Weird SC decision favors only Arroyo

Guiuan, Eastern Samar, on the Pacific coast, is the latest addition to the Philippines’ growing number of surfing sites. The waves are rated as “odyssey” during the amihan. That’s the northwest monsoon, October to March, from the Siberian plains, bringing cool, clear weather and strong winds to the eastern seaboard.

There aren’t too many resorts in the second-class island municipality pronounced giwàn. Two of the better known are upscale Surf Camp in Calicoan Island (www.calicoansurfcamp.com), and midrange View Lodge in Barangay Tanghay. But hard-core surfers don’t care much about amenities, so long as they are able to ride the five-foot-high “magic carpet” all day long. There are two main breaks: the left-hand swell with a 200-meter ride, and the right with a 150-meter wave. Every October the Surf-riders Club of Eastern Samar, the provincial and town governments, and Department of Tourism hold the Odyssey Waves Surfing Competition.

Surfing isn’t the only attraction. Tourists find Eastern Samar’s virgin forests, white sands, and clear waters ideal for trekking, bird watching, fishing, diving, and plain beachcombing. For details, contact provincial tourism officer Crescentia Quitorio, 055 5609366 (office) or 0915 5618400 (mobile). There’s eats too: fresh fish, crabs, and a variety of local delicacies.

And history. Eastern Samar is where Magellan first landed, on Homonhon Island in Guiuan. It is also where insurrectos in 1901 attacked a US Army garrison in Balangiga town. In retaliation, US forces nearly wiped out Samar’s male populace, turning the island into a “howling wilderness.” Balangiga’s church bells, taken by the US Cavalry as war booty, remain an irritant between the two countries. The church is being renovated. Parish priest Fr. Joaquin Bertos seeks donations: St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish, BPI-Tacloban savings account 9153-0240-97.

Back in Guiuan is Sulangan Island, home to the Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua. Miraculous healings and apparitions are attributed to the icon. Pilgrims come to pray for cures or to pass professional board exams. The nearby church is under repair and also needs help: PNB-Guiuan savings account 406-485-4000-17, c/o Fr. Joberto Picardal.

Eastern Samar is banking on tourism to help pull it out of the 20 Poorest Provinces. When Gov. Ben Evardone first sat in 2004, his yearlong budget was P350 million. It has since nearly doubled to P600 million for 2010. Evardone is not seeking reelection next year, but instead gunning for Congress. He has laid the groundwork for the province’s rise, and changed local officials’ habit of building waiting sheds for infrastructure, refocusing them on education, health and jobs. A congressional seat can bring in new development funding.

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Article IX, Section 2 (4) of the Constitution states: “No officer or employee in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any electioneering or partisan political campaign.” To run for office is to electioneer, thus partisan. So the Omnibus Election Code of 1985 deems automatically resigned any Cabinet member, ambassador, police-military officer or bureaucrat who files a certificate of candidacy. The Automated Election Law of 2008 reiterates that principle. Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno and five colleagues uphold it: Corona, Corona-Morales, Peralta, Abad, and Villarama.

Oddly, eight colleagues call unconstitutional the two laws that enable the constitutional tenet. The people’s will is sacred. No justice may opine against the duly ratified fundamental law. So where are they coming from: ponente Nachura, Corona, Chico-Nazario, Velasco, Leonardo-De Castro, Brion, Bersamin, and Del Castillo?

The eight claim that the enabling laws go against the Constitution’s equal-protection clause. Supposedly, it is discriminatory for appointive officials to be forcibly resigned, but not elective ones like President, Vice, legislators and local executives. But if they want equality before the law, then they should have ruled as unconstitutional the exemption of elective officials from resignation. That would put appointive and elective officials on the same footing. To deem election officials as resigned, like appointive ones, upon filing candidacy is constitutional. Article IX, Section 2 (1), says: “The civil service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the Government, including government-owned and -controlled corporations with original charters.”

To forcibly resign officials who are running for election is practical. If out of office, chances are slim for them to use public resources for personal campaigns (except if abetted by sitting officials). The eight justices claim, however, that letting campaigning appointive officials stay in office would be good for the public since they would be in their best behavior. That’s not true, of course. The official is likely to be out campaigning and so cannot render public service. That is why since 1907 officials who seek election are compelled to resign. Act No. 1582, the first ever election law passed by the Philippine Commission, laid down the rule.

Only the Arroyo admin benefits from the 8-6 ruling. Cabinet men eyeing elective posts admit to feeling relieved that they can stay on — to misuse public money and facilities. Malacañang-paid legislators and local execs will also remain to receive Jocjoc Bolante-type stolen campaign funds. Gloria Arroyo’s skin thickens further to abuse presidential perks to run for congresswoman. No wonder Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson laments that the Supreme Court has been compromised since packed with Arroyo loyalists. He shudders that the ruling is a precursor of things to come even after Arroyo’s term ends.

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 “Half use of talent can mean half waste of it. A little talent pushed to its limits is a treasure. Great talent not nurtured becomes trash.” Shafts of Light, by Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ, is available in cards: P100 per box of 25. To order, e-mail: [email protected]

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E-mail: [email protected]