ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
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Politicians, back off
Sunday, 01 18, 2009
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Politicians have latched on to the canard that Chief Justice Reynato Puno is about to be impeached. And why shouldn’t they? It always makes good copy if one is able to put in his centavo’s worth in a column inch of publicity.
But that is hardly the sane way to handle the canard. The term “canard” (which is what the brouhaha really is) is what has remained from an old French idiom, “vendre un canard à moitié,” meaning “to half-sell a duck.” These politicians are trying to make the public buy what looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and therefore must be a duck. And capitalizing on the current controversy over the Limkaichong Case, these politicians are hoping that the public would have sufficient interest in the duck, and eventually buy the whole canard.
The source and vendors of this currently circulating story of doubtful truth cannot be determined. Some say it could very well be a mere hallucination of a sometime (and future?) senator induced by the rumor concerning the non-promulgation of a decision by the Chief Justice. A very simple issue has been unnecessarily tainted with party politics and personalities. Internal issues in the Judiciary are best resolved by and among its members, and without the benefit of the speculative mind of a loudmouthed politician.
It is not fair to point an accusing finger on just anyone who stands to benefit from the ouster of the Chief Justice. And it would be callous and uncaring to conclude that the Chief Justice had it coming, because, after all, in our sickeningly politicized milieu, he is a noisome obstacle to the designs of choice people in the government who would benefit from his ouster.
The stalwarts of the Judiciary, starting with the Chief Justice, can very well handle themselves. They have hurdled far worse speculations before. Recall that the issue of non-promulgation cropped up middle of last year yet, but it became a cause celebre only after the politician opened his big mouth and regaled the nation with his “bright” reading of where we were headed. My own “bright” reading is this: The Judiciary does not need the politician’s distorted vision of events as viewed through politically tinted glasses.
With a moist eye toward 2010, politicians who are too eager to grab publicity are causing a great disservice to the Judiciary.
Wait, one even need not look toward that date. The denial of one top pol in the House — that there is an impeachment complaint to be filed — rings hollow and hypocritical, considering that, right now, strings, rods and wires are reportedly being pulled by the Puppeteer of the Palace so that this House character can be installed as top court jester.
It is not far-fetched that the canard was floated to distract the populace from far more serious issues. After all, it is part of a politician’s job description that one must be adept at creating smokescreens and a systematic organization of hatreds directed at people who do not share his opinions.
The Chief Justice hit it right on the head when he diagnosed the current brouhaha affecting him and the Judiciary as one that can be traced to lack of morals: The politicians’ propensity to blow out of proportion just about any issue that crops up; the litigants’ propensity to concoct every scenario to support a favorable ruling; the lack of perception by the public of how things should be, rather that seem to be; the use of media to fan the flames of discontent; etcetera.
It is time for the moral forces — not the politicians who are, after all, only aching to stay in, or return to, power — to assert themselves. The moral decadence of the people, especially with those politicians inebriated with power, is what ails the country. After all, the state of our legal system is a function of this moral decadence.
Imagine how much better we would be had we been spared the runaway speculations of politicians. In support of their putative candidacy to whatever position, they are currying favor with groups belonging to the wide spectrum of Judiciary loathers. They know very well that the canard they floated would gain enough buyers who would later remember every slurry thought about it as carrying their tag. Neat, but nasty. Effective, but effing immoral, as my British friend would say.
I say, let us heed the call of the Chief Justice for a moral reorientation, where everyone should be minded to articulate only what is fair and just; where the Judiciary must be spared from politics; where the litigants must limit themselves to what the rules and the laws provide; and where a fair discourse, rather than divisive rhetoric, of events holds sway.
The confluence of events and circumstances which gnaw at the credibility of the country’s justice system should be enough to prompt one to head for the nearest embassy and apply for citizenship elsewhere. Only an abiding trust in the Judiciary, the Supreme Court especially, has prevented a lot of people from committing this unpatriotic act. The Judiciary has always been the most credible institution of government, in fact, the only credible institution that remains. Chief Justice Reynato Puno has instituted reforms like no other. The decisions of his Court have, in the main, been praised for their even-handedness. Justice and fairness are once more the hallmarks of the Court. Trail blazing judicial remedies have been put in place. The Rule of Law has never been true as a rule as it is now.
In this time of great many difficulties, when the political branches of government can hardly deliver to the people what they ought to, the last remaining buoy that keeps the nation afloat is the Judiciary. The politicians are trying to tinker with the workings of justice, and a lot of angry people are not likely going to take this sitting down.
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