IN his column, “Significance of impeachment complaint” (12/17/20), retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio wrote that the high court has already interpreted the 24-month mandate for it to resolve cases as merely directory, not mandatory—meaning practically unlimited time. If it were to be interpreted otherwise (literally, i.e., according to its plain language), no justice will survive impeachment for “culpable violation of the Constitution.”
The Supreme Court has always adhered to the rule that if the law is clear, NO interpretation is required. How much CLEARER should Section 15 (1), Article VIII of the Constitution be: “ALL cases or matters… MUST be decided or resolved in twenty-four months from date of submission for the Supreme Court…” (underscoring supplied)? That language was PLAIN enough for the people who ratified the Constitution. Why should brilliant minds in the Court jettison that understanding and come up with their own SELF-SERVING interpretation? They virtually had to AMEND the Constitution on their own because, in their thinking, the people were too dumb to know what they were doing!
It was bad enough that the Constitution had practically allowed the high court to monkey around and make a mockery of that provision by adding “from date of submission [for decision],” which could render that two-year period utterly meaningless. It thus left it entirely up to the Court to declare when a case is deemed “submitted for decision.” Yet, despite having already declared a case “submitted for decision,” the high court still ignores the two-year period.
Carpio was just being modest. He and a few others left the Supreme Court with NO BACKLOG in their dockets. It goes without saying that it was not an impossible task. The people are not dumb after all; they know it can be done. Many justices are just sluggish or lazy—most likely sitting it out for their retirement bonanza in the tens of millions of taxpayer money. For so little work done, it’s unjust enrichment, pure and simple—nay, plunder by any definition. No one should shed a tear seeing them impeached and kicked out. Litigants are dying of old age without knowing what’s really happening to their cases. The people are sick and tired of excuses.
Maria Margarita Aytona