And how must the Supreme Court decide? What is the Nobel Peace Award for? FROM A DISTANCE By Carmen N. Pedrosa (The Philippine Star) Updated December 12, 2010 12:00 AM
It seems to me that those criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Truth Commission are missing the point. They accuse it as being partisan as if they were not being partisan themselves. What is that biblical saying about seeing the “mote first in your own eye before you see it in others?”
The first thing is to remember that there is no idea, no perspective, no opinion that does not have a tinge of self-interest. Every human act even the most selfless act of altruism has a degree of self-interest.
It would be hypocritical to believe otherwise. With the subjective element aside, we come now to the objective test that centers on the constitutionality of the issue:
Associate Justice Jose Mendoza summed up the issues that needed to be resolved as follows:
Whether or not the petitioners have the legal standing (locus standi) to file their respective petitions and question Executive Order No. 1;
Whether or not Executive Order No. 1 violates the principle of separation of powers by usurping the powers of Congress to create and to appropriate funds for public offices, agencies and commissions;
Whether or not Executive Order No. 1 supplants the powers of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice;
Whether or not Executive Order No. 1 violates the equal protection clause; and
Whether or not petitioners are entitled to injunctive relief.”
The answers can be tested against the requirements of objectivity based on the petitions, pleadings, transcripts and memoranda from both sides.
After going through this test of objectivity, the Supreme Court voted as required in a democracy with the results of 10-5 with those dissenting also appointees of former President Gloria Arroyo.
Unfortunately if we are to follow the critics we would wittingly or unwittingly weaken our justice system. I was present in the meeting at the Ateneo Law School and those who work closely with human rights victims argued that if the “Truth Commission” will be only about punishing President Arroyo, then it will not help the cause of those who had suffered injustices which is what a Truth Commission should be about. It is not about political revenge by victors against losers after an electoral contest or punishment for a leader who fought for her country’s sovereignty regardless of attempts to oust her by those she displeased.
A truth commission is usually created after a revolution or a civil war, and was best exemplified by one set up by South Africa.
If truth is so important to the critics of the Supreme Court why are they silent on the questions that surround the May 10 elections? Why has there been no indignation that an investigation is being stonewalled on what really happened.
And this, despite the evidences, witnesses, pleadings made by Filipino computer experts and NGOs? If election is the foundation of democratic society then this issue should be top of the agenda for the entire nation, not partisan groups.
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My Chinese sources would like to correct media stories that said there was a boycott of the Nobel Prize Awards ceremonies or that China pressured other countries to do the same. As they rightly said this is not the first time that the Nobel Prize for Peace sparked a controversy. The Chinese government protested the Nobel Award for Peace when it was announced in October way before the ceremonies. Neither did they have to pressure other countries to “boycott: the ceremonies.” The award to US President Obama was also criticized and put into question, some of them by Americans. They saw no logic in giving a peace prize to someone who had barely governed and done nothing exceptional that should merit an award for world peace at the time.
Dynamite - one of Alfred Nobel's 355 inventions. In 1888, Alfred had the unpleasant surprise of reading his own obituary, titled ‘The merchant of death is dead’, in a French newspaper. As it was Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. Alfred was disappointed with what he read and concerned with how he would be remembered. This inspired him to change his will.
China’s questions on the award to Liu Xiaobo have a similar context. They ask what Liu Xiaobo has done for peace in the world that he should merit the Nobel Prize award. He was an agitator and wanted to bring down the Chinese government. He may not have committed acts punishable by laws in the West but these were punishable in China. So the question comes down to what the award means and what its intention is.
It may be an award for Liu Xiaobo’s individual bravery but it also comes down as a slap against the Chinese government for punishing a subversive. Has the Nobel Peace Prize become a political tool for those who want China to run its country the way they want it run? This observation is becoming increasingly obvious with several members of the selection committee described as experienced “politicians.”
The Chinese said they have no quarrel with the Nobel Peace Award if it were to follow the intention that Alfred Nobel had intended it should be for: “The Peace Prize should be awarded to person(s) who “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congress.”
China has raised the living standards of millions of their poor through their own system that they devised as effective under specific conditions in the country. It does not mean that it is perfect.
