Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno says the judiciary seems to be in ‘disarray’ after its ‘collision with the other 2 branches of government- he was referring to the impeachment and final ouster of the last Chief Justice Renato C. Corona but is quick to add that this is temporary. Though some of its members are disappointed, confused, or are in some sort of slump, Puno says the judiciary, perceived today as ‘wounded’will not stay down for long for as long as it serves the people.
Meantime, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio allays public fears that the Supreme Court will be turned into an Aquino Supreme Court after he chooses the next Chief Justice. The controversial Justice is included in the roster of nominees for the vacant position being the most senior among the 14 justices in the Supreme Court. Together with him as nominees are 4 other senior justices automotically nominated to the Judicial and Bar Council screening.
Carpio who is now Acting Chief Justice said the Court will not be subservient to President Aquino once he appoints the next Chief Justice, the 24th in that position since the establishment of this body. He says all the justices are of independent minds and will have no tolerance for someone who will try to dictate on them.
There are lessons learned from the ouster of the last Chief Justice, he says. The court is reacting positively to the charges of lack of transparency- he has made moves to make available to the public statements of assets of judges and justices and the release of the records of the 2010 Supreme Court financial records.
‘OO nga,’ say ordinary people I have talked to since the Corona ouster of May 22- ‘dami mga fiscals and huwes parang sobrang affluent, bakit nga ba?’’why sobra yatang bagal ang usad ng dinirinig na mga kaso sa hukuman?’ ‘why kaya are many courts outside MetroManila poorly- equipped and lack manpower- paano kaya sila nag aappropriate ng ka- budgetan sa judiciary? All these and many, many more will hopefully, soon to find answers with the availability to the public of once very secret records of the Supreme Court. Hmmm, ang dami sigurong secrets na madidiscover and very inquisitive Pinoy reporter and researcher.
In a related development, naku dami ng tanggap na nominations ang Judicial and Bar Council for the position of Chief Jiustice. Una na nga dito ang automatic nomination of 4 senior associate justices of the Supreme Court; ok na rin with the lady Justice Sec. Leila de Lima ang nomination na natanggap niya; prominent lawyer Katrina Legarda is again a nominee (in the last search for Chief Justice, kasali na rin sya among the nominated); there are 2 former and present deans of law schools among the nominees. I am sure marami- rami pa ang maidadagdag sa listahan as the the days go by. The President is given 90 days to make his final choice of the next Chief Justice. The JBC will make the shortlist of nominees for submission to the President.
Parang kanais- nais na next Chief Justice for me si Justice Carpio- I hope the President and the public will be objective enough to consider the man’s track record in the judicial service. I hope they realize that he is a non- nonsense man and that his independence is unquestionable.
Huwag lang padala sa intriga…Controversial kasi si Mr. Carpio, e. Some people yata ang nagkalat ng katakut- takot na intriga about the man ganggang nalito na ang balana- bida ba or villain si Carpio?
Mortal na kaaway daw sya ni ousted CJCorona and he maneuvered daw ang impeachment hanggang tuluyang maalis sa pwesto ang kanyang kaaway.
Sa totoo lang po, I would rather believe facts than tsismis- Philippine Daily Inquirer Jarius Bondoc says ‘silliest argument’ daw ang hindi mahirang si Carpio because ‘he is the foe of the dismissed Corona.’
Take note lang po, throughout Corona’s tirades released in all media against his former compadre and amigo during the impeachment trial, Carpio has maintained his silence, never calling the press to issue his counter statements in defense of his person. If he did so, it would have meant further cracks to the judiciary as an institution as its highest members bickered in public.
