First off, my deepest thanks to those who contemplated impeaching Reynato Puno as chief justice. They have just thrust him into the forefront of public consciousness, enough for him to consider seeking the highest office of the land in 2010.
Puno himself says, rather facetiously, that he has yet to consult his advisers, who are his children and grandchildren, and, quite seriously, that right now he just wants to be a good chief justice, which entails keeping politics out of the Supreme Court, which entails not indulging the thought. He also says that he is perfectly content to be the spark in the moral rejuvenation of this country. ?I don?t want to be pretentious. I will be happy if I am just the catalyst of this movement because it may not be appropriate to take the leadership while I am in the government acting as chief justice. All that is necessary is for this moral force to be more manifest, more visible, to be more active in playing its role as the moral ballast against malfeasance.?
Those very things suggest he would be a good president and ought to be goaded to run. At the very least, he?s the only one I know who can be believed when he says he doesn?t want politics to intrude in the Supreme Court and when he proposes to be part of the force to transform the country morally, in whatever capacity ethics allows. We do not lack for people who like to say those things. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo likes to say the first, keeping politics out of everything, while resolutely pushing for Charter change among other political deviltry. And Jose de Venecia likes to say the second, proposing to lead the movement to change the moral fiber of this country, forgetting that he has done that already, changing this country?s moral fiber from stout to frayed. Which can only convince us God is truly merciful he does not cause their tongues to burn from the mere utterance of those words.
Frankly, I don?t know why Puno has to thank Malacańang for its positive response to his call for a moral force. Malacańang will always give a positive response to any talk of moral uplift while being first to induce moral descent. In fact, it will always give a positive word for him while being first to try to oust him. The devil herself will quote Scripture to suit her purposes. But he has every reason to thank the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines for its own positive response to his call. He has a guardian angel in the form of Angel Lagdameo to watch over him.
Frankly as well, I don?t know why a chief justice cannot lead a moral reform movement. Why should being in government naturally inhibit it? I would have applauded De Venecia if he had talked of leading a moral reformation while he was still speaker of the House and walked the talk. Not least by helping to right a wrong and restore the moral moorings of this country by way of impeaching an illegitimate President. Indeed, with justice being the first casualty of the moral turpitude that has settled upon this country, the good being punished and the wicked rewarded, the upright being damned and the depraved extolled, and with insult added to injury in the form of Raul Gonzalez being paraded as the justice secretary, I should think the chief justice, by the very nature of his title and calling, would be the best person to demand that justice be made chief in this country. Which is the heart of any moral reformation.
Truly, I?m glad for the efforts of the malfeasant to contemplate ousting Reynato Puno as chief justice, thereby burnishing his virtues and commending him forcefully to us. The enemy of the malfeasant is a friend to us. I?m especially glad that it happened just when Barack Obama is about to be inaugurated president, reminding this country of its search for his local counterpart. I have always said we are looking at the wrong place, among the ?presidentiables,? among the politicians, among the loud and self-appointed saviors of this country and not among the quiet ones who let their actions speak for themselves.
Panfilo Lacson?s offer to withdraw his candidacy if Puno should run is inspired. I would throw my lot with Puno, too, if he should decide to run. I know I have had a major disappointment with Hilario Davide, being prepared as well then to support him had he run for president (he looked a veritable font of wisdom after his performance in the impeachment trial; it was no small thanks to him that impeachment was credible to the max), only to see him fail to live up to his promise. But hope springs eternal. And in any case, Puno?s record in fighting injustice, particularly in its most monstrous manifestation in the killings of journalists and political activists, gives wings to that hope. He seems made of sterner stuff.
He is the Obama of the Philippines, representing as he does change of the kind Obama stands for. Not least a change from moral dissolution toward moral regeneration, a change from tyranny toward democracy, a change from the rule of thugs to the rule of law. He is the Obama of the Philippines, bursting as he does like a gust of fresh wind into a stale room seemingly from out of nowhere.
A couple of congressmen are all for him but worry that he lacks the political savvy and war chest to go to war for the presidency. Those are the very things going for him. Cory Aquino was the same way, too, when she fought Ferdinand Marcos. She had neither the political savvy nor the riches to wrest the crown from Marcos. But wrest the crown she did, Filipinos preferring her to those who neither lacked political savvy nor loot. Tyranny has a way of wrenching forth its opposite, like the dark wrenches forth light at dawn. Innocence is its own commendation amid guilt, forthrightness is its own commendation amid guile and disingenuousness.
Still, Puno for president.