If it is that system that is being attacked by the Nobel Peace Prize Award, then they have to do better than that, the sources added.
“One can hardly say that China, while seeking its own political path, will be worse off compared with Western countries firmly entrenched in their political traditions. China is incomprehensible in some Westerners’ eyes, and it’s hard to tell whose tragedy this is.
China won’t be easily moved from this path, regardless of whether this decision meets with applause or catcalls from the rest of the world. The nation will only become more mature and better equipped to deal with future troubles. On the contrary, those who painstakingly take aim at China will be proven wrong by history. As for the Nobel Committee and the forces that support it, China’s gradual progress will continuously demonstrate their absurdity.
Today’s award ceremony is not an end, but rather a real beginning of another trial: A trial by history against the Nobel Committee,” the China-based Global Times said.
The message which may not see print in mainstream media beholden to the West but it is good to know another side of the story as far as this column is concerned.
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Nobel Prize Trivia: Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Literature Prize in 1964 but refused, stating, “A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honourable form.”
About the Author
40 Comments on “Break old habits of thinking”
Filipinos really need to learn to respect the constitution that they claim to treasure so much.
But if the president of the republic himself shows no respect to a co-equal branch of the government, and the sole authority in interpreting the constitution of the land, then how is the public expected to react to a supposedly high-rated president by the masses?
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UP nn grad Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 10:26 am
If enough members of Congress say “Impeach Corona and all the GMA-appointees of Supreme Court” and if many metro-Manila residents say the same, maybe by June 2011, PresNoynoy speeds things up by
sending troops to shut down Pilipinas Supreme Court. Then, Noy appoints loyal to Noynoy (and/or Cory) to the Supreme Court and Noynoy can make diktats here and there with Executive Orders and Pilipinas will be well on its way to progress via intelligent, 
hard-working, diligent leadership from Malacanang.
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Maki_Alam Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Sabi ni PNoy tayo raw ang boss nya. Naka-anim na buwan na sya. Tapos na probationary period nya. This should be the part where we evaluate his performance and then fire him for incompetence.
Haay Noynoy, I’m so disappointed in you. Ninoy must be turning in his grave.
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This exposition on the thinking of anti-SC people and showing the side of the Chinese in the refusal to recognize the Nobel Peace Prize winner is good food for thought, Ma’am Carmen.
“If truth is so important to the critics of the Supreme Court why are they silent on the questions that surround the May 10 elections?”
Maybe because their candidate is the winner. LOL
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The Lazzo Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 10:24 am
And because they’re trying to save some OFWs on China’s nice, long death row.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101212/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_china_nobel
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kickapoo Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Back in 2004, GMA defied Bush by withdrawing all Filipino troops from Iraq just to save the life of Angelo Dela Cruz from his captors. Maybe Pnoy is trying to do the same huh. But I dont think hell earn any moral points, not even brownie points from his “efforts” to save the OFWs in China’s death row. Angelo want a convicted criminal.
Whats he trying to do now? trying to hit 2 peking ducks with one stone? Trying to appease China coz of the Manila-hostage fiasco plus trying to appear like a ‘savior’ of overseas filipino workers in China?
But these OFWs are in DEATH ROW? What does that mean? Does that mean you are an extra-special person if you commit a heinous crime overseas? Lets say if you kill a chinese in china and you get death penalty for it, the philippine govt would do its best to bring you back pinas-side. At the same time if you let 8 chinese tourist be killed in manila, you still got the balls to insult the HK govt?
pa-pogi lang talaga lahat ng ginagawa ni Pnoy eh
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ChinoF Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
It’s a repeat of the Flor Contemplacion complex. If a Filipino is found guilty abroad, then they must be innocent, because a Filipino can do no wrong, right?
Maki_Alam Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
“It’s a repeat of the Flor Contemplacion complex.”
And round and round we go. Wheeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The moral of the story? It’s perfectly alright to traffic illegal drugs in foreign shores. If you get caught, the Philippine government will bail you out.
I bet they’ll make a movie out of these drug mules’ lives, too.
