Because of the growing worldwide interest in our surging economy, retired Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and incumbent chancellor of the Philippine Judicial Academy, dissected four controversial decisions on the economic provisions of the Constitution during his recent lecture at the Ateneo Law School.
Let me take last week’s column a bit further. We have a President who is changing society, or trying to. Political games he plays (successfully, I might add), but a trapo he is not. His “daang matuwid” has resonated in the public arena, and his honest lifestyle is setting an example for many to follow. Attacking corruption at the top is working, but it now has to be expanded. We all know who the corrupt are, so the President now has to widen his net and take them down, too.
The oral arguments on the constitutionality of the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act at the Supreme Court on Tuesday gave free speech and Internet freedom advocates a boost. But whether some justices were merely playing devil’s advocate or testing the limits of the petitioners’ positions, lines of reasoning were also used at the 4-hour hearing that should give the public pause. Those who share the view that Republic Act No. 10175 should be declared unconstitutional—and antidemocratic at its core—cannot afford to be complacent.
This is a sequel to my Oct. 7 column in which I opined that judicial decision-making could be reduced, in its simplest terms, into an Aristotelian syllogism, and that most of the time, the crucial part of the syllogism is the minor premise on whether the facts alleged in the complaint or information have been duly proven.
Barely six months after President Aquino removed Renato Corona as chief justice, his replacement—the grossly inexperienced Lourdes Sereno who had boasted of “18 years of judicial stability”—created a crisis in the Supreme Court that has dented its integrity as the bastion of the rule of law.
THE LAST time the Judicial and Bar Council conducted a search for a Supreme Court nominee, it was itself part of the story. The clearest sign that things have considerably settled down since is Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s unremarked participation in the JBC meetings. No longer a candidate herself, she was able to tell reporters after the JBC decided on its short list of nominees on Wednesday that the “consensus is that it’s a good list. We are satisfied and confident that the President will be able to make a choice out of the seven.”
There are three uncontested facts about former rebel soldier Eduardo “Red” Kapunan. First, he is no longer in active military service. Second, he is a principal accused in the brutal 1986 double murder of labor leader Rolando Olalia and his driver Leonor Alay-ay, a crime that cannot possibly be justified as being part of one’s military duty. And third, the military as an institution is not involved in the controversial and much-delayed case. So here’s the question begging to be asked: Why was Kapunan in the custody of the Army?
On top of your crammed “must-read” list, may we suggest an add-on? We’ve still to leaf through Juan Ponce Enrile’s biography. We refer to “Hour Before Dawn: The Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court” by Marites Dañguilan Vitug.
THIS IS an open letter to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Punzalan Aranal-Sereno. We welcome her appointment to the Supreme Court. It is hoped that during her stint at the Supreme Court, she will usher radical changes to combat corruption in the judiciary, the high cost of justice, and delays in the dispensation of justice.
Amid the serious economic crisis engulfing the developed world, the Philippines has shown remarkable resilience. This year, our economy grew 6.3 percent in the first quarter and 5.9 percent in the second quarter. This rate of growth may slow down a bit but it is still projected to end the year at 5.5 percent, better than many Asian neighbors like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, but behind China and possibly Indonesia.
Fifty years after the retirement from the judiciary of Natividad Almeda-Lopez, who blazed a trail in Philippine history as the first woman judge, the first woman justice of the Court of Appeals, and one of the foremost leaders of the feminist movement here, we now see her pioneering work culminating in the appointment of the first woman Chief Justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno.
President Aquino carried on his war of attrition to dominate the Supreme Court with a last-minute attack on Friday, denouncing as “unfair” the short list of eight nominees for Chief Justice submitted to him by the independent Judicial and Bar Council.
