Saturday, November 08, 2008 Constitutionalist warns of full Arroyo-appointed SC
IF RECENT decisions of the Supreme Court (SC) on controversial cases are any indication, constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas said Friday that majority of the magistrates in the SC give the impression that they are not independent.
Speaking to reporters during the re-launching of the SC Appointments Watch (Scaw)--a coalition of law groups and civil society monitoring the appointment of persons to judicial positions, Bernas expressed concern over the looming prospects of a full Arroyo-appointed SC before the end of 2009 when seven justices are due to retire.
The coalition, composed of the Alternative Law Groups, Libertas, Philippine Association of Law Schools and Transparency and Accountability Network together with online news magazine Newsbreak, reactivated itself to prepare for the selection process of candidates for vacancies in the high court.
Bernas, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution and who was appointed as member of the citizen's search committee that will screen and recommend prospective nominees to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), said much can be desired about the present composition of justices at the SC and their political independence on cases.
"They (SC justices) give the impression sometimes that they vote according to loyalties," he said.
One case that Bernas said manifested the toeing of administration lines was the petition questioning the constitutionality of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD), and which showed a polarized voting among the justices.
While acknowledging that SC magistrates strive to try cases on their merits, Bernas said: "We are confronted with recent decisions with strong dissenting opinions (indicating) that we have a divided court."
In his speech, the constitutionalist said it's not possible for a magistrate who may be perceived as loyal to be changed, citing as example the late SC associate justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, who he described as "a great dissenter, one who left a very important legacy."
Bernas said every president, in making appointments to the SC, would want to leave their legacy behind. "It's their legacy they want (to leave) behind. If it's a noble legacy that fine, but if it's an ignoble legacy..." his voice trailed.
However, he said there are still those justices in the tribunal who exhibit independence.
"It's very important really that they are independent in the sense that they are men and women of the law who will follow the law rather than the dictates of their own loyalties," he said.
Bernas noted that in the US, the justices voted according to their conservative or liberal leanings, but he observed that "I don't think our Supreme Court decides on ideological lines; they decide based on something else."
Lawyer Marlon Manuel, spokesperson for the coalition and coordinator of ALG, said there is a growing concern about the upcoming retirements. Also, they want the process in selecting replacements to be fine-tuned to ensure that the President will be selecting people to the judiciary based on their qualifications and not on how loyal they will become to her and her administration.
"Never in the post-Marcos history has a president of the country made appointments of nearly all of the sitting justices. The independence of the third branch of the government is at stake," Manuel said.
Scaw was reactivated in response to the request of Chief Justice Reynato Puno for private groups to help search for SC candidates. It has formed a citizen's search committee composed of respected and independent-minded individuals.
The committee will be composed of Bernas, Solita Monsod, Dean Andres Bautista, former CA Justice Hilarion Aquino, and other respected personalities from the academe and private law practice.
Justices who will retire later this year and the next are: Ruben Reyes, Adolfo Azcuna, Dante Tinga, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Leonardo Quisumbing, and Minita Chico-Nazario. The seventh, Alicia Austria-Martinez, will opt for early retirement in April.
Of the seven retiring, Santiago and Quisumbing were not appointed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Puno himself will reach the mandatory retirement age in May 2010, a month before the President ends her term. The committee will undertake an open and transparent search for qualified candidates and submit their names to the JBC. (ECV/Sunnex)
