Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban raised an alarum in his column titled “Choosing new prez is also choosing new SC,” Opinion, 4/3/16). Twelve of the incumbent Supreme Court justices are due to retire during the six-year term of the next president—that is, 2016 to 2022.
Assuming the possibility, which is almost a certainty unless God Almighty intervenes, that Jejomar Binay becomes our new president, what are the chances that he would do the statesmanlike and prudent act of appointing only the best legal minds to the Supreme Court? Consider that he, his family and cohorts have strings of plunder charges hanging around their necks, does anyone really believe that he would do the right thing?
Binay has hired dozens of lawyers to run circles around government investigators and prosecutors to delay and frustrate criminal proceedings against his family and dummies who stand charged with having pilfered tens of billions of pesos of public funds. He himself has evaded prosecution due to his immunity as incumbent vice president. The moment his term as veep ends, the Ombudsman is expected to file plunder cases against him with dispatch and throw him in jail without bail. This current race for the presidency to gain further immunity is a “make or break” for him.
So then, what if Binay appoints all his young lawyers (at least 40 years old) to the Court? They will serve for the next 25-30 years. That is enough time for all cases against his family and their co-accused to get ripe for “judicial review” (in case of conviction) by a Supreme Court controlled by a huge majority of twisted justices! Panganiban very politely said it could have a “lasting impact on jurisprudence…”
We say it like it is: As sure as the sun sets in the west, this country will be screwed beyond our wildest fears! And our concerned lawyers are fretting more about the citizenship of a foundling?!
—ROGELIO S. CANDELARIO, rodscan888@gmail.com