Sanctity of the SC

AMADO P. MACASAET

‘Renato Corona is Chief Justice in title. The truth is he is the chief protector of Gloria Arroyo.’

THE sanctity of the Supreme Court is in the dignity and honor of the justices and the wisdom of their rulings. It cannot be in the exemption from requirements where ordinary mortals are punished ifthey do not comply.

If, as it claims, the High Tribunal is a repository of justice, fairness and rule of law, it should set the example to the rest of the people. It is beyond us to understand why the members of the Court are not required to make public their annual statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

It is beyond us to understand why the Court is not required to divulge the details of the disbursements of the Judicial Development Fund that is collected from litigants who pay docket and other fees required by law.

These exemptions subject the Court to suspicions that its members may have something to hide.

For example, the SALN of Chief Justice Renato Corona shows that he and his wife had a net worth of PI4 million in 2002. The document is a public record because he filed it before he was appointed by Gloria Arroyo to the Supreme Court.

How does the Chief Justice explain the fact that he has at three apartments in The Fort and an equally expensive home in La Vista, Quezon City? How did he make so much money serving as chief of staff of Gloria Arroyo when she was vice president, chief legal counsel of Mrs. Arroyo after she became President and other positions in her government, including appointment as associate justice and eventually Chief Justice?

We can ask the question. But the Court does not require him or his peers to answer.

The exemptions from complying with requirements make the Court a special mold. It should not be if the purpose of its existence is nothing more than defense of the Constitution.

By the rules made by the magistrates themselves, the Court has become an exclusive club free from the prying eyes of such government agencies like the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The members of the Court gave themselves awesome powers to violate the Constitution instead of defending it. The Court litigates cases of graft and corruption but members, by hiding their wealth under the skirt of their own rules, made themselves suspects of the crimes the law requires them to prosecute.

In this sense, the Supreme Court converts itself into a "supreme curse." How can we hope for justice and fairness from the Supreme Court whose Chief Justice prevents the publication of a dissent that details the violations committed obviously to favor a president who ordered the rape of the Charter so he could be appointed Chief Justice?

Renato Corona is Chief Justice in title. The truth is he is the chief protector of Gloria Arroyo.

It need not be said that it is always presumed that Gloria Arroyo and other criminal respondents facing trial need protection of the law only in one sense: the fair and just application of the law.

The former president gets protection from the justices of the Supreme Court perceived to be canine loyal to her and not to the law. There is enough proof that the Court, specifically the Chief Justice who must lead the way towards upholding the majesty of the Constitution and the laws, is protecting himself and his patroness. He is so determined in attaining this unholy objective such that he allows the Court’s spokesperson, Midas Marquez, to give a new twist to a ruling that clearly states that the temporary restraining order sought by Mrs. Arroyo against the Department of Justice to allow her to go abroad for treatment, although her own doctors testified that the trip is not necessary, depended on the compliance with two conditions.

Most revolting of all is the recorded order (explained in the dissent of associate justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno) of the Chief Justice suppressing the promulgation of the dissent. Nothing could be more blatant than this violation or breach of public trust by a Chief Justice using his position to suppress the minds of peers who do not share his evil mission to protect the President who appointed him, also in violation of the Constitution.

On this point alone, the Senators sitting as judges in the impeachment court cannot escape the constitutional duty of convicting the Chief Justice to restore the majesty of the law and try to restore the sanctity of the Supreme Court.

The refusal of the Chief Justice to allow the promulgation of a dissent sends to the grave the argument that rulings for Mrs. Arroyo were collegial and not his alone.

Suppression of the dissent of Justice Sereno is an unpardonable crime committed by the Chief Justice. It is oxymoronic because Mr. Corona cries for independence of the Tribunal that he claims is being destroyed by President Aquino by seeking his conviction but the Head Magistrate himself shamelessly shows his capability to violate the Constitution and the laws he is sworn to uphold.