UP nn grad Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Ang puwede din naman, political favors as to why PresNoy decided to not send Hilippines to the Oslo Nobel prize ceremonies, in particular, probably some political groups in GenSanCity or Leyte or Davao called Coloma or Lacierda or PresNoy directly. Reason —
Congressman Ronald Singson. Remember Ronald Singson is out on bail while awaiting trial in Hongkong on drug trafficking 
charges. Baka nga naman ma-asar ng husto ang Beijing that Beijing calls Hongkong to cancel Ronald singson bail to order him back to jail. Paskong-pasko, ang lungkot 
naman noon.
In terms of specifically following the intention, I can agree that he didn’t exactly win a prize for “peace.” But in an age where human rights abuses abound, especially in a country that censors its internet and actually imprisoned the man that blew the whistle on the melamine-tainted milk for “inciting social disorder,” someone has to say enough is enough.
In the West, those would be the people running Wikileaks (and soon, OpenLeaks because Julian Assange’s ego is insatiable). In China, it’s people like these whistleblowers. Indeed, this phrase is particularly disturbing: The nation will only become more mature and better equipped to deal with future troubles.
This from a country where executions are actually done on buses. http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090324-china-execution-bus-death-penalty-china
Do I want to know exactly what this “maturity” entails? Someone has to set the ‘model’ for human rights. If not the major governments of the world, if not the human rights organizations whose calls go unheeded, then who?
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Maki_Alam Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
“a country that censors its internet and actually imprisoned the man that blew the whistle on the melamine-tainted milk for “inciting social disorder,””
Yeah, and then, to set an example, they promptly executed the people responsible for the melamine-tainted milk. I don’t think melamine-tainted milk will be a problem anymore.
Honestly, I don’t know what to make of China. On the one hand, I admire their history and inventiveness and economic might. On the other hand, I abhor their censorship. Plus, they do have a questionable human rights record. Then again, so does the US. The Americans are just better at hiding it. Not to mention the Philippines’ own dismal human rights record. But unlike China, we’ve got nothing to show for it. So who are we to criticize?
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Sareet L Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Amen. I think you’ve got the right perspective on things here – not black or white! China is slowly emerging from its Communist-soaked past – it cannot be dragged forcibly into what the West wants it to be – and who’s to say that whatever is good for the West is also good for everyone else (e.g., Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore)? China did not wish to follow the example of the Soviet Union, which had a semblance of ‘democracy’ soon after the collapse of the Union – and all chaos ensued. Hence the *gradual* loosening of restrictions and control, firstly in the economic sphere, with the creation of Economic Trade Zones with decentralisation of control. With the currency issue, they did not want to follow the fatal example of Japan, which did everything that the US told them to do in the Plaza Accord, only to enter their Lost Decade. They are paving their own path to the future, looking around them and observing the best path for them as they see fit.
Has anyone else had the temerity to tell the US how to manage its own affairs? Or Europe, for that matter? Sure, China has a long way to go, but to think how far it’s come already after having the Great Leap Forward and other economic plans of Mao fail so miserably just a few decades ago. Also recall that the West so cavalierly carved up China for its own purposes in the very turbulent 19th century that also was marked by famine, disasters, civil wars, etc. it is making progress little by little, and the economic goals set when Deng Xiaoping first planned to liberalise the economy have been pretty much achieved. Now China is going to shift its focus on the social improvement of most of its people – especially the widening income gap between the rich and the poor.
Methinks the sleeping giant is slowly, quietly roaring to life again. Everyone should recognise this fact, and know how to deal with it for their own advantage. Whether the current PH government will do so is a big question mark still, having witnessed the continued bungling and lost-at-sea manner by which it does pretty much everything, big and small. God help the country in this matter!
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Maki_Alam Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 2:56 am
Looks like China’s leading the world in education, too. They’re tops in math, science and reading.
Shanghai teenagers are world’s smartest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101207/ts_afp/educationschooloecdchinaworld_20101207210723
ChinoF Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 5:58 am
Filipinos are good in one kind of “math.” It’s called the “ocho-ocho.”
Danged media companies.
The Lazzo Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
So who are we to criticize?
