Back in April of this year, the Supreme Court (SC) voted 8 to 6 to value Hacienda Luisita on the basis of a 1989 assessment of Php40,000 per hectare or a total Php200 mllion compensation to the owners of the entire property when it is subject to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). Newly-appointed Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno was at the time among the six justices who voted to uphold a counter-proposal she herself put forth to base the value of the property on current fair market value as of January 2006. Under Sereno’s proposal that would make Hacienda Luisita worth Php10 billion — enough money to save the Cojuangcos’ tony lifestyles.
In Sunday’s joint statement, the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (Ambala) said that the High Court, under Sereno’s leadership, might reverse its November 22, 2011 ruling, which ordered the total distribution of the lands to farmers-beneficiaries.
But the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) for its part assured everyone that such a reversal is “unlikely” because the November 2011 decision to subject the property to the CARP was “unanimous, final and executory.” The again, Sereno who reportedly scored a four on a scale of 1 to 5 (five being the lowest) in psychology tests included in the Judicial Bar Council’s process of evaluating candidates was allegedly characterised as “dramatic and emotional” according to information leaked to the media. This raises questions around the reliability of any assurances coming from her that she will be running a truly “independent” judiciary.
So can Sereno overturn the SC’s Hacienda Luisita rulings if she decides to?
If the United States judiciary is used as a model for this thought experiment, the answer is yes. According to crowdsourced information found inAnswers.com, there are two “legitimate methods” available in the US to overturn Supreme Court decisions:
(1) The US Supreme Court reverses a decision on an earlier case by making a contradictory decision on a current case.
(2) Congress and the States can overturn a decision by amending the Constitution.
That means that if over the next year or so…
(a) Sereno can find a property in similar circumstances that Hacienda Luisita was in at the time the SC issued its ruling to subject it to the CARP back in November 2011 and somehow get the SC to deliver a ruling that exempts it from the CARP (i.e. that then contradicts the precedent it set in the Hacienda Luisita case), giving it sufficient grounds to reverse its decision on the subjection of Hacienda Luisita to the CARP as well; or,
(b) Congress can approve amendments to the Philippine Constitution that will run counter to the underlying principles applied in the SC’s November 2011 ruling on Hacienda Luisita and, perhaps, its April 2012 ruling on its valuation;
…then we may find Uncle Peping laughing all the way to the bank.
This puts some interesting context behind current calls to amend the Constitution. Will Philippine Congress use these “constitutional reform” initiatives as jump-off platforms to campaign for and initiate the process of constitutional change during which it could sneak in provisions that will enable Sereno to accomplish her mission?
On that note…
Are there properties still out there with pending cases in court related to their subjection to the CARP that Sereno can tap?
Will President Benigno ‘BS’ Aquino III again issue a call to action to his minions in Congress to mount a Crusade to save the Holy Yellow Land in Tarlac?
Abangan ang susunod na kabanata.
The Yellow Dildos could easily get the Hacienda back. Sereno is merely a pawn on Uncle Peping’s board. She has no respect for the Constitution or the Rule of Law and she knows her colleagues are afraid of being impeached especially now that they know they can be impeached for charges that are not impeachable and using illegally obtained evidence. Anyway, congratulations are in order to Uncle Peping. This venal kleptocrat has managed to destroy the separation of powers using a trained monkey – BS – as his pawn. That’s a stunning achievement considering what an idiot BS is.
The yellowtards might be celebrating now but when Pnoy screws up again, his presidency might not last long as they hoped.
Great article as usual Benign0 although
I’m very sure our “favorite” yellow idiot/s will show their faces here and spread their yellow propaganda.
TBH, they are already getting really predictable.
“IBP : Hacienda Luisita case won’t be an issue in SC under Sereno”
halata na tlga ito. Kung kontra kayo sa
bagong CJ, umpisahan na ninyo hatakin pababa
from day one sa opis,
kahit hindi pa naka
umpisa sa trabaho gawan na ninyo ng
paninira.
If you trust Sereno so much then you shouldn’t be concerned. But seeing you here whining about an opinion… hmmm…
For Chists sake man, What has the US Supreme Court got to do with this? You all elected this Government, not US citizens! If you can’t make your own decisions maybe you need to be Colonized. Man you make me sick….
Please read before reacting. The article has nothing to do with US. It merely took it as sample on how to reverse a decision.