Palace to blame for conflict with Supreme Court—Sen. Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Joker Arroyo on Saturday blamed Malacañang for its word war with the Supreme Court.

Arroyo said President Benigno Aquino’s spokespersons should not have fanned the flames despite Chief Justice Renato Corona’s “unprecedented” broadside against the Palace and Congress for “disrespect and lack of civility.”

“They really want to shame the Supreme Court,” the senator told the Inquirer in Filipino. “They didn’t expect the chief justice to openly retaliate. It’s unprecedented.”

Arroyo warned that the squabble could lead to a full-blown crisis between the three branches of government. He said it could be traced from Malacañang’s decision to take away  P2-billion from the judiciary in the proposed national budget for next year.

“I don’t want to say this but ‘I told you so,'” he said, recalling his previous warning of a “crisis” that could result from the Palace decision.

Malacañang, through the Department of Budget, sought to impound a total of P101.5 billion representing the entire bureaucracy’s salary allocations  for positions still unfilled. Of the amount, which is collectively referred in the national budget as the “miscellaneous personnel benefits fund” (MPBF), P4.9 billion belongs to the judiciary.

Arroyo noted that the Palace-judiciary conflict over the MPBF was later linked to the new controversy surrounding the high tribunal’s decision to recall a final ruling ordering the reinstatement of 1,400 Philippine Airlines flight attendants.

“It is the Supreme Court’s misfortune that it got embroiled in another controversy entirely unrelated to the MPBF,” he said. “But while it is the right of the public to complain about the recall, it was imprudent for Malacañang to join the fray.”

Arroyo added: “I wonder why Malacañang is so active in this when they should stay away.”

The senator noted that while the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government were considered co-equal, the first two—the so-called “political departments”—were in fact the “strongest because they are free to act and talk.”

“The weakest is the judiciary. It is not free to talk. Its power rests in it’s pen through its decisions,” he said.

“It is sad when two co-equal branches of government are at loggerheads. That’s lamentable. But when all three are fighting, that’s a crisis,” he added.