Sigmarhophobia?

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Sigmarhophobia?
Sunday, 02 28, 2010

My fellow regular at the Kapihan sa Sulo, Fel Maragay of The Manila Standard Today, used this word in his column, thus: “In the midst of this controversy (over the appointment of the next chief justice), judicial watchers see the ‘sigmarhophobia’ permeating the legal front once again. Put on the spot is the Sigma Rho, that powerful fraternity at the University of the Philippines. In the national stage, the Sigma Rhoans are at the forefront of the opposition to Mrs. Arroyo’s appointment of a Puno successor. And many of them are in the innermost sanctum of the Aquino-Roxas campaign.”

Fel went on to mention names of political personalities and members of the Sigma Rho, who have taken the negative side of the proposition that President Gloria Arroyo, whose term ends on June 30, 2010, can validly appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno who retires on May 17, 2010.

Sigmarhophobia? I sincerely hope that Fel might have been confused there and had not strung the first two concepts that came to his mind to create a neologism, in the way that “presidentiable” and “fiscalizer” have entered into the linguistic awareness and usage of Filipinos — and only Filipinos for that matter. These words are not present in the dictionary or active vocabulary of other English-speaking people elsewhere. But I digress…

The word — a neologism created in the hope that it will become accepted — must mean an extreme or irrational fear of, or aversion to, the Sigma Rho. Is there anything to be scared or wary about when the Sigma Rho takes a stand?

For a Sigma Rhoan to take one side in a debate over an issue of national importance should not engender fear in any one. Rather, the present state of affairs should augur well for a healthy, sensible and untramelled discussion of the subject at issue.

I have been back for only a short time to be able to gauge where the Sigma Rho is headed in this debate. Concerned over the stirring denunciations by Fel of this fraternity of which I am a member, I sought the wise counsel of the Sigma Rhoans involved in the debate.

These are the facts.

The Sigma Rho does not have a collective stand on the issue of appointment of a successor to Chief Justice Puno. In fact, Sigma Rhoans are not monolithic when it comes to preferences, advocacies and politics. They find themselves at loggerheads with each other many times over different issues.

And like everyone involved in the debate over the proper application of Section 15, Article VII vis-a-vis Section 9, Article VIII of the Constitution, Sigma Rhoans are evenly divided. They have taken opposing views, and the Sigma Rho Council, the steering body on matters affecting the fraternity, has allowed the Sigma Rhoans to “let a hundred thoughts contend.”

Sigma Rhoans who have taken the affirmative side have as much as an equal number among those who espouse the negative side. This is just as well, for Sigma Rhoans are lawyers who pride themselves as steeped in the Constitution. And when the interpretation of any of its provisions becomes a matter of contention, expect these lawyers to take sides, each side devoted to the legal principle, ethic, tenet, canon or creed it holds as right.

Being supercilious is one thing that Sigma Rhoans are not. It is almost second nature for them to be engaged in a debate over the correct application or reading of two apparently conflicting provisions of the Constitution, when it becomes the right thing that should be done at the right time. And considering the political climate, what time could be more right than now?

True, many of those in the negative side are identified with the Aquino-Roxas campaign. What is regrettable is that the collective membership of the fraternity has been labeled the same phobic brush, only because those espousing the negative are more vocal and, as Fel correctly assumes, prefer a fraternity brother, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, to be appointed chief justice by the next president, not by the incumbent president.

Carpio is, naturally, the preferred chief justice of the Sigma Rhoans. But the matter of his appointment, or of anyone else, must be governed by what ultimately will be declared by the Supreme Court as the proper time to make the appointment and by whom, and never at the expense of the right application of provisions of the Constitution. After all, members of the legal profession must, nolens volens, bow to what is the right application of the Constitution as the Supreme Court says it is.

From the time Fel came out with his article, there have been many other columnists coming out with the same tenor, deriding the Sigma Rho for the position taken by some of its members who were speaking only for other lawyers’ organizations they represent, not the Sigma Rho. It is a devilishly neat way of dragging the Sigma Rho into the fray, and in the process impute to it a collective boosterism effort to support Carpio.

Dragging the Sigma Rho into the discussion, and connecting it to a preference for Carpio, is an ingenious approach to muddling the primary issue. It takes away the focus on the debate over the right interpretation of two constitutional provisions.

As of this writing, many issues have been raised against Carpio in an effort to scuttle his chances at being nominated by the JBC, one of these being a complaint filed by one falsely claiming to be a colleague in the Advisory Council of Transparency International. Where these are coming from, and who is coordinating them, is obvious. Carpio can defend himself anytime, and does not need sympathetic Sigma Rhoans to defend him.

No, Fel, there is no such thing as sigmarhophobia. On the other hand, there is hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, or fear of long words, which afflicts me now because I fear the the loss of decency among brothers in the law profession as a result of the ugly debate that has ensued over the nomination and appointment of a chief justice.

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Those whom the gods wish to destroy.....

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

“Those whom the gods wish to destroy.....
Sunday, 02 21, 2010

.....they first make mad.”

That statement - attributed to Euripides (c. 480 BC) in reference to those who had become crazed by power - suspiciously applies to the present-day handlers of the presidential bid of Noynoy Aquino. The handlers have acted arrogantly with the thought that the presidency is theirs for the taking. They had better perish that thought by now.

In the afterglow of the death of Cory Aquino last year, all too suddenly Noynoy was thrust into the limelight, and the Liberal Party grabbed him as its standard bearer, over the well-prepared and definitely more qualified Mar Roxas. That was a decision made in a fit of madness.

