The writing on the wall

The pretense pleasantries are over. After months of taking it on the chin from the Palace, Chief Justice Renato Corona has spoken with fire in his tone. He delivered his rhetoric against the Palace on Wednesday, defending his position and title as chief magistrate. His supporters from the judiciary and the courts also came in force, to the surprise of many. He did not mince his words, accusing the current Aquino administration of slowly turning into a dictatorship by controlling what the Supreme Court should and should not do. He assailed the hasty approval of the impeachment case against him by partisan congressmen. He also took exception to the inclusion of his wife’s appointment to the Camp John Hay Corp., which according to him happened even before he was appointed to the Supreme Court. With the impeachment already sure of pushing through – the Senator judges have already been sworn in – Corona states that he will face the impeachment head-on, that he soundly sleeps at night knowing he has done nothing wrong and is merely doing his job. I guess the first round is over, with the taunting and the rhetoric from both camps.

We may very well see fireworks at the Senate even after the New Year’s festivities are over. With Corona vowing to put up a fight, the public should once again be glued to TV and radio sets to see if a Chief Justice gets impeached for the first time in Philippine Judicial history. Corona cited that he is a primus inter pares, or first among equals to the non-Latin speaking readership (like me). This has always been the rallying cry of the judiciary, that they are co-equal among the three branches of government. And that they are also independent, and should not be beholden, or in Corona’s words, held hostage to the “king” in the Palace.

But in my humble opinion, the high court may be likening independence, to infallibility. The kind the Holy Father enjoys over decisions made in the Catholic Church. That whatever the high court decides, whether influenced by the Chief Justice or not, is gospel truth and beyond contestation. As I’ve written in another column, I would accept that if judges were machines, that can be uploaded with a software that would render Solomonic judgment each and every time. Machines that cannot be bribed, influenced, dictated upon, beholden to anyone or tampered with. Machines that do not have feelings, do not have relationships, do not have acquaintances, do not have favors to uphold. The truth is, there exists no such machine. Maybe there should be.

From the start, Renato Corona’s entry into the Supreme Court has been controversial. The so-called midnight appointee by the former president turned congresswoman now accused and jailed Gloria Arroyo. Corona’s relationship with Arroyo runs deep. Too deep for a position of such high importance. This is where the problem lies. And in a span of over a year, that relationship, as seen by many, has influenced the decisions of the Supreme Court in favor of Arroyo. Some say 19-0, some say 13-0. Whatever the score, Arroyo seems to enjoy the favor of Renato Corona.

Corona should have seen the writing on the wall. That he will always be in the crosshairs of the Palace. He should have seen the writing on the wall. PNoy never made secret his disapproval of Corona, for the reasons already known. Come January, Senator judges will judge whether a Chief Justice still deserves his title, or not.