P-Noy, never alienate the Supreme Court

The Filipino Azkals victory in the Suzuki Cup against Vietnam proves that Filipinos do have a credible soccer team; unfortunately, we have very few soccer fields and not a single soccer stadium. Hopefully, this victory would create a new awareness about soccer as a national sport in our country.

Meanwhile, there is also another good news, this time it comes from our golfing friend Marko Sarmiento. Here’s his letter in full: 

“Hi Bobit, As a fellow avid golfer and a fan of Filipino athletes, I am sure you would be proud to hear about the recent achievement of our most decorated professional golfer to date, Frankie Miñoza. This past November, Frankie became the first Filipino golfer to qualify for the US PGA Champions Tour! Frankie survived a grueling qualifying process that included 144 holes of high-caliber competition in two different US states.

“The regional qualifier was held in Monterrey, California while the final stage was in Coral Springs, Florida. Frankie not only qualified, but finished in second place to earn a full exempt status (eligible for all the tournaments with no need to enter Monday qualifiers) for the upcoming 2011 season. Only the top five players from the final stage of qualifying earned this status.

“After playing a round of golf with Frankie a few days ago, he said that he can’t wait to tee it up with the best 50 and above aged players in the world. Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Corey Pavin, Greg Norman and Tom Watson are a few legends that Frankie will be competing against. Let’s hope that our local cable provider gives us the coverage to finally watch and cheer for our very own golfing icon. Marko Sarmiento”

I once played with Frankie Miñoza in his home turf at the Del Monte Golf Course in Camp Philips, Bukidnon and we always get to talk whenever he comes to Cebu. Well, I met Frankie last week so he could tell us his story and yes, at age 51, he is in his finest form and yes, Montito Garcia even told me that he’s been hitting longer than ever before. So watch Frankie Miñoza play in the next PGA season! Congrats, Frankie! We’re proud of you!

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Instead of respecting the views of the Supreme Court, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III is looking for other options on how to resurrect his ill-fated attempt to create the Truth Commission and it ranges from a simple motion for reconsideration, which I believe would certainly be denied, to creating a new EO for an expanded Truth Commission. This only proves that P-Noy is not only narrow-minded, he is bull-headed as well!

Perhaps P-Noy should read The Philippine STAR’s editorial last Thursday entitled “Not the end of the road” and allow me to quote the last paragraph which reads, “The defeat of EO No. 1 before the Supreme Court should not be seen as the defeat of the anti-corruption campaign. This is not the end of the road, but just a major hurdle along a tortuous path.” In the long and short of it, the message tells us, “There are many other ways to skin a cat!”

I had a long conversation with my son-in-law, Atty. Jennoh Tequillo, and he summed up this issue in one sentence: “The Supreme Court is there to protect the citizenry from the tyranny of the Executive Branch of the government.” Few Filipinos understand that in a democracy like ours, we have three co-equal branches of the government: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary. As The STAR editorial suggests, “Among the arguments against EO No. 1 is that the power to create the truth body lies in Congress. Malacañang should also be open to the idea that this argument is valid, and try tapping the legislature for a second stab at creating a truth commission.”

James Madison, the fourth US president and father of the US Constitution, once said, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Where the Federal Constitution, therefore, really chargeable with the accumulation of power, or with a mixture of powers, having a dangerous tendency to such an accumulation, no further arguments would be necessary to inspire a universal reprobation of the system.”

Now P-Noy’s supporters are suggesting to have Chief Justice Renato Corona impeached. If you ask me, they really have no grounds for this nonsense! For sure, they are going to create a constitutional crisis, which would pose a danger to our democracy. P-Noy should never alienate the SC, never!

In fact this is already brewing when the budget of the Judiciary was reduced by Congress, when the Judiciary even needs to increase its budget, given the fact that our courtrooms are in a sorry state and yes, speedy justice is but an elusive dream. P-Noy’s political promise of eradicating corruption can never happen without the help of the Judiciary. Now he is making things more difficult for himself to achieve this political promise.

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