Political infighting

EDITORIAL

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02/10/2010

Infighting for the top judicial post between two Supreme Court (SC) associate justices is fierce — and fairly dirty, that is for certain.

At least two associate justices who know they have no chance at all of being appointed, should Gloria Arroyo do the appointing, desperately want the high court seat, but knowing that they won’t get it, they came up with an acceptance of the nomination to the high seat — on condition that the next president appoints them.

Another associate justice also wants the high seat, and has accepted the Judicial Bar and Council (JBC) nomination, without conditions and chances are high that it will be he who will get the high seat — if Gloria does the appointing.

Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino has come out openly to warn the SC justices — all 14 of them, that he will not recognize the chief justice who has been appointed by Gloria, and warned as well that the Gloria appointed CJ runs the risk of being booted out of his seat. Aquino reiterated this warning during the most recent debate.

First off, Aquino’s stand is marked with hubris and total arrogance, and does show him up as being utterly disrespectful of the Constitution, as well as the separation of government powers. But he has taken this line because it is just as clear that he is sympathetic — if not in the league with the SC justices who have given a conditional acceptance of their nominations.

One wonders if a deal between the justices and Aquino — or for that matter Nacionalista Party (NP) bet Sen. Manuel Villar — has been struck this early. The FIRM, once the personal lawyers of Gloria and all-out supporters of the incumbent, until after a fall-out with the Malacañang tenant, has its lawyers’ feet planted firmly in both the LP and the NP camps, thus ensuring its judicial ascendancy.

It can hardly be denied that before their fall from Malacañang grace, a lot of the FIRM’s lawyers and legal allies were in power and position: Antonio Carpio, one of the FIRM’s founders, was Arroyo’s first appointee in the high court and his voting record before the fall out, showed decisions favorable to Gloria. Avelino “Nonong” Cruz, was Gloria’s legal counsel then Defense chief. Simeon Marcelo was appointed Solicitor-General then Ombudsman, while other allies were positioned well in the judiciary.

There is hardly any doubt that with either candidate, the FIRM will once again be in the ascendancy.

The question to ask both Aquino and Villar is this: Would they appoint as CJ — should they win the presidential race, SC Associate Justice Renato Corona?

Put another way: Would either not appoint Justice Antonio Carpio, should they win?

Of course not, since the real opposition to Gloria’s appointing a CJ is all about their being able to appoint SC Justice Antonio Carpio. What then does this mean, if not their ensuring that either one would have a “friendly” CJ in the high court, not to mention their wanting to exert influence over the high court instead of ensuring the high court’s independence.

To make it clear: It really shouldn’t matter who is appointed CJ after CJ Reynato Puno’s retirement, or even who does the appointing of the CJ. The institution and its powers must be respected — if we, as a nation — must have an independent judiciary. Infighting and politics should have nothing to do with the appointment of a new CJ.

But that infighting and dirty tricks exist today — all for getting the CJ post.

There was that conditional acceptance — which was a political statement in itself, followed by a FIRM member nominating yet another lackey — former Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio, and a couple more, with the same political stand — that of not accepting the post if the incumbent Chief Executive is the appointing power.

As this doesn’t seem to work, there went that complaint against Corona which was reportedly leaked by one SC justice to his usual media group that always gets the “scoop” on certain decisions long before the SC makes them public, and naturally always clearing the “source” of the leak.

Dirty play is being resorted to by the justices and their supporters to get the CJ post.

It hardly speaks well of the high court and some of its members.

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