My lawyer friends who dabble as law professors in Constitutional Law—and who tend more to be low-key and subdued—could not suppress their disgust and utter astonishment at the proposition that the one slot for Congress (and certainly, only one vote) in the Judicial and Bar Council can be represented by two members of the legislative body and can cast two votes. They say there is no ambiguity in the constitutional provision that all the components of the membership of the council are limited to only one representative (from each sector).
My take is that they are absolutely correct and indisputably so. Cynics and legal prestidigitators may advance the absurd argument that if indeed the two representatives of Congress may still sit as JBC members and logically are entitled to one-half vote each, then there is no restraining Congress from sending 20 of their ilk, and it’s easy math to count their votes as 1/20 of the cherished one unit vote from their sector. Absolutely ridiculous, totally incomprehensible and (il)logical!
—JOSÉ AGUILA GRAPILON,
national president,
Integrated Bar of the Philippines (1997-1999),
josegrapilon@yahoo.com.ph