Changes

Now that the Supreme Court has issued the last of three much-awaited rulings on recent controversies, what lies ahead for our despairing nation?

The opposition in the House of Representatives is preparing to incorporate portions of the rulings in its second effort to impeach President Arroyo later this year.

Culpable violations of the Constitution can warrant the impeachment of a President. If a presidential order has been declared unconstitutional by the highest court, could it serve as a basis for impeachment?

Already the administration’s legal team is preparing to challenge portions of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Proclamation 1017, which found unconstitutional the warrantless arrest of rally participants as well as the raid on The Daily Tribune during the state of national emergency in February. The ruling is also expected to be used by party-list representatives who have been charged with rebellion in connection with the coup plot allegedly hatched by a bizarre alliance of communists and military extremists. The plot was supposed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the people power revolt on Feb. 25 and would have culminated on May 1.

Five of the congressmen remain holed up at the House of Representatives to avoid arrest and detention without bail. The government expressed confidence yesterday that the Supreme Court ruling would not affect the rebellion case.

As we can see, the rulings on 1017, Executive Order 464 and "CPR" or calibrated preemptive response guarantee more political battles ahead. The public won’t mind the political noise, as long as the rulings lead to some positive changes.

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We’re seeing some movements in this direction.

While the House opposition is preparing Impeachment Round 2, which everyone expects, other lawmakers are reportedly drawing up a code of conduct for congressional inquiries after the Supreme Court upheld certain portions of EO 464.

In a Congress where many members think being a lawmaker means being above the law, I don’t know if a code of conduct will work. The Senate in particular keeps giving proponents of Charter change an excuse to call for the abolition of the chamber.

But it’s good to see some lawmakers heeding the essence of the SC ruling, which is to remind Congress about civility and responsibility in the exercise of legislative powers.

Another positive development: lectures are being prepared for cops on the conduct of lawful searches and arrests.

While they’re at it, the government should expand those lectures to include crash courses on basic legal matters that must be kept in mind by cops in apprehending troublemakers or conducting raids.

You think cops are supposed to know these things before they are commissioned into the force? Think again.

There are many cops who don’t have the foggiest idea about such basic matters, which is why many criminal cases, including those filed against notorious drug dealers, are dismissed by courts on a technicality. We might see such technicalities as minor matters, but defense lawyers look for such police slip-ups to get their clients off the hook.

A number of cops don’t have the foggiest idea even about preserving evidence at a crime scene. This has been remedied with the fielding of so-called "scene-of-the-crime" investigators who are supposed to specialize in such things. Now we see those yellow police lines to keep out kibitzers. But there are still many cops who can use a refresher course on the basics of criminal investigation.

In the wake of the SC rulings on CPR and 1017, police officers can also use lectures on the legal aspects of human rights. This is not just to protect the rights of civilians, but also to save cops who simply want to do their jobs from legal problems.

I know good police officers who left the force because they were slapped several times with cases for human rights violations in connection with their work. They received little help for their legal defense from the Philippine National Police.

The government should be prepared to assist the cops who are charged in court for human rights violations in connection with actions taken during the state of national emergency in February and in carrying out CPR. I haven’t met an anti-riot cop who enjoys crowd dispersal operations.

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Other positive changes we’re not sure to see. In all three SC rulings, Malacañang was admonished against the arbitrary use of power. Will Malacañang heed the admonition?

While the SC rulings also upheld the powers of the President, especially in declaring a state of emergency, the rulings were a victory for those who have raised concern over the tendency of this Chief Executive to overreact and resort to authoritarian tactics in dealing with dissent.

Reliable quarters had been sounding the alarm about this authoritarian streak since last year, saying that the President was just waiting for an excuse to crack down on her political enemies. She probably thought she had the excuse in February’s "Final Act 2."

In the global village of the 21st century, this authoritarian streak is never received well. It’s bad for the country, and bad for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The President should review the circumstances that led to her declaration of CPR and the implementation of 1017, and determine who gave her bad advice.

If those moves were her own decisions, she should study the Supreme Court rulings carefully, especially the part about the arbitrary use of power.

The legislature should so the same. So should people who need to be reminded about the responsibilities that go with civil liberties.

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CAUSE OF TRAFFIC: Traffic enforcers can also use more lectures on how to do their job. Often the biggest causes of traffic are the traffic managers themselves. On a slow afternoon yesterday, there was an enormous traffic jam on the Alabang-Zapote road near Toyota Alabang. All because some traffic aides with nothing better to do decided to turn the four-lane, two-way road into a virtual one-way street. This is a specialty of the nincompoops manning traffic in this part of Alabang and Las Piñas. The traffic scheme works on the narrow mountain roads in Banawe, where buses have to make way for goats ambling from the opposite direction. That’s where these traffic aides deserve to be assigned.