Honeyman: The Supreme Court

Sunday, October 16, 2011

WHEN speaking to an audience, it is natural to try and say things that resonate with that audience. The problem nowadays is that whilst we may prepare a talk for our friends, for our colleagues or for a professional grouping, the content of that talk may gain a wider audience. For example, US Ambassador Harry Thomas, speaking to a small group of Cabinet members, got into hot water recently by the wide dissemination of an unsubstantiated remark that 40 percent of men who come to the Philippines as tourists come for sex. Personally, I thought 40 percent was pitching it a bit low, but never mind.

Which brings us to Chief Justice Renato Corona. When speaking to his colleagues last week, he accused some members of Congress of disrespect and lack of civility. Lack of civility?! Surely not. Examples please. There are many, both inside and outside Congress, who disagree with a proportion of Supreme Court (SC) rulings. And for some of us, the proportion that we disagree with has reached alarming levels so that we can no longer give the SC a passing grade. I fear that Corona may suffer from the delusion that it is not for us to critique his decisions. If so, he needs to understand better the nature of democracy.

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The recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey gave luminaries such as Aquino, Binay and Enrile a rating of around +60, which means that most of us are happy with their performance, a few are unhappy and the rest are neither happy nor unhappy. But Corona has a rating of zero. Only 28 percent are satisfied, 28 percent are dissatisfied and the rest, 44 percent, are indifferent.

Corona is being defensive. He speaks of ‘the repeated threats of impeachment based on a distorted and power-tripping interpretation of ‘breach of public trust.’ I am not aware of repeated threats though I am aware that one party-list member Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna) has spoken of impeachment.

What of the future?

I hope that SC recognizes, en banc, that its recent performance has attracted criticism, not all of it unjustified.

We hope that soon the three co-equal arms of government (executive, legislative, and judiciary) can work in harmony. This administration has seen a greater cohesiveness between the executive and the legislative than before. [On current performance, the Philippines is much more accomplished in this area than the United States of America].

What we could like to see is for there to be a rapid adoption of a more collegial relationship between the executive and the judiciary.

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Bullying

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara is concerned about bullying in schools. Consequently, a House of Representatives committee on basic education and culture has put forward a proposed bill, House Bill No 5248, which has been drafted to address the problem. The bill does not penalize bullying with any specific penalties, but does empower and compel schools to establish mechanisms to address the problem. If and when the bill is approved, school administrators must make sure that their schools comply with anti-bullying policies, or risk administrative sanctions from the secretary of education.

It is true that there is bullying in schools. It is also true that the extent of the problem varies significantly from one school to another. So what are the factors that affect the prevalence of the problem? Visibility is significant. A school in which the Principal believes in management by walking around (MBWA) is like to have less bullying in his school than one in which the Principal is a remote figure who is rarely seen.

In the last Millennium, one family member attended Bacolod City National High School. She augmented her appearance with tattoos. These attracted the attention of the Principal who I only know by his nickname, ‘Kintoy.’ He was an excellent practitioner of MBWA. He warned the tattooed one about the wickedness of fraternities, the inadvisability of joining one, that he is always on the lookout for bullying, and that severe sanctions would be imposed on the bullies. ‘Opo, Sir’ she replied. She did not bully.

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Bullying is everywhere. It is not just in grade and high schools. The tertiary sector suffers from it as well. Some years ago, another family member went to UP Visayas at Miag-ao. The academic year began with an ‘acquaintance party’ which had the ostensibly laudable purpose of enabling students to introduce themselves to each other. In fact it was a mechanism whereby older students and faculty singled out first year students for exploitation, harassment and victimization. The office of Student Affairs (OSA) which is meant to deal with sort of thing was useless. Since bullying, once started, becomes chronic, this caused a disagreeable climate which prejudiced academic endeavor. UP perennially whines about its budget. It can make savings by closing the inutile OSA.