Palace to Supreme Court: Show impartiality through action, not words

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) must show through actions, not rhetoric, that the judiciary is not singling out President Aquino’s anti-corruption campaign, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said actions speak louder than words. 

“Again, we believe that we have a competent legal team to defend all the executive orders that we’ve crafted,” he said.

Lacierda said Malacañang would like to see the statement of SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez – that the justices were not getting personal with Aquino – bear fruit.

No less than two of five dissenting SC justices have observed the protective pro-Arroyo stance of 10 other justices, he added.

Aquino made his sentiments known last Monday when he signed next year’s P1.645-trillion national budget that his biggest challenge was the judiciary.

“The greatest difficulty, I think, has been no secret, it has to deal with the judiciary,” he said.

Marquez has denied that the judiciary was “singling out” the Aquino administration in several rulings that purportedly put legal obstacles to his reform program.

“We are applying the law fairly and equally to all... the Court is not, and will not, single out anyone,” he said.

Marquez said if the executive department fully understood the ponencia of Justice Jose Mendoza, it would have a better grasp of what really went wrong.

The SC decision voiding Executive Order 1 that created the Truth Commission actually showed the judiciary’s support for Aquino’s reform program, he added.

Aquino and other critics must read a key portion of the ruling: “The search for the truth must be within constitutional bounds,” Marquez said.