No Crisis

Plain View
By ATTY. ROMEO V. PEFIANCO

(Editor’s note: The charge of dictatorship against the Palace should be judged by comparison with the martial law regime as noted by the author.)

MANILA, Philippines — Some so-called “analysts or experts” viewing the current exchange of temper between the Palace and Chief Justice Re-nato Corona conclude it can may/lead to a constitutional crisis. Far from it, the controversy is about the Constitution being applied to a situation – efficiently – that cannot be reached by the usual process to impose proper sanctions on high officials.

Clear answers to tyranny
The charge of dictatorship against the government can be answered by the fact that opinion writers and radio/TV anchors are still free to denounce the national leadership and the Palace advisers for their handling of the current controversy.

Hakot crowd
The denunciation by Chief Justice Corona of the Aquino presidency in the presence of scores of court employees “invited or requested to listen to his defense” is enough proof that we are still free to voice opinions angrily, openly, and within hearing of millions of us via live TV and radio.

Denunciation of the national leadership between September, 1972, and February, 1986, before a “hakot crowd” was out of the question. It could lead to extreme measures against the crowd or audience and the speakers.

Wider coverage
Impeachment under the US Constitution has a wider coverage as indicated in Section 4, Article II: “The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office by impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The same Constitution does not provide for a retirement age for judges, both of the Supreme Court and inferior courts. They “shall hold their offices during good behavior...”

Retirees at 91/87
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes retired in 1932 at age 91. Chief Justice Roger Taney retired at age 87. The longest serving justice was William O. Douglas, 1939 to 1975, or 36 years. At 32, Joseph Story was the youngest justice appointed by President James Madison in 1812 (born 1779).

Smiling shoppers
Is our Constitution of 1987 facing the danger of partial or total challenge or disobedience? We can call a political situation critical if anarchy exists in any part of the country, especially in Metro Manila. What we see around us are happy people or shoppers milling around malls on a buying spree for Christmas.

Monstrous traffic
The anarchy we abhor daily occurs when monstrous traffic build-up on major roads and highways entraps commuters/motorists for two to three hours causing them to grow old fast. Getting trapped on the road for two hours is bad for our health, for the pocket – in added cost of gas/diesel – and engine depreciation.

Crisis in 1972?
The first constitutional crisis we experienced in our lifetime took place in September, 1972, when martial law was declared without the presence of conditions to justify it like lawless violence, rebellion, and invasion on a scale that could not be suppressed by regular law enforcement. The second such crisis was the “ratification” of the martial law constitution in January, 1973, without the benefit of a plebiscite or a national vote by qualified voters. The third discernible crisis was the imposition of total dictatorship on all Filipinos nationwide.

Rebellion
When true rebellion came in February, 1986, the government – supported by the military arm – was too weak to prevent it. Thanks to the new government that lifted absolute rule and framed a new Constitution that was ratified in an open/free plebiscite on February 2, 1987.

Ouster of Erap
When President Erap was ousted as President in January, 2001, his Senate impeachment trial was preempted by force that was made to appear as voluntary resignation, which Erap denied because he had not signed any document/paper amounting to his resignation as President or renunciation of his office. This was crisis in national leadership succession.

Soldiers’ protest
A mini rebellion was mounted by some 250 soldiers who occupied a commercial building in Makati months after the May, 2004, presidential election. The causes of the soldiers’ grievance were credible. The “Hello Garci” tape forced the President to accept on national TV “certain lapses” committed in her telephone conversation with a Comelec commissioner about the conduct of the election. The admission, by itself, led most of us to believe that rigging or irregularity characterized the election.

What crisis?
There’s no visible constitutional crisis if the three branches – Legislative, Executive, and Judicial – are still functioning normally and without interference from the stronger political departments. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).