The most controversial decision the Supreme Court has made in recent years is the ruling that Sen. Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino citizen and thus, is qualified to run for President.
It will be talked about for many years by lawyers, as well as people in other professions.
Because of the ruling, the gods of Mt. Olympus at Padre Faura are now being criticized openly by some lawyers, an unthinkable phenomenon before.
“Ginawa ninyong basura yung pagiging Pilipino (You have turned Filipino citizenship into garbage),” said lawyer Bruce Rivera, prefect of student affairs of San Beda College of Law.
Rivera’s comment on Facebook has gone viral. As of this writing (3 p.m. yesterday), his video post had 1,291,289 views, and counting.
Rivera might as well have said that the justices who ruled in Poe’s favor were “sangkatutak na bobo (a bunch of dullards).”
That was the phrase this columnist used in describing the justices who ruled many years ago that a search conducted on cars by the police at checkpoints was legal.
* * *
Rivera should expect a severe reprimand—even disbarment or suspension from the practice of law—from the high court as I was chastised for making that comment in this space.
But if the Supreme Court disbars or suspends Rivera from law practice, the more it will incur the ire of the citizenry, especially the intelligentsia.
At no time in its existence has the high tribunal been so pilloried.
* * *
If Grace Poe has a modicum of shame, she would think of withdrawing from the presidential race for putting the Supreme Court on the spot.
She has put the country in turmoil after coming back from the US.
She renounced her Filipino citizenship in favor of America and then re-embraced it on whim.
She doesn’t have the experience in governance; her only qualification is that she is her famous father Fernando Poe Jr.’s adopted daughter.
Poe has hardly warmed her seat at the Senate and she now wants to sit on the throne in Malacañang.
At a young age (47), Poe’s greed for power seems insatiable.
* * *
Chinese-Filipino businessman Kim Wong’s name has been unfairly dragged into the theft of US$81 million from Bangladesh Bank, apparently to salvage the reputation of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) which accepted the laundered money.
Why would Wong get involved in the money laundering when all he did, as a junket operator, was to host high-stakes gamblers from China who apparently were conduits of the amount?
Would he have known about the laundering as the money came from RCBC?