The clash of the titans

Our Constitution mandates the equality of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial departments of government. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary that the decisions of the Supreme Court be respected and obeyed by the Executive and Legislative departments. But the decisions made by the Supreme Court for some reason — seem questionable nowadays. We can easily see some obvious preferences made by certain factions in the SC. The clash of the titans has begun.

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Anyway, let’s take another look at GMA’s case. Last week, her doctors were summoned to the Pasay Regional Trial Court. They were asked to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Article 1, Section 1 of the Code of Ethics of the Philippine Medical Association states that the primary objective of the practice of medicine is service to mankind irrespective of race, age, disease, disability, gender, sexual orientation, social standing, creed or political affiliation. Article II, Section 6 further states that the physician should hold as sacred and highly confidential whatever may be discovered or learned pertinent to the patient even after death, except when required in the promotion of justice, safety and public health.

So, a doctor who is subpoenaed under the law must tell the truth. And so they did. I’ll bet these doctors were left frazzled. They were thrown into a political arena – causing observers to launch scathing attacks on them without realizing how irked they are themselves. Let’s stop badgering these doctors. They are not politicians. We need to keep them sane for their patients. They should focus on curing the sick. Don’t forget they have other patients aside from the former president. Many patients need them too. By the way, I’m glad the Senate decided not to invite them anymore for a public inquiry. We’ve heard enough from them.

Doctors are very professional people. They have a reputation to protect. As such even if put on the spot, the doctor will always objectively tell us the true condition of the patient. The problem here is when the patient doesn’t want the truth to be told.

Last week’s sudden shift from a hospital arrest to a house arrest after the doctors were summoned to court was obviously a deceitful maneuver made by the Arroyo camp. How can GMA be very sick one day and then the next day healthy and ready for a house arrest and not a hospital arrest? Lambino just made a fool out of his client. How can she allow this to happen? They already subjected her into a humiliating and embarrassing episode at the airport with the hope of getting all our sympathies – and I almost believed it! Susmariosep!

The DOJ chief, on the other hand, seems to be the only one with balls. Leila De Lima has shown us guts and grit. She has remained firm in her belief that GMA is sick but not that sick to merit an emergency flight for medical reasons. Standing by her decision allowed her to go to the bottom of the matter – a very crucial fact for proving why she made an order to prevent GMA from seeking medical treatment abroad.

I pray that GMA will find it in her heart to put a stop to all these frenzy. Our politicians always try to run away from the truth. Why can’t they face the music? After all if she is on the side of truth, she will be proven innocent of the crime and will be acquitted. Meantime, the law must prevail. The new administration sees some foul play in her past governance so they have a right to question. Just like what she did to the Estrada administration before. Erap on the other hand, almost did the same thing to the Ramos administration but unfortunately, he was suddenly ousted. Did Ramos have anything to do with his ouster? I wonder. Don’t forget, that the Cory administration also did the same to Marcos and to his cronies. It’s all about accountability and a game of politics. Dirty politics that is!

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At the height of all the negative innuendos and seeming loss of confidence on the Supreme Court, we have to give them credit for finally coming up with a decision on the Hacienda Luisita issue. Whether the decision was an act of retaliation or not that’s beside the point. What is more important is that the SC has finally made a ruling on the Hacienda Luisita case.

The government should always hold true to their word or else reconstitute the law if found defective. When Cory Aquino signed the Agrarian Reform law, I always wondered why she did not include Hacienda Luisita. She instead contrived the device of a share distribution option to skirt around actual land transfer.

When you are president you must be fair. Cory obviously was not. Now that there is a balance of powers in the SC, P-Noy will definitely not be able to block any decisions made on it. Thus, we are fortunate that justice will be served. And P-Noy must act honorably if he wants the people to believe in him.

However, while I am sincerely happy with the Supreme Court’s decision I also have my apprehensions. I just hope that as parcels of land are distributed to the farmers they will be given guidelines to make their land viable and productive. Senator Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture said, “The end goal really ought to be increasing the incomes of our farmers. Many of our lands are idle and unproductive, forcing most farmers to resell lands given to them. We must give our farmer-workers their due. They are our crucial link to our food supply. As such we must do all we can to secure them.”

This is a challenge to the Aquino government. The Hacienda Luisita case is not only a test of his political will but also a measure of his ability to work towards the success of the agrarian reform program in the country.