Playing with the referee

There is a well-known principle in basketball that the best offense is a good defense. However, the show cause order of the Supreme Court against 37 University of the Philippines College of Law professors in connection with the recently decided plagiarism case illustrates the reverse – that the best defense is a good offense.

On the one hand, the Supreme Court order said that the law professors may have breached several canons of the Code of Professional Responsibility of Lawyers which, per Court Administrator Midas Marquez, “essentially prohibit lawyers from issuing statements to the media relating to pending cases which may influence the public.” The majority ruling argued that “while most agree that the right to criticize the judiciary is critical to maintaining a free and democratic society, there is also a general consensus that healthy criticism only goes so far.” There is also the allegation that some of the 37 signatures were “plagiarized” as well so much so that the Court has ordered petitioner’s lawyers to produce a copy of the original statement signed by the law professors.

On the other hand, the law professors which branded a magistrate’s action as “unacceptable, unethical and in breach of the high standards of moral conduct expected of a Supreme Court Justice” will be relying mainly on the Constitutionally protected right to free speech. UP law dean and MILF peace panel chief Marvic Leonen welcomed the High Court’s action saying that this gives them “an opportunity… to define again the concept of freedom of expression and academic autonomy enshrined in the Constitution.” Of course, and using again our basketball analogy, Dean Leonen, et al, face the practical dilemma of playing against a party which also happens to serve as the referee.

The situation may prove tricky for the High Court. It will need to tread a fine legal line. As the ultimate guardian of our bill of rights, our Court of last resort may ironically end up issuing a ruling that will have a “chilling effect” on free expression. And yet, its decision regarding the latter and intellectual property rights will not only be debated in the local setting but scrutinized in the global legal arena as well. And while it has the ultimate say of what the Constitution means, it will still be answerable to the higher court of public opinion. For while the Executive branch exercises the power of the sword and the Legislature possesses the power of the purse, the Judicial branch’s authority is eventually sourced from its credibility to render impartial and fair justice. I better stop here lest I get a show cause order myself.

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Cycle of Life: And speaking of ironies, we chronicled a few columns ago, the birth of baby GF to a Filipina OFW in one of the comfort rooms of a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain. The other day, (and this was a few weeks later) it was reported that a Filipino OFW on board the same flight took his own life also in one of the rest rooms. Perhaps the airline should conduct an ecumenical service or perform certain rituals and blessings inside the plane to ward off the spirits within. Also, our authorities should focus on the plight (not flight) of our OFW heroes as these actions manifest the physical and psychological stresses that they go through in working overseas. And yet, amidst these personal tragedies, we all bear witness to birth and death which complete the cycle of our earthly life.

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Hope for PAGASA: For providing fairly reliable and up to date information on the strength and movement of Juan, the strongest typhoon to hit the country to date, two centavos are awarded to the personnel of our Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST). Clearly, they were more visible and appeared to be in better control of the situation as opposed to their July 2010 performance during typhoon Basyang which had been terribly misforecasted. And to think that this performance was achieved despite the absence of our long-ordered doppler radar systems, two of which I understand are to be installed in Subic and Tagaytay City this month. Speaking of being proactive however, I hope that our education officials in Metro Manila would be more decisive in announcing the suspension of classes. To call it off at 11 a.m. after many students have gone to class presents a logistical nightmare to many parents.

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World-class performance: Aside from being known for its giant Christmas lanterns, the city of San Fernando has now achieved the status of a world class city based on the Performance Governance System (PGS) of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia. Indeed its five year (2005-2010) performance is impressive: It earned P506.9 million income as compared to P260.2 million in 2005; 66 new businesses with a capital of P5 million and above were formed, up from 21 such businesses in 2005; and the standard processing time for business permits was lowered to 1.28 hours from the two weeks waiting time in 2005. And perhaps the most impressive statistic is that 43 percent of its population is classified as part of the middle class, apparently the largest percentage of middle class constituents in the country. Two centavos is therefore given to Mayor Oscar Rodriguez and his Sangguniang Bayan for this world class performance!

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 “Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.” – Victor Hugo

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