Exactly. Who is to do the calling out when it’s all some easily-discredited part of an “agenda?” Countries like China think Wikileaks is some kind of CIA plot.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you again for an informed perspective on these events. As you had written in an earlier essay, this ‘Truth Coothermmission’ smacked of nothing more than a political vendetta, rather than a body tasked to investigate incidents and issues that fall under genuine ‘truth commissions” objectives. And so true – there is so much stonewalling on the investigation into the legitimacy of the May 10 elections – something smells very, very fishy right there. As for the mockery of a Nobel Peace Prize, well, nothing much else to add there. The West (esp. US) is merely using it to put political pressure on China to change the latter’s economic and monetary policies to help the US and Europe ease their own self-inflicted economic woes. And the Noynoy administration still can’t get its act together regarding this issue, either!
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Sorry about the duplicate posting there just above – the website was acting funny this morning and kept refusing the CAPTCHA codes I entered!
Oh, and bravo to J-P Sartre for keeping his feet on the ground re Nobel Peace Prize. Meaningless, really, since even Kissinger got it. Obama got it for doing absolutely nothing. It’s nothing more than a political tool of the liberal (so-called) West who want everyone else to play by its own hypocritical rules.
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ChinoF Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
I covered the duplicate post. Just some kinks with the host too.
Looks like this Nobel Peace Prize turns out to be a dynamite issue with dynamite questions (pun there).
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It is my opinion that the Supreme Court ruled right in deciding against the Truth Commission. Graft and corruption also are in the Noynoy Aquino Administration. Look at the self-confessed bribe-taker: Sec. Puno. He is his Sacred Cow. Noynoy Aquino wanted to use the Truth Commission, as a Political Tool; to silence his political enemies. It is also a Diversionary, and Deception Ploy to relieve the Heat, he is getting from his Critics. Same old tactics, as his mother, Cory Aquino.
Remember, that Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organization founder, was a Nobel Prize Winner. He is the Father of Terrorism. Giving Nobel Prizes to Dissidents, is one way of protecting those Dissidents. Pres. Obama was also a Nobel Prize Winner. Look at his performance as a President. I will not be surprised, if they will award it also to our imbecile President, Noynoy Aquino…it would be a grand spectacle for the psycophants Yellow Hordes…
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Maki_Alam Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
“I will not be surprised, if they will award it also to our imbecile President, Noynoy Aquino…it would be a grand spectacle for the psycophants Yellow Hordes…”
Oh God, they’d probably have him canonized. ‘St. Noynoy, pray for us.”
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Aegis-Judex Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Not if any of the more rational Filipinos have anything to say about it.
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Hello! I’m a first time commenter, long time (stalker). Just dropping by and some articles are somewhat inspiring and loved the mental exchanges that happens in them.
Anyway, based on what I am seeing in the news…a quote springs to mind.
“And this is how democracy dies…in thunderous applause” by Padme Amidala (Star Wars)
I think there’s another version somewhere on this quote, but I think it pretty much sums up what a couple of articles and comments here was about.
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Hyden Toro Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 11:16 am
@Weizz
Internet Blogging came out from the Information Technology advances. Same as the Wikileaks.
It is a good way to learn from each other; since, no one has the monopoly of knowledge, information, and good carabao sense…Just write what is in your heart; without fear of anybody censuring you. However, please use your good sense to be fair to people: Tell the truth, without pause…and give your opinions without biased…
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Weizz Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
@ Hyden
Yes, blogging gives the people their own “press” so to speak. Giving their opinions on events that matters. I’m new to the internet blogging scene for I am a print media kind of guy. And even in print, I noticed the emotionalism and ad hominem attacks from the articles I submitted, especially those containing criticisms. For one thing, I attacked the issues and they responded with attacks on my personality, etc. I saw this in the site a lot. I know of pinoys who raised themselves up through college with little help from their parents. I also know a lot of pinoys who let laziness rule their day.
I love my country and I see wonderful opportunities for it in the future if it corrects itself, even on a moderate pace. For now, its driving on the wrong way. Change begins in me and every pinoys out there. AP is certainly a nice site to explore possible solutions and to learn deeper thoughts about this Pinas’ culture
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So PresNoynoy decided to boycott Oslo, and China thought it was because PresNoynoy was siding with China that Liu Xiaobao did not deserve any human rights medal.
