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GMA’s servants first and God’s last

ZOOMING IN

Rudy Romero

04/11/2008

Two of the nine Supreme Court justices who recently struck down the Senate’s warrant for the arrest of former National Economic and Development Authority director general Romulo Neri, are graduates of the Ateneo Law School and, as such, must be familiar with the story of the martyrdom of the 16th century English official Sir Thomas More. I am referring to Justices Renato Corona and Arturo Brion.

If the two magistrates are not familiar with the story of Sir Thomas More, I will recount briefly the circumstances that brought about his martyrdom. Their seven pro-Neri colleagues will also benefit from a retelling of the tragic beautiful story of that English gentlemen.

Thomas More was serving as Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII at the time when that famous king — one of the most powerful European monarchs of that era — wanted to contract a second marriage but was denied a divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon by the Pope. Enraged by the Pope’s refusal, King Henry demanded that his Lord Chancellor, who was the nation’s highest legal official, grant him a divorce and allow him to marry Anne Boleyn. Sir Thomas More, a devout Catholic, refused. When given an ultimatum by the headstrong monarch, Thomas More, respectfully but firmly, told his king, “I am the King’s good servant but God’s first.” Upon hearing that statement, Henry VIII gave orders for Sir Thomas’ execution. England’s break with the Roman Catholic Church, and the establishment of the Church of England, came shortly thereafter.

The point of Thomas More’s declaration to his king was very clear. In saying that he was the King’s good servant, he was expressing both his respect and his gratitude. You are a good boss, the Lord Chancellor was telling the monarch, and I am grateful to you having appointed me to my high office and supported me in my official undertakings. But in saying that he was “God’s servant first,” Sir Thomas was saying that while the king was a good boss, God was the boss of all bosses and being in His good graces was the No. 1 consideration for all public servants.

Stated differently, Thomas More’s declaration to King Henry VIII was, “I am God’s servant first and foremost. Everything else is secondary.” For his devotion to his duty and to the Church, Thomas More was in due course canonized a saint.

In voting with the majority to deny the petition of the Senate, Jesuit-trained Justices Corona and Brion clearly forgot the story of Sir Thomas More and his martyrdom. Either that or they chose to disregard it for reasons not founded on More-type considerations.

But the other Ateneo-trained lawyer in the High Court, Justice Adolfo Azcuna, did not forget, and in his separate dissenting opinion, the Zamboangueño Justice discussed the merits of Romulo Neri’s petition – that the Supreme Court spared him from having to disclose to the Senate the extent of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s personal involvement in Neda’s approval of the ZTE Corp. National Broadband Network (NBN) proposal – in a manner that would have made St. Thomas More smile. “God’s servant first,” Justice Azcuna refused to indulge in judicial flimflamery and cut through to the real, substantive aspects of Neri’s invocation of executive privilege in his testimony before the inquring Senate committees.

If Justices Corona and Brion and their seven pro-Neri colleagues remembered any part of the Thomas More story, it seems to have been the first half of the medieval English official’s declaration to his king. It seems that they remembered only the “I am the King’s good servant” part. Are Justices Corona and Brion and their seven pro-Neri colleagues “good servants” of the individual who appointed them to the high court (Justice Brion ceased to be a member of GMA’s official family only one week before he took his seat in the Court)? The nine Justices must be now including the reference to them as members of an Arroyo Supreme Court.

St. Thomas More had an excellent opportunity to become King Henry VIII’s favorite minister forever, All he had to do was give the monarch the divorce he wanted. But Thomas More’s conscience would not allow him to do that. He was, to the end, God’s servant first.

Justices Corona and Brion and their seven pro-Neri colleagues have an opportunity to switch from being “the Queen’s good servants” to “God’s servants first.” That opportunity, which is of historic significance, is presented by the motion for reconsideration filed by the Senate on April 8. For the sake of posterity – and their legacies – I and millions of other Filipinos hope that the nine Justices will grab it. (My e-mail address is rudy_v_romero@yahoo.com.)