INQUIRER EDITORIAL: CORONA'S
GHOST
MANILA, JUNE 19, 2012
(INQUIRER) Certain names have been bandied about and are
now fodder for public speculation, even gossip, but it is important to keep in
mind that in the search for the next chief justice, what should be paramount are
personal qualifications, not personalities.
Perhaps because of the removal of Renato Corona from the post of chief
justice, through an impeachment process that's inherently political, the search
for his successor may be going the way of politicization, which was the mark of
his "midnight" appointment by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2010, in the first
place.
If the people don't watch it, the Supreme Court will be saddled with the same
problem as before—having its members selected and appointed by virtue of their
personal connections with the powers that be.
The credentials of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares are doubtless
noteworthy but her claim that she has the edge over the other candidates for the
post is startling for both imprudence and impudence.
Of course, it may have been made because Malacañang officials seemed
predisposed toward her by their public statements.
President Aquino's spokesperson Edwin Lacierda appears to have backtracked on
his earlier remark that Mr. Aquino had expressed "his preference toward the
nomination of … Henares," and is now saying that the latter has not made up his
mind.
Still, the initial impression on the announcement remains: that Henares is in
the running for chief justice and has the best chance of succeeding Corona
because she's a shooting buddy of Mr. Aquino.
Closeness to the President should be the last consideration in choosing the
next chief justice.
In fact, it should hardly be a factor. The qualities that one looks for in a
justice of the Supreme Court are superior intellect, legal expertise,
scholarship, and probity.
Because a chief justice is also the head of the judiciary, a bureaucracy in
itself, he or she should be endowed with administrative and people skills. And
because he or she heads a coequal branch of the government, pitted sometimes
against the two other branches—the executive and the legislative—he or she must
exercise independence and leadership.
Choosing the next chief justice on the basis of personal connection and warm
relations with the appointing power will mean unleashing Corona's ghost in the
high court. It will restore everything that the public finds repugnant in a
chief justice—a readiness to kowtow to the whims and caprices of a patron, a
lack of judicial independence, a lack of probity.
If the high court returns to its old form, it will not be the undoing of the
nominees and their partisans lobbying for them, but the undoing of the
appointing power. It is important for the Judicial and Bar Council to properly
screen the nominees and present a sound short list to the President.
Most significant, it is important for the President to make the correct
choice, one that is moored on objective considerations, not subjective factors
and personal interests.
The wrong choice will also restore the dark days of martial law, when the
Supreme Court became the rubber stamp that provided the judicial fiat and the
legal buttress to the depredations of the dictatorship. Obviously, the high
court will need independent minds of the likes of JBL Reyes and Roberto
Concepcion, who championed civil rights in the face of repression and abuse.
Particularly memorable was Concepcion's dignity and firmness when, writing
the decision regarding the Ratification Cases, he presented a fair and objective
summary of the facts, his own opinion that the 1973 Constitution had not been
properly ratified by law, and then the summary of the votes.
Outvoted by the rest of the high court made up of Ferdinand Marcos'
appointees, Concepcion ended his ponencia thus: "This being the vote of the
majority, there is no further judicial obstacle to the new Constitution being
considered in force and effect." Then, he added memorably: "I dissent."
Himself a Marcos nominee to the Supreme Court as associate justice,
Concepcion practiced judicial independence and vision and was firm in expressing
his differences with the strongman on critical constitutional issues.
It is on men and women like him, Reyes, and Cecilia Muñoz Palma that the next
chief justice should be modeled. We need a court of independent and critical
intellects, not a court of toadies.
FROM WIKIPEDIA
Roberto Concepcion (photo) topped the bar examinations in 1924.
He first entered government service in 1929 as an assistant attorney in the
Bureau of Justice. He became assistant solicitor general in 1938. He entered the
judiciary as judge-at-large in 1940, the following year being appointed as
district judge of the Court of the First Instance in Samar.
He was appointed justice undersecretary in 1946. Shortly after, he was
appointed to the Court of Appeals where he stayed for eight years. In 1953, when
he was 50, he was appointed to associate justice of the Supreme Court. He
ascended as chief justice in 1966 and held it until his retirement in 1973.
He chaired the Senate Electoral Tribunal and the Presidential Electoral
Tribunal in the 1960s.
Concepcion taught law for 25 years and served as bar reviewer in several law
schools and universities. He served as dean of the Faculty of Civil Law at the
University of Santo Tomas. He wrote many papers and was a recognized and
respected member of lawyers' groups and other civic groups in and outside of the
Philippines.
Birth: June 07, 1903. Place of Birth: Manila. Death: May 03, 1987. Place of
Death: Manila
Cecilia Muñoz-Palma (photo) (November 22, 1913 — January 2, 2006) was
a Filipino jurist and the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the
Philippines.
She was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ferdinand Marcos on
October 29, 1973, and served until she reached the then-mandatory retirement age
of 65.
While on the Court, Muñoz-Palma penned several opinions adverse to the
martial law government of her appointer, President Marcos.
After retiring from the Court, she became a leading figure in the political
opposition against Marcos, and was elected to the Batasang Pambansa as an
Assemblywoman from Quezon City.
When Corazon Aquino was installed as President following the 1986 People
Power Revolution, Muñoz-Palma was appointed chairwoman of the 1986
Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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