Rule of law and politics

Some people have offered justification for Aquino’s mistreating of former President GMA and the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona as necessary in his campaign against corruption. It is easy to fall for this tack because there is no one who wants to be seen as being in favor of corruption even if the methods being used are corrupt.

The trouble is that we have fallen into the gaps and will be unable to get out of it. That is what is happening to our government today. We have fallen into empty spaces instead of standing on a firm footing of good government and strong institutions. To accomplish this we have to adhere to the rule of law no matter how difficult or imperfect. As it is, we have all become vulnerable to the unconscionable use of state power.

In Democracy web, we can find a useful summary of the essential principles of the rule of law in a democracy.

“In democracies, the use of arbitrary power is considered anathema to the rule of law. Fundamentally, constitutional limits on power, a key feature of democracy, requires adherence to the rule of law. Indeed, the rule of law could be defined as the subjugation of state power to a country’s constitution and laws, established or adopted through popular consent. This is the meaning of the commonly cited phrase “a government of laws, not men,” made famous by John Adams, the second president of the United States. Under such a system, law should be supreme to the capricious authority of any individual. The rule of law is the supreme check on political power used against people’s rights. Without the regulation of state power by a system of laws, procedures, and courts, democracy could not survive.”

*      *      *

At the center of testing whether we live under the rule of law is the continuous incarceration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. She is accused of plunder and cannot post bail. Yet there is no proof that she committed plunder. She is also charged with election sabotage, but it is based on hearsay.

That violates the rule of law.

More startling is that new charges are being brought against her in time for President Aquino to cite her case yet again as one of his accomplishments when he gives his state of the nation message. Aquino is banking on the Filipino public, that they like seeing the former President in jail even if it violates the rule of law.

To be governed by the rule of law depends on what people want or think is good. In many cases in history, it has been shown that people are misled to think what is the good. That is why it is necessary to get the people to your side. If it is what popular that people consider as fair and just, then it is no longer about the rule of law but about politics.

A good example is America under Britain when the rule of law did not apply to its colonies. So was slavery. It was accepted even if it violated a basic human right in a democracy.

It was not until 1946 that the US Supreme Court struck down segregation as unconstitutional. But there had to be nationwide protests before it finally dawned on the American mind that something was terribly wrong with their society. In other words, for the rule of law to be effective and taken seriously we need political force to stop violations of it. “The will of society is essential, nay necessary, to protect the rule of law.”

Are we ready or even willing to protect the rule of law under which all of us want to live? Where is the judge who will decide that under the conditions of the rule of law, Mrs. Arroyo should now be allowed to post bail until she is accused, and formally tried. It is time that the will of society asserts itself so the state or whoever is in charge of government follows the rule of law.

*      *      *

Recently, I celebrated my nth birthday. No use asking, I am not going to tell, not because I think of myself as old, but because I am into living without a clock. That is really the meaning of Deepak Chopra’s book on Ageless bodies and timeless minds. Since I am in Facebook with many young friends I gave a party to celebrate such precious maxims. And now I am extending the same invitation to my column readers to attend a party on how to celebrate birthdays. The party is designed by author and philosopher Deepak Chopra.

“When your attention is in the past or the future you are in the field of time, creating aging. One Indian master who seemed remarkably young for his age explained this saying “Most people spend their lives either in the past or the future, but life is supremely concentrated in the present.

When life is concentrated in the present, it is most real, because the past and future are not impinging upon it. At this instant, where are the past and future? Nowhere. Only the present moment exists; past and future are mental projections. If you can free yourself of these projections, trying neither to relive the past nor to control the future, a space is opened for a completely new experience – the experience of ageless body and timeless mind.”

Better than cake and ice-cream.

* * *

I feel even younger when some young professionals asked if I would meet with them. They did not know it was my birthday and they were surprised that I accepted their invitation for merienda. But then with timeless mind, what should it be but just as any other day. Today is the same as yesterday and tomorrow.

Jary, Emcie and Orly wanted to meet me about a book I wrote many years ago. I didn’t even think it would still be current to these young professionals who were so tech-savvy. But there it was. All four of us, sat around a table and leafed through the pages of the Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos. They asked questions on why and how I wrote the book, etc. etc. It was good to know that the book is still alive and kicking in the minds of these young men and women. They have selected the book for their newly started book club.