Cut any which way, that move to suspend the disqualification rule made by Noynoy’s lackey, whom he, even without the constitutional power, positioned his undersecretary, Michael Frederick Musngi, to sit as member of the Judicial and Bar Council in lieu of his Justice secretary, Leila de Lima, who had inhibited herself from the JBC selection process, as she was a nominee, smacks of clear presidential interference for Noynoy to get his way and his choice in the JBC shortlist.
It was a move to ensure that Noynoy gets a chief justice who will obey his every whim, and hang independence and integrity as well as credibility of a full-blown Aquino-controlled Supreme Court (SC).
It was Musngi who had blocked the decision of the JBC to disqualify De Lima, and Noy’s second bet and Solicitor-General Francis Jardeleza, for the CJ position.
The move to suspend the disqualification rule was quickly seconded by another Noy lackey, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., an ad interim JBC member with full voting rights, courtesy of a flip-flopping Aquino SC.
It must be asked: Why was there that move from Noynoy and lackeys in the JBC to suspend or amend that specific rule, if not to qualify the nominees whom Noynoy wants in that shortlist?
Why should it be suspended now, when the rule was never suspended nor amended all those years? Does it make any sense for the JBC to suspend the rule at this time? What is so special about this time that the rule should be suspended? Aren’t there any other nominees whom the same JBC qualified and who have no pending charges against them, good enough to land in that shortlist?
Why push that amendment or suspension? What other reason could there be to suspend the rule that even De Lima rejected, when she was not a nominee but an ex-officio JBC member? Yet today wants it suspended or amended, because, as she even had the temerity to claim, she will be denied her right to give justice to every Filipino, and worse, that she, as the alter-ego of Noynoy, also enjoys full immunity from suit!
If it were just De Lima alone who lobbied for her inclusion, there is serious doubt that her pleas would be heeded, even by Noynoy’s lackeys in the JBC as well as his legal aides, who have been working to get De Lima included on the list.
If Noynoy were not behind all this lobbying and presidential pressure placed on the JBC and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, would there even be a move from his Musngi to suspend the disqualification rule, and quickly seconded by Noy’s congressional lackey, Tupas? Why do it for De Lima and other nominees with pending criminal and administrative cases against them?
A standoff occurred at the JBC, and voting was stalled, due to a question on integrity posed by one unidentified JBC member, which acts as a veto vote from one member.
What disturbs is that the JBC, as composed — with most of them allies of Noynoy — by these moves and postponements of the voting for the shortlisted candidates, appears to welcome the blatant presidential prostitution of a so-called independent constitutional office that moreover is mandated to vote for candidates for such judicial positions on the basis of their integrity, independence and probity. Yet how can they be even good judges of integrity, independence and probity as qualities of judicial candidates when they themselves appear to be bereft of such qualities since they kowtow to the orders of the Malacañang tenant?
It must then be true what an old psychological evaluation done by a Jesuit psychologist on Noynoy when he was a student in Ateneo, focusing on Noynoy’s obsession to gain political power to control and wreak vengeance on whoever he wants, on those who hurt him and his kith and kin. Obsession with power and control is what guides Noynoy.
And every day, in every way, he proves right his psychological profile.
Marcos was tame, compared to Noynoy.