The Supreme Court ruling on the Hacienda Luisita case is popular, and I myself am happy about it for our poor farmers. The verdict is long overdue. It is a moral victory, more than anything else, for those who till the land.
But I am sad that the Court’s decision is not about justice. A dispute was resolved, but a much bigger issue has been left unresolved.
The positive feeling brought about by the “news” seems to be overwhelmed by the fact that the ruling is also very much tainted with politics. If justice is tainted with political color, it is not justice at all. Justice is supposed to be colorless and color blind.
The Supreme Court has shown its true colors again by coming up with a decision on Hacienda Luisita at a time when the Aquino administration is in hot pursuit of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for alleged misdeeds during her presidency.
Watch and observe the present Supreme Court, whose members are mostly “political appointees” of Arroyo, when it rules on high-profile cases directly involving Arroyo. Take note of the circumstances and timing of the decisions on those cases, and how the justices act on them with “singleness of mind” and with haste and “dispatch.” Nothing can be more atrociously obvious and brazen.
If not by impeachment, how else can we correct this situation?
—RENI M. VALENZUELA,
renimvalenzuela@yahoo.com