Cleaning up after Corona

I hope by this time the euphoria following the Corona impeachment trial is over and we as a nation are more determined to preserve what we have just gained. I am glad to note that the Senate is back at its usual work. And Sen. Serge Osmeña is once again asking DBP officials questions about loans to Bobby Ongpin that are difficult to answer.

Hayyy!!! Nice to see we are back to normal. I hope that when I hear Corona again, it is a cold bottle of the Mexican beer being offered to help me cool off.

Now we must focus on cleaning up after Corona, the former Chief Justice and not the beer. After spending all that time and money on the impeachment trial, we have to make sure that we do something about some of the lessons learned. For now, I just want to focus on some key ones that require immediate action.

I know Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile totally demolished the theory of the former Chief Justice that dollar deposits need not be divulged in the SALN because these are protected by the FCDU Law. Just to erase all doubts, Congress should rewrite the relevant laws covering SALN and FCDU to expressly say that the confidentiality protection does not cover government officials when they file their SALN.

Then Congress must also pass legislation that will say government officials are obligated to include the amounts they have deposited in accounts abroad and the SALN waiver covers those accounts too. I know it is difficult to make our legislators pass laws that work against their interests but we must take them at their word that the Corona verdict sets the bar of transparency/public accountability higher.

Congress must also pass the amendments to our bank secrecy law to make it compliant to international standards. We cannot risk being declared a pariah in the international financial community and cause problems for our OFWs in sending money back home. Most of all, we have to make sure crooks in and out of government cannot take refuge behind our bank secrecy law.

AMLC or the Anti Money Laundering Council must be given teeth to get their job done. It was ridiculous for Congress to require AMLC to first inform their target crook and get a court order before they can freeze accounts. What crook will stand idle after being so informed?

The next order of business is to have a credible selection process for the next Chief Justice. There is a problem with the way we do that through the Judicial and Bar Council. The Constitutional Commission created the JBC supposedly to insulate the judiciary from politicians. It has not worked that way.

Actually, that old system of letting the nominee go through the gauntlet of the Commission on Appointments is better than the JBC. It is more transparent.

The JBC has become an old boys’ club of compañeros. The rule that says the President can only select from the JBC’s short list means nothing because the President always gets his/her choice included in the JBC list, as Ate Glue did countless times. The whole process is a sham. The intention of the framers of the Constitution is not carried out.

We need a constitutional amendment to go back to the old system. But for now, we have to make the process very transparent. Show the process on live TV.

Sen. Chiz Escudero’s suggestion to require the next Chief Justice to undergo psychiatric examination is laughable. If there is anyone who should take that examination, it is probably Chiz himself. Chiz, who voted to throw out Corona last week, was part of the JBC when the council unanimously voted for Corona.

Even Sen. Kiko Pangilinan was a member of the JBC when it voted Merceditas Gutierrez as Ombudsman. Gutierrez was also impeached but resigned before the Senate could hold hearings. And Kiko voted for Corona when he was made an Associate Justice.

There is a need to involve more of the public by televising the proceedings. Transparency will help us make a much better choice than the process that unanimously selected Mr. Corona.

The interviews if aired live will let the public know more about the aspirants including complaints about their qualifications and character. Transparency will transform the JBC from an old boys’ club of compañeros to a publicly accountable constitutional institution.

JBC members must show how they graded the aspirant’s independence, integrity and competence. In the United States, the aspirants are vetted thoroughly. The Senate examines the writings of the applicants to better understand not just their legal competence but their political and ideological leanings.

Here, a panel of legal academicians, the UP Law Center perhaps, must be asked to study the decisions and legal papers written by the applicants and report to the JBC. Such a study will give the JBC a better basis to measure the aspirants’ level of understanding and critical thinking. That may help weed out potential Justices who may be prone to plagiarizing in writing their decisions.

The members of the JBC must explain their vote. This will force them to be careful and not to merely approve the President’s choice, specially if the qualifications or fitness of that choice are publicly questioned. I think this is what the framers of our constitution had in mind when they created the JBC… not a secret club that allows the President to just name his choice.

As for P-Noy, he must realize that appointing Corona’s successor is probably the most important appointment he will make. Sen. Escudero is right when he said “No one close to him, not his friend, not his partymate, not his ally para hindi masabi na inalis si Chief Justice Corona ay para mailagay ‘yung tao niya. Sana ‘yung away na pinagdaanan natin sa impeachment na ito hindi magpatuloy sa kung sino man ang iaapoint ni Pang. Aquino.”

Let us nominate credible candidates. Let us actively participate in the public selection process. We want the best qualified to take over because there is too much at stake in having a credible Supreme Court. That’s what we fought for and we now have a chance to finally have.

Nominee

I would like to get the ball rolling on suggesting nominees for the JBC to consider. As I wrote here last January, I can only think of UP Law educated Katrina Legarda off the top of my head. I personally know Kat has impeccable integrity, intelligence and the experience working with our judicial system for many years and thus know what needs to be fixed.

Kat has been committing her time and energy to improve the quality of our judiciary. She has been giving lectures in the Judicial Academy, a Supreme Court project to improve the quality of our judges.

She has also been working with the police and training them in such areas as criminal law, human rights and protection of women and children. Kat has been in a lot of nook and crannies in this country and even some neighboring countries setting up women and children welfare units with the help of local governments.

I think Kat qualifies most because of the absence of conflict of interest. She has closed down her private law practice for a number of years now and is keeping herself busy as a law professor. Her main preoccupation is still her advocacy for the rights of women and children.

She recently accepted an appointment to be Chief Legal Counsel of GSIS and is leading investigations into the shenanigans of the past regime there. But she isn’t tied up to the job. She accepted the job on an interim basis as a favor to a friend who had been tasked to clean up the GSIS too.

Kat carries no baggage. She has rather simple requirements in life (lives in Balic Balic, Sampaloc rather than Forbes). Being spotlessly clean herself, Kat is someone who can credibly clean up our judiciary. I am sure she has the skills and the charm to unite a fractured Supreme Court. It would be great to have her as our first woman chief justice.

I am not saying Kat is the only one qualified but anyone with no axe to grind and who can match her qualifications and dedication should do as well too.

Kat is too old school to have herself formally nominated. Those who know her and have worked with her should do that for her by writing their nomination letters addressed to the JBC (2/Flr Centennial Bldg. Supreme Court, Padre Faura) and the Office of the President in Malacañang. That’s how the system works.

Future Atty.

Here’s another one sent by a reader about attorneys.

How can a pregnant woman tell that she’s carrying a future attorney?

She has an uncontrollable craving for baloney.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco