IF you win an election, to you and your allies the people's will triumphs. If you lose, the people's will is frustrated.
Same thing, in reverse, for your rival and his supporters. Your loss is their victory and the triumph of people's will.
Or take a case in court. If cult leader Ruben Ecleo, who's accused of killing his spouse Alona Bacolod, is convicted, there's justice for her siblings. But to Ecleo and his family, his acquittal is their concept of justice.
Allies of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reportedly plan to assail the creation of the Truth Commission before the Supreme Court. The Palace said it is confident the High Court will decide the constitutional question "on its merits, not
on loyalty" to GMA who appointed all the tribunal members.
What does that mean? If the High Court will affirm President Noynoy Aquino's executive order, it will have decided the case on its merits. If it will dump the EO, the justices' loyalty to GMA will have prevailed.
Blackmail
It may look like blackmail with the smear on the jurists' honor as extortion tool. It may sound like arrogance that the President cannot be constitutionally wrong.
Yet, the Palace is not unlike a candidate running for public office: Public will is upheld only if he wins. Or the Bacolods and the Ecleos: Only a court ruling in their favor is justice from heaven.
If the Palace threat seems worse, it's because the warning is publicly made: Rule in our favor or we'll condemn the decision as protective of GMA who hired you.
Not exactly in those words but with the same sinister effect.
(paseares@yahoo.com)