SKETCHES

Infighting

By Ana Marie Pamintuan

From the secrecy of asset statements of Supreme Court (SC) justices, the battle has moved to the secrecy of psychiatric test results.

The target is clearly Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who reportedly received the second lowest rating in the test taken by all applicants for the post of chief justice. This is according to published reports attributed to anonymous sources.

SC Associate Justice Arturo Brion, one of the nominees for chief justice, reportedly wrote a letter on Aug. 27 to the tribunal, addressed to the Chief Justice, asking for the release of his test results. Several other justices now want all the results to be made public – something that could violate rules on confidentiality of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

Perhaps the issue is such a hot potato that the SC decided to defer tackling Brion’s petition, scheduled yesterday. The matter was reset to next week.

IQ tests are accepted in this country, but psychiatric tests are still controversial. The brain and emotions are seen as uncharted territory, and many Filipinos think psychological or emotional disorders cannot be treated with drugs or therapy. Tell a Pinoy that you are suffering from “sex addiction” and he’ll roll up his eyes in disbelief – or advise you to run for president.

From what I remember from my psychology classes, all people can be classified under some sort of psychological category, although in varying degrees. Domineering, submissive, manic-depressive, paranoid – at what point do they become problematic disorders? Whether such classifications are detrimental to our work and society is tricky to determine.

Some people neutral in the race for chief justice have likened Sereno to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago. We don’t know if that is a compliment. Senator Miriam, whose brother likes to describe himself as “the saner Defensor,” knows herself well enough to tell us with a chuckle during a meeting several years ago that she was called “Brenda” by her detractors – short for “brain damaged.” This was after she lost the presidential race to Fidel Ramos in 1992 (Senator Miriam is certain that she was cheated).

Sereno can adopt the same flippant attitude, laughing off her critics. After all, her appointment is sealed, with no need for confirmation by the notoriously whimsical wheeler-dealers in the Commission on Appointments. Her critics can pull their hair and wring their hands in dismay, but she is safely ensconced as the Chief Justice for the next 18 years.

Her problem is that under the rules, according to her critics, the psychiatric test results, submitted to the JBC, should have disqualified her from the highest position in the judiciary.

Sereno reportedly said she would refer Brion’s request to the JBC.

It might help if Sereno refrained from publicly invoking God as her ultimate appointing power. Anyway, it won’t do much to persuade skeptics of her independence from the mortal appointing power, President Aquino.

Surely fate, or a higher power, or divine providence had a hand in the unprecedented responsibility that has been thrust upon Sereno. But her constant invocation of God is bringing up memories of another special anak ng Diyos or child of God, who also liked to invoke divine providence in her life – former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

After GMA, and before her the pious Imelda Marcos, plus other characters such as Marian devotee Antonio Sanchez, the former mayor of Calauan town who is serving a life term for rape with double homicide, Pinoys tend to be suspicious of anyone who claims to have a direct line to God.

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There’s a bright side to the continuing infighting among the justices: it is compelling more transparency in what used to be one of the most opaque offices in government.

Today the SC is leaking like a sieve, with information about almost everything the justices do – or don’t do – from breakfast to the close of office hours, and even beyond.

Yes, Juan and Juana, that was a boycott by seven SC justices of Monday’s flag-raising ceremony – Sereno’s first in her new post.

The SC has always presented an image of unity. If some justices were critical of a colleague, they kept it to themselves. In case of misconduct, a justice was openly sanctioned. Even in the secrecy of their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, SC justices always closed ranks, repeatedly reaffirming an order to keep their SALNs beyond the reach of everyone, particularly nosy journalists.

That opaqueness in asset declarations proved to be the downfall of Corona.

Now we have all the justices making available their SALNs upon reasonable request. Some entries have been revised and the SALNs have been meticulously reviewed, we presume, for possible inaccuracies that could warrant impeachment.

Amid the skirmishing in the SC, a valid concern is whether it will adversely affect work in the nation’s court of last resort.

It will probably make the work environment unpleasant, but I don’t think it will slow down SC processes. And each justice will still be judged by the way he or she votes on cases brought before the tribunal.

Who knows, such decisions may even give hints of who might be suffering from serious psychological disorders.

Only time – and decisions she makes – will show if Sereno was the right choice for chief justice. Until the verdict is out, we can expect the SC infighting to continue.