Bondoc acknowledges the researches of journalists Maritess Vitug and Purple Romero who compiled some of Carpio’s decisions as dispenser of justice revealing a man of integrity and credibility:
‘Magistrates are expected to speak only through their decisions, dissents or occasional lectures, and to socialize sparingly if at all. This is to avoid any tinge of partiality or impropriety. Yet some are seen nightly hopping from one cocktail party to another. Not Carpio. It would be best to judge him by his judicial rulings. (See Marites Vitug’s Shadow of Doubt, and researches in Rappler.com by Purple Romero.) Among these are:
• disallowing in 2005 a private corporation, foreign at that, from acquiring reclaimed, alienable land of the public domain;
• dissenting in 2006 that the transfer of a rapist American GI from jail to the US embassy was okay under the RP-US visiting forces pact;
• penning in 2007 to reject a private firm’s belated multibillion-peso claim against the state’s toll ways agency;
• dissenting last March 2012 from disquieting millions of lot titles in former friar lands in Luzon and the Visayas;
penning in 2006 to strike down a contrived people’s initiative to rewrite the Constitution;
• declaring unconstitutional Malacañang’s ceding in 2008 of territory to Moro separatists; and
• contesting in 2008 Cabinet member Romy Neri’s use of executive privilege to hide then-President Gloria Arroyo’s role in a $200-million kickback in the $329-million NBN-ZTE deal.
In the latter three Carpio voted against the interest of his former boss and appointer Arroyo. That’s the way it should be. The Constitution states in Article VIII, Judicial Department, Section 7-(3): “A Member of the Judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.”
Carpio has disregarded personal ties, even when his Sigma Rho college fraternity mates are concerned. He voted to dismiss two such brods, Court of Appeals justices Elvi Asuncion for graft and Vicente Roxas for dereliction of duty. Several times he decided against big clients of the ACCRA law firm, founded and managed mostly by other brods. Members of his old law firm Carpio Villaraza Cruz (now Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco) know him enough not to be counted on for legal succor. He inhibits himself from deliberations of their cases. Other justices reportedly dislike his refusal to trade cases, that is, to vote for their ponencias in exchange for their voting for his.
Carpio even ruled against his own interest in May 2010. He was the most senior associate justice and frontrunner to succeed then-retiring CJ Reynato Puno. But he stood with the minority that Arroyo would be violating the Constitution if she named a replacement during the election ban. Although automatically considered a candidate-CJ, being among the five most senior associates, he declined the nomination. That paved the way for the midnight appointment of the second most senior, the friend who called him an adversary.
President Noynoy Aquino was among the senators in 2010 who opposed the midnight appointment, in vain. He has since said of Carpio: “In some cases we agree; in others we don’t.” Perhaps their strongest points of oneness are in Carpio’s:
• resistance to the 2010 quashing of Aquino’s Truth Commission;
• voting in 2011 against the restraint on the House of Reps from impeaching then-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez; and
• dissenting in the 2011 restraint on the justice department’s travel watch on spouses Gloria and Mike Arroyo.
In 2005 Carpio led in declaring unconstitutional the Mining Act of 1995 for not collecting just shares from profits of mining firms. The SC eventually reversed itself, but Carpio stood his ground and dissented. Today, to correct the law’s lapse, the Aquino administration is imposing a five-percent government cut in mining revenues.
A point of disagreement is in Carpio’s dissent against Aquino’s appointment of temporary officials other than governor of the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao…’
(EXCERPTS FROM ‘GOTCHA by Darius Bondoc, Philippine Daily Inquirer
I can not understand why some of our national leaders would publicly advise nominees or would be nominees for the position of Chief Justice not to accept their nominations because of such petty reasons as ‘ balitang ‘close’ kayo ni PNoy and therefore magiging tuta lang nya ang mga taga Supreme Court’ or ‘u had a hand in Corona’s ouster and dahil dito, di ka dapat maging Chief Justice’…ano ba yan????
Parang Pinoy na Pinoy yata- may shades of amor propio, pagkahiya sa mga sasabihin ng iba, delicadeza kunu- kuno, hay naku, I hope the nation can stop this mentality.
We need to forget the pain of the Corona ouster and move on to this next chapter- hopefully a brighter one where honesty and integrity will be the main characteristic of our Supreme Court and the rest of the judiciary.
The 3rd co- equal branch of government can start rebuilding from this- restore the nation’s faith in them and the justice system prevailing.
THANK YOU, TORONTO!
