Thursday, January 15, 2009 Espinoza: Plan to impeach the Chief Justice By Elias L. Espinoza Free Zone
NEVER before has our democracy been threatened by those who are supposed to uphold it obviously because of thirst for more power, or to extend their stay in office at whatever cost or means.
Proponents of Charter change (Cha-cha) through a constituent assembly (Con Ass) are pushing for it with alacrity in the House of Representatives, despite the objection of the Senate, just to please their boss in Malacañang.
With only about 16 months before the 2010 elections, the party in power is not leaving any stone unturned to get what it wants, which is to alter the Constitution in order to lengthen its stay in power.
Pushing for Cha-cha in this time of global economic crunch is not only shameless but is also patently wrong because our country is already stuck in poverty and reeling from calamities.
On the other hand, martial law taught us how a dictator stayed in power by destroying the independence of the judiciary through the appointment of a chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court that legitimized the dictatorship. A similar move now is not remote.
The rumored plan of the House to impeach Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, who is perceived by those in power as an obstacle to their legal maneuvers, shows disrespect to a co-equal branch of government.
This early, however, support from different sectors for the Chief Justice regarding the rumored plan to impeach him (although unverified yet) is already pouring in.
The other day, members of the Bench and Bar, law professors and students, and members of civil society in Metro Cebu held a press conference to condemn the plot and to also show their support for the Chief Justice.
The Regional Trial Court judges in Cebu City through Judge Gabby Ingles issued a “statement of deep concern” on the matter, saying they consider Chief Justice Puno as one who has stood firmly for judicial independence and who lived by his philosophy: “Espouse no ideology but constitutionalism; uphold no theology but the rule of law.”
In the same forum, members of the Bar, law professors and students, and members of civil society issued a joint statement that condemned the move to impeach the Chief Justice as highly unpatriotic and divisive. They also stood by the Supreme Court to protect its judicial independence and integrity.
House members are reportedly using the disqualification case that the Chief Justice allegedly sat on as their basis in filing the impeachment complaint. However, it is widely suspected that the plot is Malacañang-inspired because of the judicial independence the Chief Justice espoused.
Efforts of the House Speaker and Malacañang’s minions to deny the impeachment yarn only exacerbated the growing suspicion of the public that the impeachment plan is indeed brewing in the House.
The sad part is that current political leaders use impeachment, an accountability mechanism that we have adopted in our Constitution, as a tool to carry out their selfish political desires.
The Supreme Court under the watch of Chief Justice Puno has become the only beacon among the State’s institutions and is the last bulwark of our precarious democracy. It has managed to isolate itself from the dirty world of politics.
