THE present administration may have come up with the most outrageous acts, and yet has seemingly managed to get away with them, the resolution of the House of Delegates of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines passed in Cebu City last week against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's plan to select a "chief justice in waiting" is but a reminder that, yes, the top officials of this administration may have gotten away with the most outragoues shenanigans, but they have not rendered the people blind and dumb yet.
The IBP House of Delegates is made up of the presidents and vice presidents of all IBP chapters nationwide and they have said that there is no basis under the Constitution nor any other law to select a chief justice now, as the President is apparently insisting on doing.
But there are laws and precedents that say, the Supreme Court can continue functioning even without a Chief Justice between May 17, when Chief Justice Reynato Puno retires for good, and June 30, when the ban on appointments is lifted and a new president takes oath.
Given the nine-year history of bulldozing its way to get what it wants, it's not far-fetched if the president with the full support of her followers will still select a chief justice in waiting anyway. She did just say sorry for the Hello Garci scandal, didn't she? And yes, brushed aside delicadeza and filed her certificate of candidacy for Congress representative of Pampanga.
There's nothing we can do with governance that is amoral, but we can always ring the alarms and tell the people what is being done so that no one is robbed blind and everyone is apprised of how power is being wielded.
This is not the first time that there will be no Chief Justice during election period, the lawyers remind the people; and in the instance when that happened, there was no constitutional crisis nor was there any vacuum. The justices simply moved up as they are supposed to in any succession.
"This has been tested when Chief Justice (Marcelo) Fernan resigned to run for vice president. President Aquino did not appoint a new Chief Justice, allowing Chief Justice Andres Narvasa to assume the position," IBP Cebu president Michael Yu was quoted by Sun.Star Cebu as saying.
There is nothing to fear, contrary to the statements of those (mostly the loyal mouthpieces of the administration) who want people to believe that having no Chief Justice can create chaos.
Yu also enumerated several other laws and a Supreme Court ruling that stresses the constitutional ban on appointing executive and judicial officials so close to election.
But, of course, if this administration lives up to its reputation, then it will go on and select its choice anyway. Never mind if such act not only violates the constitution but will also tarnish the integrity of the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body that should be upholding the laws of this land.
This is over and above the fact that if that Chief Justice is indeed named by the president, then the whole Supreme Court, all 15 members, will have been appointed by and thus be beholden to only one woman.
Still we can't do anything about that. We don't have the government power to do such. But we can go on telling the facts, presenting the arguments, and exposing the lies, so that the people will know what is happening and will act with the power of right information in their hands. In the meantime, we can just watch and let all those in power know that we are closely watching their every move just as the IBP House of Delegates just did.