Corona's acceptance

Before the opposition uses bad words against Justice Renato Corona for accepting his nomination by JBC as chief justice, let us review what Franklin Drilon, prominent member of the Liberal Party Noynoy Roxas wing said days before. “With a single act of selflessness, Justice Renato Corona can put an end to this dangerous and inglorious hullabaloo facing the Supreme Court today.”

Well, Justice Corona did put an end to the “hullabaloo” but it may not be to Drilon’s liking or any of the experts they usually call on when they want to hit at President GMA and by extension the Presidency.

Despite the publicity generated from sections of society that made it look like the whole world was against the President for exercising one of her last duties as head of government, Corona acted independently when he accepted the nomination. He did not allow himself to be used by the opposition and act recklessly as other justices did.

He could have danced to the tune of the times. But Corona did what to me is the more radical behavior. He was not swayed by oppositionists pretending to be unbiased. By doing so he went against the tide, accepted the nomination gracefully to allow government to act according to the Constitution. In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council yesterday, Corona said: “I humbly submit to the wisdom of the JBC in the exercise of its mandate under the Constitution.”

By acting differently from the other justices, Corona has moved to strengthen both the institutions of the presidency and the judiciary.

His act invites censure from an opposition prepared to jeopardize the country for its interests. He acted according to his conscience rather than on what is “popular.”

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Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, has admitted the contradiction between Article VIII Section 4 that bans the President from making appointments two months before the next presidential elections and up to the end of her term, and Article VII Section 15 that mandates the President to name a new chief justice within 90 days after a vacancy occurs.

His solution for the contradiction: that President Arroyo appoint only an acting chief justice after Reynato Puno retires on May 17 from among the senior Supreme Court justices until the next president appoints a new chief justice before Aug. 15.

He would now amend the Constitution to fit the circumstances that the framers had not foreseen at the time of its writing.

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Noynoy’s candidacy for president may open a can of worms on how Cory Aquino became president after the February EDSA revolution. There are stories and stories. But these were largely rumors and were generally not believed. One story that went the rounds was how Cory Aquino met with the American ambassador then, Stephen Bosworth in the house of Manoling Morato. It is written about in Sandra Burton’s Impossible Dream — The Marcoses, the Aquinos and the Unfinished Revolution.

She writes that with the post Marcos transition at hand, Bosworth looked for a good contact for the delicate mission of meeting with the Aquinos themselves.

The story in Burton’s words: “Searching for the right environment — relaxed, friendly, discreet — Bosworth turned to a longtime Aquino family friend, who was also close to the embassy’s naval attaché. Manuel (Manoling) Morato had been a childhood friend of Ninoy and had remained close to the Aquino family and to Cory throughout the martial law period and Ninoy’s exile. Active in the fledgling Philippine Aerospace Association with young Filipino Air Force officers and the diplomatic community, Morato also numbered among his friends a wide circle of opposition politicians, artists, entertainers and even a number of Imelda’s so called Blue Ladies society matrons who had donned blue dresses to campaign for Marcos in the 1960s. Known as an impeccable host, Morato lived in an art-filled duplex atop a Manila apartment building owned by him, which had been the site of many such confidential meetings during martial law and after. Manoling would later arrange such a secret meeting there for me (Sandra Burton) with the prosecutor in the Ver trial.

“When the ambassador told me who was coming to dinner,” recounted Morato, “well after the fact, I asked if it was okay if I arranged for their cars to use a different entrance.” He knew a sensitive guest list when he saw one — Cory, her mother-in-law, Dona Aurora, sister-in-law Maur, daughter Kris, speechwriter Teodoro (Teddy Boy) Locsin Jr., the US ambassador and the US defense attaches. By using a secret entrance, he sought to protect both his guests and himself.

“Bosworth, however, told him, ”I never act covertly.” Given a flair for the dramatic, Morato jokingly claimed that he replied, “Easy for you to say what about me and my business and my seven hundred employees?”

“However, he respected the ambassador’s wishes and opened the gates of his compound for the separate cars of his guests and their drivers and bodyguards. In Bosworth’s case, Morato would learn later, “all the security guards were from the Presidential Security Command — all Ver’s men”. From a diplomatic and political perspective, the evening appeared to the host to have gone well, although it brought him several seasons of harassment from Ver’s men and the Blue Ladies.”

That is as far as the Burton account of the meeting between Cory Aquino and the American ambassador in Morato’s house went. The crucial conversation that evening was left untold for many years because as a friend advised Morato “it might cause a diplomatic row”.

But it is useful background for Filipinos who wish to have a clearer understanding of democratic elections in the Philippines. In that meeting, Cory was straightforward and frankly asked the American ambassador for funds. She showed she had a sense of realpolitik that her adoring fans would deny of her preferring to think of her as a saint.

 According to Morato she asked for an additional $25 million for NAMFREL that was headed by then Jose Concepcion and Christian Monsod (a Lopez man and now at the helm of opposition groups). In the conversation it was revealed that an initial $2 million had already been advanced. NAMFREL was the group organized as the non-governmental counterpart of the COMELEC. It would do a parallel counting and tallying of the votes.

I don’t know what role it will play in 2010 but it is useful to know how it was organized. It shows how our former colonizer continues to influence our elections.