Then PresNoynoy Pilipinas Oslo boycott is about “5 mules” and Pres Noynoy really stands for press freedom and he supports human rights
activists like Liu or Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi (1991) or Soviet Union’s Andrei Sakharov (1975), and Martin Luther King Jr. (1964), pro-democracy figures who have been 
imprisoned for promoting human rights and press freedom.
Then HongKong suddenly said —
BLACK TRAVEL ADVISORY to discourage travel to Pilipinas.
Malinaw din naman kapag gumalaw ang China, hindi ba?!
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I hear Shalani is in China right now. Hmm, interesting…
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Lookit, WHY THINGS GO AWRY IN THE PHILIPPINES? Because witnesses and evidences presented are all based on pagarparings! Pagarparings are dippicult to proof. PRONTO! Non-negotiable. Lookit, ZTE, Ampatuan massacreings, Failon…Outing of rape victim Nicole …
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… Lozada’s infinite forever escape from Senate investigation on 150,000 “BRIBE”. Lozada sprung by kung-fu ninja Franciscan nuns over PMAyer led guardian of angels …. OUR LAW AND JUSTICE is just semblance of civilization … that is why there is nothing to it … Lookit, my wife earns 300,000 and barely make ends meet how much more Lozada’s bribe of 150,000 forevering live in HK until the Senate invistigoators and da people become alzheirmic …
Lookit, further it took expert forensics, thanks to the pressure from Chinesegov, was professionaly done whereas ampatuan’s forensics was more on tsismis and gossip. LET US NOT TALK ABOUT JUDICIAL PROCESS, SUPREME COURT, VERISICULO THIS VERSICULO THAT, SECTION THIS CHAPTHER THAT.
IT IS SIMPLY NOT WORKING …….
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… and oh, please benign0 do not concantinate my posts … my posts are heavy stuffs. It can only be consumed in bite sizes because brains of Filipinos are small. HA!HA1HA!HA!HA!
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Renato Pacifico Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
they get choked with so much tra-la-la and googling definition of words …. Filipinos have limited patience reading tra-la-las
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In a perfect world, yes, we can question the bias of Supreme Court but this is the Philippines. Land of inferior genes and corrupted defragmented brains. As we are well aware, Philippines change hands every 6 years with their designer constitution and designer government. Who cares about law in the land of lawless.
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Hyden Toro Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
Have you read about Zecharia Sitchim? He recently passed away; bless his soul…he theorized that we humans were Genetically Engineered by Extra Terrestials called Annunaki Maybe these Extra Terrestials cloned the Filipino DNA, with a stupid Chimpanzee. This may be the reason we are behaving this way today. In Vitro Fertilization is available today. You can take the sperm of a male, and the egg of a female. Combine them in a Petri Dish. Then, implant them on the uterus of the female. Virgin Birth is now possible. You can also clone Humans. Take a DNA of a man, or woman. And replicate him or her. The Brits cloned a sheep
named Dolly in 1998…hey, Priests and Bishops, or organiozed religions. I’m not putting you out of business, by this information…
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Renato Pacifico Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
That is why US Government tried to control Fil-Fake-Ams population exploxion. US Government has laced the drinking water where Flips are heavy in concentration. The malady of Flippers in America is they cannot attain erection.
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Renato Pacifico Reply:
December 13th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
The US Government laced Flippers drinking water with chemical so Flippers cannot garner erection to control population. ha!ha!ha!ha1ha!
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Homer Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 2:31 am
With the behavior of some Filipinos, one would think that the blood on their veins is more from a stupid Chimpanzee.
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There are laws to protect the freedom of the press’s speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press. – Mark Twain in accordance with Renato Pacifico
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If Flilipinos starts discussing laws, I become kuliglig. As you can see, vis-a-vis American law, Philippine law is soooo not worth debating about. It can be debated what is right but mostly the wrong is always winned
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Birds (Carmen Pedrosa and Noynoy haters) of the same feather stick together!
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Renato Pacifico Reply:
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:04 am
superlucky20 & benign0 lovers are of the same feathers that stick together !!! HA!HA!HA!HA!
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How sure are you that I’m a benign0 lover? Because I stated the obvious?
A typical knee jerk reaction from a benign0 hater, as I expected.
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