The Palace-Supreme Court plot thickens

As it appearThe recent pricking of the so-called Truth Commission balloon by the 10-5 vote of the Supreme Court appears a continuation of the undeclared war between the Executive and the Judiciary over the alleged massive graft and corruption storms during President Gloria M. Arroyo’s regime.

Without retracing every political backgrounder, it suffices that since the then Supreme Court chief justice position had been salivated by Sr. Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Renato Corona, the brewing conflict for the post got more fractious. And when President Arroyo insisted on appointing Corona, despite the worse than the “invented” nebulous exception under Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution – aside from filling up the entire SC with her choices – the inevitable disrupting die had then been cast irretrievably.

The never-ending flip-flopping of the recast SC over the 16 municipalities into chartered cities could just be “minor” examples. Or, the honorable SC justices just found timely precursors as “trial balloons” to put the Supreme Court to the litmus test. And, despite garbage critique over its unprecedented “fickleness”, time appears to have already forgotten such atrocious anomaly, and now, back to their being the highest “honorables” of the Court.

Then came the death knell of the ballyhooed Truth Commission headed by former CJ Hilario Davide Jr., albeit the 15-day period to file an almost useless motion for reconsideration hasn’t lapsed yet. Here’s a bogus Lapulapu P5,000 bill bet against a genuine one-centavo coin that the MC that the Palace would file is dead as a doornail.

Anyway, the SC has “slain” the Truth Commission on the ground of violation of the “equal protection” clause of the Constitution for sweepingly and illegally singling out the unpopular Gloria “the Excelsius” Macapagal Arroyo’s corruption-infested administration. And, in effect, violating as well the constitutional mandate of separation of powers of the three branches of government, implying that creating similar bodies, entities, or commissions is within the ambit of legislative power not that of the executive domain.

That ex-Palace occupant Gloria M. Arroyo isn’t any flotsam to sweep aside, is very evident that before she left the Palace, vital legal stakes and steps had been laid firmly, like a full SC of her picking, except later that of Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno whom President Noynoy appointed in his time. Besides, Pres. Glo had glowed bright with a thousand and one “goodies” in her tenure for many benefactors to remember her by in case of urgent call. And, the urgent call has been answered by Congressmen Edcel Lagman, Rodolfo Albano Jr., Simeon Datumanong, and Orlando Fua Jr., among a horde of others on “stand by”, if needed.

Many observers jestingly comment that Pres. Gloria Arroyo does not even need most of her “past” allies, because the present membership of the SC does not need them. Indeed, jestingly or otherwise, some political contemporary realities appear auspicious for the intended “target” of whatever commission or body to crucify or persecute.

  Moreover, a short recall of the noisy drumming up of the Davide probe body has revealed the motive of the Palace right from the inception. Instead of the strict presumption of innocence from the start – unless later proven guilty in fair trial – the Truth Commission seemed created with the assumption of guilt of the intended respondent from the beginning until the end, regardless of variables or twists of evidence in the course of the trial.

Besides, the likes of Erap, and Jinggoy Estrada who did a privilege speech denouncing CJ Davide over the Supreme Court’s JDF – a trust fund for the Judiciary personnel allowances, etc. – misspent for the SC Baguio infra facilities will not shut their mouths on the lack of probity of the probe body’s own chairman. And that would be inconveniently awkward, to say the least.

  Meantime, while the Palace-Supreme Court row may not convolute into a constitutional crisis, it continues to be embarrassing for the nation.

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