Time to focus on the need for judicial reforms

By now everyone has heard of the big breaking news coming from the Supreme Court (SC) that in a vote of 10-5, the SC en banc ruled that the executive order creating the Truth Commission (chaired by our good friend former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.) is unconstitutional as it violates the equal protection clause in singling out reports of graft and corruption in the Arroyo administration. As expected the pro-PNoy supporters lashed out at the SC saying that the SC Justices except for Justice Lourdes Sereno voted against the Truth Commission as they were all Arroyo appointees.

Again, these people put a political slant into the SC decision. Even here, the pro-Noy radio commentators had a field day lashing out at the SC Justices for their pro-Arroyo bias without really looking into the meat of the problem, where even four Justices appointed by the former President dissented with Justice Sereno.

Let me say it here that everyone knows that the Truth Commission was designed to vilify and eventually crucify the former President and the Supreme Court is right in saying that this violated the “equal protection” clause in the Constitution. If they truly believed that the former President was guilty of corruption as they expressed so many times during the elections, why then did they not file cases against her in our Lower Courts or the Ombudsman? Clearly, they wanted to use the Truth Commission to their unequal advantage! Now is this what our sense of Justice has come to?

If the Aquino administration has lost confidence in our Justice system, then it is only right for them to come up with laws that would ensure that Justice would be fair and equal and hopefully speedy, something that continues to plaque our courts of law. This is what we call Judicial Reforms.

I have always believed that the major or the root cause of the numerous problems we have in this country, especially about corruption stems from a serious lack of speedy dispensation of justice. It is for this reason why crooks, criminals and yes, corrupt government officials love our snail’s paced justice system because by the time you get into a court trial, years have already passed and people tend to forget why they went to court in the first place. Just imagine it’s been more than six years since the Girls Scout scam was headlined in our local dailies and yet it hasn’t even reached the courts as of this time. Why should it take such a long time for justice to be served?

Above all, I also strongly believe that the numerous killings an assassinations happening in our country today is due to this serious lack of justice. I have heard this phrase repeatedly spoken, “It is far cheaper to hire an assassin than hire a lawyer.” Yesterday, The Philippine Star headlined this report, “Palace ponders next Step, vows to go after Corrupt”. If Malacañang is truly serious in fighting corruption, then it should concentrate on making the wheels of justice move faster.

If you ask me, fixing whatever is wrong with our justice system is by far a greater goal than putting the former President in jail. My good friend Atty. Paul Oaminal sent me an email suggesting that the Constitutional Provision on Appointment of Supreme Court Justices must be patterned after the 1935 Constitution in order to avoid allegations of political patronage.

Indeed, this was one of the reasons why I wanted then Tita Cory to issue an Executive Order bringing back the 1935 Constitution, but instead her Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo created a 49 member Constitutional Commission to create the Constitution that allows Political Patronage to flourish! If PNoy wants real change, let’s see him follow Atty. Oaminal’s suggestion, and perhaps we shall finally see those judicial reforms materialize.

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Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) through Pres. Roberto “Bobby” Aboitiz recently signed an agreement with 14 partner individuals and institutions, notably, the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Cebu Association of Biology Students, AboitizLand, Cebu Bloggers Society, Aboitiz Leaders of Excellence, Cebu Mountaineering Society, Delsan Office System Corp., St. Scholastica Academy, University of the Visayas (UV) College of Arts and Sciences and UV College of Pharmacy, Mr. Rudy Chua, Ramon Vidal, Wildlife expert Mr. Nilo Arribas and Mr. John Kiener to support RAFI by adopting the GREENIN Philippines Program. This program is anchored on the lessons and insights gained from years of undertaking sound and viable environmental interventions. It is designed to enhance and maintain environmental integrity by restoring biodiversity and seeks to develop, protect, enhance and co-manage denuded forestlands, brush lands and degraded residual natural forests.

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