Surprise! Surprise!

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Surprise! Surprise!
Sunday, 03 07, 2004

Our history is full of surprises. Consider Lapu-lapu. Who would have thought that this local chieftain of a small island – an underdog if there ever was one – would refuse to be cowed by superior weaponry of the Spaniards, and instead engaged them in a battle that resulted in the death of Magellan. And then there was a former secretary of National Defense whom his detractors dismissed as a mere mekaniko – another underdog, if you will – but surprised the pants off his opponents by becoming the most beloved President we have had so far. Not least of all is the surprising turn that the Filipino himself could take and, in the process, astound himself. This is what he did on that glorious day when he faced the tanks at Edsa and effectively brought back the rule of democracy in the country.

Last Thursday, just when everything seemed to fall into place for the administration, meaning, demolishing the principal rallying figure of the opposition, the Supreme Court came up with a decision that must have caused the smug-faced occupants of Malacañang to wonder, “Where did we go wrong in our appointees in that (expletive deleted) court?” This was one classic case of city hall getting waylaid by its own hubris.

If ever there was one, the 8-5-1 voting of the Supreme Court on the disqualification case against Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) was certainly a surprise. Against the widely-held view that the right honorable justices of the highest court of the land are at the beck and call of the appointing power in Malacañang, the court asserted, without any reservation, its institutional independence.

In one brief shining moment, the Davide Court deprived its critics the satisfaction of gloating over their contention it is a pit bull that Malacañang could sic on whom it wishes to tear apart. Tough luck for you skeptics out there – there are still justices in that court who can rise to the occasion, and temper their verdict with the strength and life of the law.

As one of those who have been lucky to have had up-close-and-personal experience in keeping up with the hearings, I could have expressed, through this column, my thoughts on the case as the hearings progressed. I kept my peace, however, preferring to report merely what happened over the 12 hours of oral arguments two weeks ago. But even then, in my mind was emerging a picture of how the case would eventually be decided. From the drift of the questions asked and the answers given, from the fumbles and foibles of the petitioners to the subdued brilliance of the amici curiae, the outcome was predictable. True to form, given the weight of the evidence and the arguments presented, the honorable justices voted that Fornier utterly failed to substantiate his case with the “manaptized” evidence at his disposal, which Justice Reynato Puno described in his separate opinion as “out and out fabrications” with “a zero value.”

At the risk of being accused of speaking from the benefit of hindsight, I was sure that Malacañang would be in for a surprise. But with so many imponderables, not the least of which was the possibility that this or that magistrate’s vote would go this way or that, nobody was willing to bet on exactly how the court would finally rule. It did not help any that Malacañang continued to foist the unarticulated but all to subtle boast that it had a majority of the magistrates securely under its thumb, which could squash all hopes of FPJ, who during the time remained tight-lipped as he took to the campaign trail.

The Davide Court proved everyone wrong: From Malacañang, which banked on the votes of its own seven appointees, to the paid hacks in media (check them out elsewhere, not in this paper) who all too suddenly claimed to have better arguments for disqualification than anyone while warning their readers of a grim scenario that would follow should there be a disqualification, to the politicians who trumpeted their alleged connections to the justices and predicted the end of FPJ.

The decision recognizing FPJ as a natural-born citizen finally brings the current electoral campaign to a high level. It has done away with the frivolous subterfuge of resorting to technicalities merely to eliminate a worthy and capable candidate. The court, by doing so, has averted a major civil unease that would have come about had its verdict been otherwise.

Now the nation sees a straight road ahead in the campaign for FPJ. The incendiary mines and smokescreens that have been planted to throw him off track are now disabled and gone. I can almost see previous fence-sitters now enthusiastically jumping over to the FPJ camp, taking their place in the now ever lengthening queue of supporters offering their contributions – financial, material, personal, whatever – to his campaign.

All the anxieties that beset the nation from the filing of the petition for disqualification early this year are gone. Short of Manapat again discovering another cache of spurious documents and thereby throwing the election period into another round of dilatory confusion, clear choices can now be made by the citizens. The candidates can now go back to proposing solutions to the problems that we face.

Gloria, we may not see her weeping in public, but you can be sure her hot temper will cause lackeys to walk on tiptoes in that Palace by the stinking river. And what about the spokesman who airily encourage the court to go ahead and junk the petition for disqualification because FPJ can be beaten anyway? I can almost see him cowering in fear; his facetiousness has come true, but he will now have to work his butt off ensuring that his boss at least does not get totally drowned by the wave of support that is getting bigger each day for FPJ.

Life is not always fair, but sometimes peccadilloes have a way of getting back at their perpetrators. When that happens, we get surprised – and relieved. The court’s ruling surprised a good number of villains lurking in the shadows of Malacañang. They might as well brace themselves for the next surprise, for it will come from the population that they have hoodwinked so much in the short time that they held power.


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2004