Future of the judiciary

The Supreme Court being the Olympus of the country’s premier magistrates, the dream pedestal of every lawyer and aspiring law students, amidst all controversy of personal enmities and affairs with the executive, has bowed down to oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in favor of the unconstitutional quo warranto petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.

Voting 8-6, it is with great regret and disappointment that the scale of justice has initially tilted to the unprecedented removal of the sitting chief justice, not through the provision of the Constitution that limits such authority within the House of Representatives and the Senate, but through a circumvention of the proper process.

No one can deny that the decision is a blatant violation of the very integrity of the Constitution they vowed to uphold. What has happened is a cop-out of justice seemingly fueled by their lack of personal esteem for Sereno. The last bastion of democracy has unfortunately started to fall.

The seeming disregard for justice that they have committed evidently tramples the authority and trust of the people vested upon them as signified by their dignified robes.

The dignity of their sacrosanct commitment to arbitrate with the dictates of jurisprudence has been blemished.

With the subversion of the checks and balances and with the impairment of their own institution, they have sunk the Supreme Court into a deep quagmire.

And now, how will the populace rely on the judicial independence of the Court if impartiality has been compromised despite all heads turned to them?

With all due respect, we implore the “supremes” to hold sacred once more their vow to defend the power of the Constitution and embody the paramount judicial independence in rectifying their final and landmark decision to the expected motion for reconsideration.

This is not about the recently removed Sereno and their personal disputes, but this is definitely about the future of the judiciary as an institution at stake. Please, be not on the wrong side of history!

JAY RAMOS, [email protected]