By AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA
MALAYA
‘The criminal cases that Mrs. Arroyo will likely face in the Court may have an easy sailing, no thanks to President Aquino who appointed a brilliant 52-year-old lawyer who will be Chief Justice for the next 18 years.’
One of several critical reasons President Aquino exerted his influence, and in fact may have directly pressured the House of Representatives to impeach Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, was the belief, not exactly unfounded, that the Court or its head was picked by Gloria Arroyo to save her from the gallows.
The Senate shared his belief and convicted the Chief Justice in the impeachment trial. It is more real than apparent that Mrs. Arroyo packed the Court with majority members whose terms will expire far beyond the time of President Aquino, who will leave the presidency on June 30, 2016.
There are enough rulings that clearly indicate that with Renato Corona as Chief Justice, and the majority suspected to be canine loyal to the former leader, the prosecution of Gloria Arroyo for plunder would have rough sailing.
The expectation then, as it may still be today although that has been substantially diminished, is appointing a new Supreme Court Chief Justice was the be-all solution to the suspected partially of what became known as the “magic nine” seen as loyal to the former leader.
The new Chief Justice would carry the ball as Renato Corona successfully carried the ball for Mrs. Arroyo. Here, the President may have fumbled.
As it now turns out, there are glaring indications that Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno cannot lead the Court. Her peers would not cooperate with her. For good reasons.
She issued a ruling creating a regional court administration office in Cebu City and went as far as appointing its head without the consent of the majority of her peers. The ruling was described as en banc or collegial and the majority of the en banc as the law so requires.
The Court confronted her and revoked her solo en banc decision. To put it bluntly, she was shamed by her own Court. To put it honestly and truthfully, she asked to be shamed.
As if to escape from reports that she did not make the psycho test given to all nominees by the Judicial and Bar Council, Mrs. Sereno was reported to have contested the necessity for such test.
That’s like hating the bar exams after a law graduates flunks.
The continued refusal of the majority of the Court appointed by Gloria Arroyo to cooperate with the new Chief Justice does not bode well for what President Aquino expects from the Tribunal in the prosecution of Gloria Arroyo.
The “magic nine” cut to eight with the conviction of Renato Corona refuse to cooperate with Mrs. Sereno, the new Chief Justice. One interpretation of that refusal is the Arroyo majority would rather be on the side of Mrs. Arroyo and make it appear they are interpreting the Constitution and the laws in their best lights as the majority ruling – not a solo but en banc resolution – is part of the law of the land. The Court makes mistakes but it cannot be wrong.
The pressing problem is how to get the members of the Court to cooperate with the Head Magistrate. The problem really is to reinvent Mrs. Sereno so that she will deserve the cooperation of her peers.
In this sense, the reported appointment by President Aquino of a former Chief Justice to work on the associate justices and get them to cooperate with Mrs. Sereno may be, sad to say, a futile effort.
It is evident that the problem is not the members of the Court. The problem is a Chief Justice who cannot lead the Court.
None of these is to be interpreted to mean that the Court is doomed or the Chief Justice doomed her Court or the Supreme Court is no longer the last bastion in defense of the law.
But the Chief Justice herself violated the law.
The best learning lesson for so learned a lawyer like Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is a shameful mistake. People by their nature learn to reform themselves much faster from a bitter lesson or a shameful mistake.
Without a doubt, Mrs. Sereno is capable of change. I watched her from a distance argue passionately for the government the arbitration case filed by Fraport of Germany in the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington DC with Carolyn Lamm, arbitration expert of White & Case law offices in the US.
Mrs. Sereno did not flinch. Her mentor, the highly respected former Supreme Court Justice Florentino P. Feliciano, was behind her in all of the arbitration proceedings. The case was difficult because the respondent in the complaint, the Republic of the Philippines, wanted to lose the case.
Counsel for respondent was not getting full cooperation from the client. Mrs. Sereno and the rest of the lawyers fought hard and long. They won.
We have the duty to inform the public that Mrs. Sereno is fit as a lawyer to be in the Supreme Court. But in the past months that she has been Chief Justice, she has not proven her ability to lead the Court. This bothers some of us, or many of us.
The worst part, which to many lawyers is culpable violation of the Constitution, is issuing an en banc resolution with only one conformity, that of the Chief Justice. Her pleas to the employees of the Supreme Court made during the last Christmas Party did not do her well.
She has to shape up with her peers. Otherwise, they will never cooperate with her.
The criminal cases that Mrs. Arroyo will likely face in the Court may have an easy sailing, no thanks to President Aquino who appointed a brilliant 52-year-old lawyer who will be Chief Justice for the next 18 years.
Nobody can add or detract from the fact that Mrs. Sereno did not pass the psychological test with flying colors.
President Aquino is making the law pay for it. We can only pray.
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email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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