ep. Roilo Golez, we would
like to believe, was simply being mischievous when he proposed that the
President be stripped of the power to appoint members of the Supreme Court.
His proposal was a reaction to the laughable ruling of the
high tribunal on the Neri case where all the junior appointees of Gloria Arroyo
supported the position that executive privilege could be used to hide a crime
like the $329 million national broadband project. The dissenting side, led by
Chief Justice Reynato Puno, included some Arroyo appointees, but the latter were
named to the court when the administration was still reasonably secure in power
and had no need to ran roughshod over the charter with the likes of Executive
Order 464.
Back to Golez proposal. Who then would appoint the members of
the tribunal? Congress? While the Senate is independent of Gloria Arroyo, the
House is firmly in her pocket. The two chambers would end up deadlocked
everytime a vacancy came up.
It so happens that the bicameral Commission on Appointments
is already being talked about because of alleged extortion by some members. The
proposed cure would likely be worse than the disease, with the justices in this
case owing their loyalty not to a single person but to multiple patrons.
By election? We’re all for democracy, but popularity is not
exactly the best qualification for membership in a body vested with the power of
interpreting the Constitution and the law.
No, the fault lies not with the system which has on the main
served the country well. Excepting the Marcos regime, it is only now that we are
seeing a systematic effort to transform the institutions of government into the
instruments for the perpetuation of one woman and her cabal of thieves in power.
Supreme Court had been looked up to as the ultimate guardian
of the rule of law. It had risen to the challenge in the earlier string of
decisions declaring as unconstitutional the more egregious attempts of Arroyo to
curtail the people’s fundamental rights.
Now, it appears to have finally been subverted by the
appointment of politically dependable members.
The Neri ruling is, as pointed out by Senate President Manny
Villar, a blot on our cherished values of democracy, truth and justice. The
ruling emasculates the legislature. And the judiciary, in delivering the blow to
the Senate, also demonstrated its very own subservience.
Republicanism is on the ropes. But it is not by any means down and out. Its
enemy is strutting around, forgetting the lesson learned in the end by all
tyrants and would-be tyrants in the hands of the real sovereign power, the
people.
