloved Philippines. 

To my parents, Filoteo Salaon Alonsagay Jr. and Mayleen Suelo Alonsagay, thank you for supporting me financially, morally, and emotionally. Without your help, I could not have done writing this study. Hence, thank you so much. 

To my siblings, I am so grateful that all of you inspire me to be persistent and consistent in achieving my goals in life. All of you are a few of the reasons why I need to finish law school. 

To my partner, I appreciate your efforts and concerns. Thank you for staying beside me when I was in my dark era. Moreover, thank you for comforting and inspiring me to be the best version of myself. 

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER

Mr. Feloteo Suelo Alonsagay, III, is a freshman Juris Doctor student at the University of St. La Salle-Bacolod. He is a Political Science graduate of the same school who successfully earned a Latin Honor – Cum Laude – during the Academic Year (A.Y.) 2021-2022. While being one of the top Political Science graduates, he also received a certificate in International studies and certificate in Public Management. Indeed, Mr. Feloteo Suelo Alonsagay, III, is a competent Lasallian Political Science graduate who showcases skills, talents, and abilities in law school.