The impeachment court ably led by its presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, deserves the nation’s thanks. Now that the tribunal has rendered its verdict of guilty, it is time for us to move on.
Above all, it is essential to choose the most suitable chief justice to exercise stewardship over our judicial system. It is important to learn the lessons of the Corona impeachment case. What are some of these lessons?
A public office is a public trust. All public officers are accountable. No one is above the law. Join the government mainly for public service and not for private gain. The administration of justice must be transformed. Justice delayed is justice denied. So is costly justice. The rules of evidence must facilitate the discovery or disclosure of truth, and not its concealment or distortion. Intellectual brilliance is no excuse for hostile and arrogant rhetoric. The good society requires civility and proper decorum.
There are other lessons, but is it not too difficult or too late for the older generation to learn such lessons? There is only one Juan Ponce Enrile. Our salvation seems to lie in the hands of the younger generation. In the words of Rizal, the youth is the hope of the fatherland!
—ANTONIO A. AGUSTIN, dean, Manuel L. Quezon University School of Law,
law@mlqu.edu.ph