By AMADO P. MACASAET
‘Loyalty to the judicial system is not to the Chief Justice but to the law they must all serve with fairness and equity.’
There is so much fuss about the refusal or failure of eight justices of the Supreme Court to attend the first flag ceremony of newly appointed Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. The absence of the eight is variously interpreted as a snub or boycott of the new Head Magistrate.
That is not exactly so, from where I sit. Attending a flag ceremony is a public manifestation of loyalty to the flag and the country, not to anyone else in the country, even the Chief Justice.
The personality or position of the person leading the flag ceremony is not remotely related to the manifestation of loyalty to the flag. Therefore, the magistrates who did not attend the ceremony Monday morning did not betray CJ Sereno. They betrayed the flag.
Quite simply, anybody who believes in the flag of his country and honors it when it is hoisted once a week in a ceremony should not care about the people who attend and who do not.
It is should be enough that he feels he performs a solemn duty of showing loyalty to the flag.
There is no relationship whatsoever between attending the flag ceremony and the ability of new the Chief Justice to institute the reforms she promised first to herself and then to the people.
It may not have been exactly right or proper for Chief Justice Sereno to beg for cooperation and understanding among her peers. They have only one common duty: defense of Constitution in their best lights and in accordance with their idea of truth that must sit with the law.
The Chief Justice did not do right either when she declared that it was not politics but God who put her in the job. That reminded one and all how Gloria Arroyo said the same words when she was caught stealing the people’s will in the infamous “Hello, Garci” tape.
The new Chief Justice is practically going back on her own words that she will maintain “dignified silence” in the Supreme Court in her 18-year watch. She reacts, though dispassionately, to what people say of her, most specifically the no-show of the majority or eight of her peers.
She begs people, most specifically her colleagues, to trust her. She interprets the non-appearance of the members of the Court in her oath-taking ceremony and in Monday’s flag ceremony as manifestations of unwillingness to cooperate with her.
She first sounded tough. Now she is showing signs of what many of us may easily describe as insecurity.
The most serious effect of her appointment on her peers is the fact that President Aquino denied all of them the ambition to aspire to become chief justice. Mrs. Sereno will serve for 18 years under three presidents.
Some of her colleagues may be long dead by the time she turns 70 years old and retires.
While she is at it, her only duty, as it is the duty of all members of the Court, is to defend the Constitution without fear or favor. The rest, like the snub of her oath-taking and first flag ceremony, should not really matter.
Yet, when the members of the Court failed to come in full force, those who did not attend – and they happened to be the majority – might have sent her signals of their unwillingness to cooperate with her in introducing her much-vaunted judicial reforms.
This is the highest form of betrayal of democracy.
The new Chief Justice has not shown where she leans to, whether she is liberal or conservative, although the Court has never shown that it is either or both.
The necessity to cooperate with her comes from the fact that she has not presided en banc over a case that has far-reaching implications for the President and the country. We cannot as yet blame her for being a stooge of President Aquino for the simple reason that she has not been presented a chance to show that she is so.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Sereno should stick to her word that her court will live in dignified silence, and damn with the rest.
The majesty of the law is not shown or proven by the physical friendship of the Chief Justice with her peers. It is her ability to lead the court that counts most. Unfortunately, while she might be trying her best to lead, her followers are not that many as shown by the snub.
This is where the learned men of the Court should learn to separate the chaff from the grain. The chaff is anything outside of the pale of the interpretation of the Constitution and the laws.
The grain is the Charter which must be defended, not always correctly but in the best lights of the minds of the jurists. The law under any President or Chief Justice should exist for all.
In the last few days that Mrs. Sereno has been sitting as Chief Justice, her peers have not shown her any sign of cooperation. That is, if the failure or refusal of the majority in the country to witness her oath-taking and flag ceremony are telltale signs.
But as we said here earlier, loyalty to the judicial system is not to the Chief Justice but to the law they must all serve with fairness and equity.
email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
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