Disturbing gov‘t loss

A very disturbing news item came out of the Inquirer’s Sept. 8 issue (“BIR loses P2.7-B case vs Puregold,” Second Front Page). A Supreme Court division of five justices, by a vote of three against two, junked the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s tax suit against billionaire Lucio Co’s Puregold Duty Free Inc.

What did that decision tell us? Only one vote spelled the difference between the government holding a bag full of money (for social services and infrastructure) and the government holding an empty bag! Should the tilting of the justice scale on such a very important case be left in the hands of one justice? Could this have been a “retirement case”?

Public trust in some members of the division is at an all-time low; they are perceived to be voting on mere whims, if not for millions of other considerations! To dispel any further suspicion, the case should be automatically elevated to the Court en banc of 15 justices, given the tremendous economic impact such a decision would have on the country.

—ARNULFO M. EDRALIN, [email protected]