I CAUGHT Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s talk on the West Philippine Sea last Sunday while I was surfing television channels. I have read at length his defense of our patrimony against Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea so my listening to his talk merely served as a review of sorts on his arguments. The thought that readily came to my mind that time was, President Duterte was being given another reason not to appoint him Chief Justice.
Yesterday, the President appointed Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin as the country’s 25th Chief Justice. Carpio, who is acting chief justice by reason of seniority and who submitted his name for consideration as chief justice after refusing to do so after former chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno was ousted, was bypassed. But I reckon no one was expecting the President to give a nod to him.
That, I should say, is the prize for his independence, and Carpio apparently already knew that even when he decided to submit his name for consideration. It was a gamble with minimal loss in case it failed.
So now, Carpio will be known, especially when he retires, as the best Supreme Court Chief Justice this country never had. He was also bypassed by former president Benigno Aquino III when Sereno, who was his junior, was appointed instead.
In a way, being Supreme Court Chief Justice can be destiny, too, like the presidency. No matter how much you try to lay the groundwork to get the position, other factors that are not in your hands also come into play. I am reminded, for example of former House Speakers Ramon Mitra and Jose de Venecia. They prepared long and hard but never got to become president.
By the way, a Philippine Daily Inquirer article listed some of the decisions that Bersamin wrote in his years as associate justice.
One is the de Castro vs. the Judicial and Bar Council case that validated the controversial appointment of then associate justice Renato Corona as chief justice. The appointment was among the last few acts of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and was thus dubbed by his successor Aquino as a “midnight appointment.”
Bersamin also wrote the decision that allowed former senator Juan Ponce Enrile to post bail even if he was facing a non-bailable offense (plunder). Another decision he authored cleared Arroyo, who is now House speaker, of her plunder case. He also wrote the ruling declaring Aquino’s Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional.
Those are only for the decisions that he authored. There should be a number of cases wherein he voted in favor of rulings widely criticized by the liberals and progressives. That, I would say, would give us a glimpse of his tendencies as a Supreme Court chief justice. In the end, though, a Supreme Court chief justice is only one vote in the High Court.
I am tempted to prejudge Bersamin, but I won’t. We don’t know what will happen under his tenure. What if, either by some miracle or simple change of heart, he could steer the Supreme Court into its most objective period under the Duterte administration? Don’t laugh now. It is a hope and, as they say, hope springs eternal.