Arroyo has all bases covered

ON DISTANT SHORE
by Val G. Abelgas

With the shameless Supreme Court decision to allow Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to appoint the next Chief Justice despite the constitutional prohibition on presidential appointments two months prior to the election up to the end of her term, Arroyo has virtually covered all her bases for an extended stay in Malacanang.

The controversial ruling all but ensured that Arroyo would get a favorable decision from the tribunal in crucial cases and in clearing legal obstacles to her holding on to power. Not that having appointed 14 of the 15 Supreme Court justices was not enough, but why settle for that when she can have the entire tribunal and the Chief Justice at her command? You know, just in case there is one or two ungrateful justices who would rock the boat, wouldn’t it be better to have the boat captain under her beck and call?

The ruling (9 in favor, 1 against and 3 abstained) reversed a 1998 Supreme Court decision which stated: “The Court’s view is that during the period stated in Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution — “(t)wo months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term” — the President is neither required to make appointments to the courts nor allowed to do so…”

The ruling was based on what the lone dissenter – Justice Conchita Carpio Morales – described as having the “weight of helium.” The nine jurists claimed that the prohibition only covers appointments in the Executive Department, not the judiciary, because the prohibition falls under the section on the Executive Department.

As soon as the decision came out, the Supreme Court became the object of derision of lawyers and constitutionalists. Fr. Joaquin Bernas, dean of the Ateneo Law School and a noted constitutional expert, said the “Arroyo court” ignored key principles of statutory construction and that with the controversial ruling, the “popular confidence in the integrity and independence of the Court has been severely sapped.”

Former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban said in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer: “As a former chief justice, I grieve at the majority’s decision. I wonder how the Supreme Court can survive the tsunami of protests inundating its independence, integrity and credibility. How can it peel off the nauseating, sticky label “Arroyo Court?”

It was the only remaining base that needed to be covered in Arroyo’s evident desire to remain in power beyond her constitutionally mandated term.

Earlier, Arroyo appointed as Armed Forces chief of staff a known loyalist and trusted aide, Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, a member of the controversial Philippine Military Academy Class of 1978, where Arroyo is an adopted “mistah.” She named another Class ’78 member, Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu as Army chief, and Rear Admiral Feliciano Angue, another Class ’78 mistah, as chief of the Army’s National Capital Region (Metro Manila) Command.

Control of the Supreme Court and the military is important in case of a failure of the May 10 presidential elections, which is a very real possibility.

With less than two months left before the elections, many poll-related problems have been reported: duplications and other frauds in voter registration, inadequate number of printed official ballots, lack of time to present source codes of the operating systems for testing and scrutiny by independent technical experts, lack of time to train teachers who will man the automated poll machines, power outages in various parts of the country especially in Mindanao, the possibility of a breakdown of the automated machines, political violence, and many others.

What happens in case of a failure of elections? An Arroyo spokesperson, Undersecretary Charito Planas, warned of the possibility of a military takeover, in which case Bangit, Magapu and company become handy. The military junta, if it were not in itself overcome by greed and power, would name Arroyo as holdover president.

If the military does not take over the government, it can just stand by to protect Arroyo in case she becomes the holdover or acting president by virtue of succession or in case she declares martial law and remains president.

In case of a failure of elections or incapacity of the president, the Constitution provides that the Vice President, Senate President and House Speaker would take over the presidency in that order. There will be no elected president, vice president, and 12 senators of the 24-member Senate in case of a failure of elections. The current Senate President, Juan Ponce Enrile, is running for reelection and thus, deemed unelected in case of a failure of elections. For lack of quorum, the 12 remaining senators cannot elect a Senate president.

The House of Representatives, on the other hand, will not be affected by the failure of elections and will have a complete membership, including the newly elected Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who will then be elected Speaker, if her majority control holds after May 10.

As the next in line to presidential succession, she will be declared acting president and the Arroyo Supreme Court will stand ready to affirm her ascension to or reclamation of the presidency in case it is challenged in court.

Is it any wonder then that Arroyo is not even talking about the presidential elections or campaigning for the administration candidate, Gilberto Teodoro? She is busy barnstorming the country and had recently placed full page ads in three major newspapers heralding her administration’s alleged achievements, but obviously only to impress upon the people that she is the best person to lead the country.

But Arroyo is playing with fire. If she thinks she would succeed because Ferdinand Marcos held on to power for 14 more years after his term was about to end in 1972, she’s got another think coming. The people have not yet recovered from the trauma of a dictatorship and have thankfully learned that they can unseat a tyrant. And the highly politicized military and police may not be as subservient as they were when Marcos decided to be a dictator.

The country could be plunged into a violent civil war if Arroyo does not take heed of the people’s desire for change. Is Arroyo willing to risk that? I hope not.

(valabelgas@aol.com)