Unveiling the Supreme Court

As people continue to talk about the Senate Impeachment Court’s removal of Renato Corona as Chief Justice, for culpable violation of the Constitution owing to dishonest declarations in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), there is a growing sense that the veil of the SC has been lifted, removing the illusion that the High Court is impregnable and impervious to the rule of law and close scrutiny of the people.

People are well aware of their power to remove erring public officials as amply demonstrated in the removal of two sitting presidents through People Power but this has not been tested among members of the Supreme Court until last May 29.

After the ouster of Joseph Estrada in 2001, some politicians tried to stir up popular dissent against then SC chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. over alleged abuses in the disbursement of the Judicial Development Fund.

The strategy was to attach “public outrage” in attempts by the House of Representatives to impeach Davide but the efforts of a particular bloc led by then Rep. Gilberto Teodoro of Tarlac proved unsuccessful after the Commission on Audit cleared Davide of any wrongdoing. The campaign to oust Davide through the process of impeachment died a natural death as speculations swirled that vested interests wanted Davide’s head because of his stance on the coconut levy fund.  In a sense, popular sentiment in favor of the Chief Justice helped to hold back the legislative attack against the Supreme Court.

Our political experiences in 1986 and 2001 have sharpened the people’s power to discern and to exercise the fundamental power to make government officials account for official acts, remove or shield them if necessary.

Corona’s conviction has set off calls for members of the High Court to lay bare their SALNs. Over the weekend, the demand has been broadened for the disclosure of the magistrates’ accomplishment report. People want to know the number of cases they’re handling, how much time they spend studying and disposing these cases, including how they arrive at a decision. The information is of public nature and the SC need not even be prodded to do its basic duty.  In the interest of greater transparency, I join our people in calling the SC to post information characterized by public interest in the SC website.

The people’s deeper understanding of public accountability frames the meeting of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) today as it begins to discuss the vacancy in the SC.

The JBC will screen the nominees led by Acting SC Chief Justice Jose Antonio Carpio as the most senior magistrate. Reports say Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Jr. Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta are also automatically nominated for the post. Because these magistrates were appointed by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is accused of packing the court with her partisans in order to protect her, there are calls for President Benigno Aquino III to break tradition and appoint an outsider as SC Chief Justice. I support these appeals and hope that P-Noy will not limit his selection to his allies.

P-Noy’s efforts to rid the government of graft and corruption frames his first visit to the United Kingdom and Europe beginning today until Wednesday. The visit happens during the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth and many are saying the importance given by the British establishment to the Philippine government is unprecedented. There is some truth to this because the British officialdom is usually “invisible” when it comes to the subject of politically turbulent East Asian countries. This time, the UK government  did not just invite P-Noy to visit and hobnob with British royalty, it has also described the Philippines in glowing terms, as an “emerging power in East Asia.”

From London, President Aquino’s itinerary will take him to Washington D.C. for his fifth encounter with United States President Barack Obama.

Past Philippine presidents oftentimes used their foreign visits and encounters with top world leaders to shore up sagging popularity in the home front. Marcos used his supposed closeness with then US president Ronald Reagan to dissimulate his dictatorial government.  Gloria Arroyo tried to sidle up with US President Barack Obama at the euphoric stage of his election in 2009.  The chance meeting was supposed to happen at a breakfast sponsored by a Christian association, but he disappeared quickly and reports were then rife that the US President tried to avoid GMA because of charges of corruption and human rights violations.

P-Noy’s first US visit in September 2010 was marred by the unfortunate hostage taking and killing of Chinese nationals in Manila in the hands of a police officer who had gone berserk. That background seems distant now, if not forgotten, as he goes on a foreign trip on the heels of a successful campaign to remove a thorn, as he called it, from the Supreme Court.