The Supreme Court 'on trial'

After watching several Presidential debates “LIVE” and on television, I have observed a few things that I believe Filipinos should seriously think about:

First of all, the forums or debates are packaged to be events meant to help ordinary people like us to better know the Presidentiables. Yet none of these shows or events bothers to present each candidate’s bio data.

The candidates have to inject their family background, their scholastic history, the different jobs or positions they held. This information is more useful in determining the background and competence of a Presidentiable.

The shows are not really user-friendly learning tools but a “show” that organizers use for “broadcast rating, content and advertising”. For the non-media events, it’s often used to spice up some project.

What really ruins it all is when people start asking questions that are designed to spite, intimidate or even humiliate a candidate. Worst of all are “wise guys” who just want to look or sound smart at someone’s expense.

What makes it all ridiculous is that the citizens are simply parroting what media people say in their commentary, but rarely a serious and sincere question about what the next President of the Philippines will do:

When he discovers that the government is broke, how will they raise money: borrow or impose taxes?

Realizing how land reform ruined our agriculture, how will you approach to fix the situation?

Who are your immediate choices for cabinet members and what qualifies them for the position?

How will you address the need to build up the AFP and the PNP? Will retired AFP or PNP officials continue to be placed in government positions?

Will you and can you close down the mythical office and powers of the First Lady?

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The Supreme Court of the Philippines will soon be “on trial”.

As a consequence of the 2010 Presidential elections, the Supreme Court has begun a journey of considering and interpreting serious questions of law, but far from its usual task of being the final arbiter or judge in legal issues, the Supreme Court has begun to make decisions that will ultimately affect the integrity, fairness and credibility of all elections.

To take it further, it is possible that how and what they decide on, may also determine if the next generation of Filipinos will live in a democracy or a dictatorship.

In its recent decision to allow appointed and elected officials to hold on to their posts until the official campaign period begins, the Supreme Court’s potentially damaging impact on the elections were raised by no less than Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Antonio Carpio in their dissenting opinion.

In what Justice Carpio called a “disaster waiting to happen”, Carpio has set the tone of concern that what the Supreme Court decides upon, relative to today’s election concerns, may be a curse we place upon our children.

For now, the argument has been focused on the difference between an elected official and an appointed official as well as the unfair advantage and the large-scale abuse of power that is bound to happen. As a consequence of the “imperfect decision” the Supreme Court’s independence has even become suspect.

For now, it would be safe to say that the legal and political questions brought before the Supreme Court are those of current concerns such as: Is Erap eligible to run again? Should Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resign from office? If Erap can’t run for elective office does the same apply for Arroyo? Etc.

In a perfect world, we would all want to believe that our Justices in the Supreme Court know the law, and are full of wisdom. But in the imperfect reality of the Arroyo administration, we must also accept that even great minds can have serious faults.

A French philosopher once said that: “the heart has reasons that reason cannot understand”. Similarly we know in the Philippines that perfect reason, can be misused by an impure heart.

In this season of legal issues the Supreme Court will be asked to address legal questions that will carry with them both moral and social consequence.

Our Justices have the luxury of interpretation and the convenience of ambiguity. In the system of “majority rules” their serious error can even become “the right way of doing things”. Sadly, even democracy has its flaws.

Like lawyers and doctors, they will have choices and options on how to interpret or determine the outcome of a legal issue. They could, if they wanted to, even inject a political angle into their decisions.

But over and above all these we must all pray that our Justices would hold sacred the spirit and the will of both the law and the people. Each and every Justice of the Supreme Court must be reminded of the sacred trust given to them not by the appointing President, not by the Justice system, but by the Filipino people and ultimately the spirit of the law, which is God.

For lovers of the “law” the coming weeks promise to bring focus to significant legal and constitutional questions. But of greater importance is the sanctity of our Constitution and continuity of our democracy.

When we elect the wrong leaders, we can take comfort with the thought that their term of office will end sooner or later. But when the Supreme Court decides, their decision is knit into the fabric of our Justice system and our way of life.

The irony of events is in the fact that as the Supreme Court sits to hear the landmark cases relevant to this election, they will inadvertently be “On Trial” to defend or condemn our Constitution as well as their independence and integrity.