For all intents and purposes, President Benigno Aquino III had every right to lambast Chief Justice Renato Corona and the rest of the Supreme Court justices who made it difficult for his administration to prosecute, not persecute, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
In yesterday’s National Criminal Justice Summit, the President hit the High Tribunal for ruling against the proposed Truth Commission and for issuing a temporary restraining order on the travel ban against Arroyo despite the former president not meeting the requirements for the TRO.
To his credit, Corona acted the gentleman and brushed aside Aquino’s tirade saying it is nearly Christmas. But no amount of Yuletide goodwill can erase the distrust felt by Aquino and a growing number of Filipinos who wondered how the Supreme Court can rule immediately on a TRO and fail to resolve bigger cases that remained pending in their docket for years.
Hence there is a groundswell of support for Corona’s impeachment similar to what was done to former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. One such movement is said to be starting in Cebu City. How this would fare is anyone’s guess though as in any constitutional process, impeachment takes a very long time.
Meanwhile, the fate of detained Arroyo continues to be as polarizing and divisive as ever, abetted no doubt by the former president’s allies who cry human rights abuse and tyranny similar, they claim, to what was committed under the Marcos regime.
Pity that they fail to see the comparison; Noynoy and his family experienced firsthand how their father, the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr., languished in a military prison and had to fast and suffer a heart ailment before being allowed to undergo an operation in the US.
In contrast, here we have Arroyo with all her resources at her disposal, managing to set up a P2 million bail at a moment’s notice and being billeted, er, confined in a first-class medical facility and still demanding preferential treatment abroad despite the mountain of charges that she had yet to answer for, charges that she kept at bay during her presidency through snubs and executive privileges.
She will be confined in a government hospital with suitable facilities befitting a VIP all paid for by the taxpayers themselves and yet, they still cry human rights abuse?
Regardless of criticism that Aquino is merely belly-aching at the Supreme Court—okay, that Hacienda Luisita ruling really stings—the basis for the President’s tirade cannot be dismissed as mere whining.
The Supreme Court has a lot to prove or disprove insofar as dealing with Arroyo’s cases are concerned.