Other seizures of madness followed.

Two weeks into the campaign, the presidential bid of Noynoy, by the own admission of its campaign manager, is clearly in disarray, a consequence of the fits of madness that have afflicted his campaign.

It was nonchalant madness for Noynoy to fail deflect the attacks against him as an unproductive member of the Congress of the Philippines. It is the height of arrogance to brush aside this claim. After all, The Record and the Journal of both Houses of the Congress of Philippines do not lie about a legislator’s performance, or absence thereof.

It was methodical madness for the LP to make a limp denial of the autism issue and to give one columnist hell because he had asked Noynoy if he felt alluded to - a very innocent question, indeed. The autism issue will not die with the kind of answer that the LP has given; it could engender far worse and more personal issues that could irreparably hurt Noynoy’s campaign.

It was incautious madness for Noynoy to fail to disabuse the public’s mind about the issue of his complicity in the embarassing dispute over Hacienda Luisita. Worse, even as he is in a position to do right by the failings of his relatives, he abstained from voting on the new agrarian law that now invalidates the oppressive stock distribution scheme that he and his relatives have perpetuated.

It was arrogant madness for Noynoy to refuse to answer a very valid question posed by one he considers a tailender in the presidential race. His adversaries in the presidential race, whether rating high or dwelling low in the surveys, have every right to ask legistimate questions. My barber Joe said: “Kulang sa pag-iisip, kaya kayabangan na lang ang isinumbat.”

It was presumptuous madness for Noynoy to expose his dictatorial streak when he threatened not to recognize anyone who accepts an appointment as chief justice extended by the incumbent president. Imagine the fallout that he got from this idiotic statement! Whoever gave Noynoy this advice deserves a drill on the head.

It was slovenly madness for Noynoy to fail to give a plausible answer to the accusation that, as a benefit of the SCTEX Scam, he raked in some P50 million that went into his campaign as congressman for Tarlac in 2004. The date on the check - April 26, 2004 - issued to “Hacienda Luisita, Inc.” is too proximate to the time when money should flow in the elections on May 10, 2004, when Noynoy’s candidacy hung on the balance against a very formidable opponent in Governor Victor Yap.

It is juvenile madness for Noynoy not to extricate himself from the skirts of his sisters, who continue to dominate his life and mind and heart. It is equally madness on his part not to dissociate himself from the corruption charges against his relatives who are poised to lord it over again under a Noynoy presidency. For valid reasons, you can declare your freedom from those who can possibly do you harm while you associate with them, can’t you?

It is infantile madness for Noynoy and his handlers to rely completely on the name of his parents, and even fail to make a name for himself. The time has come for Noynoy to stand on his own. Sadly, he forgot that elections progress in phases, yet he got stuck in the euphoria of August 2009, and never moved on.

It is insensitive madness for Noynoy to allow himself to be dominated by discordant voices within the LP, thereby exposing his lack of executive skills. Well, the LP is one organization that has no claim to consistency. The venerable Jovito Salonga - who with one determined voice would have forged the LP into one effective machine - has been sidelined by tyros in the party and countless petty tyrants, many of them responsbile for the rut the nation is in, having been parties to the stolen presidency of Gloria Arroyo in 2004.

The LP leadership is inept, embroiled in their own internecine political battles, too fat-headed and inexperienced to wage a presidential campaign, or much too engrossed in their arrogance to believe that they can win an election on the basis of contrived numbers in the surveys.

Who is in charge, really? Definitely not Noynoy, who has failed to show the voters he can really hack it as an executive. If he cannot even put order to his campaign, how can he even pretend that he will be able to govern a nation of 95 million?

Noynoy need not dwell on the name of his parents. He must now stand on his own, on his own merits, if any. He should take over the LP, if he has the guts to put the party tyros and the petty tyrants under his thumb. He should now define himself. He should not be mouthing the inanities fed to him by his advisers. [For instance, his spiel that he will not steal does not dispel the possibility that those involved in the 20-billion-peso Peace Bonds Scam, who are very prominent in the Noynoy campaign, will not steal billions again].

Indeed, Noynoy has a lot of catching up to do. But, first, he must liberate himself from those who have surrounded him with their arrogance. If he chooses to live with them, their mutual destruction will not be far behind.

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Can Estrada still catch up?

ENQUIRY
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Can Estrada still catch up?
Sunday, 02 07, 2010

That is the question posed by my friend Fel Maragay in his article on Former President Joseph Estrada’s chances as a consequence of the decision of the second division of the Commission on Elections throwing out the disqualification cases against Estrada.

The question wrongly assumes that the survey results showing Estrada to be lagging behind in the presidential race are true and correct. Corollary to that wrong assumption, too much reliance is made on the unsubstantiated claim of Estrada’s detractors that he will continue to lose supporters, and not even gain any, upon the unfounded fear that their votes might just be wasted if he would be disqualified by the Comelec, or by the Supreme Court eventually.

Fel did cite incontrovertible reasons supporting an affirmative answer to his question, and I cannot but agree with him. Estrada, relegated by the mercenary surveys to a poor third place, has always been there slugging it out with the frontrunners anointed by the surveys, and he will be slugging it out with them until election day.

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Former Senate President Ernesto Maceda views Estrada’s triumph in the first round of the disqualification case as a key factor that would turn the tide of the presidential contest in Estrada’s favor.

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Another good thing going for Estrada is the resolution of the Department of Justice striking out Estrada’s name as a suspect in the November 2000 murder of publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver, even as it recommended the indictment of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, against whom a warrant of arrest has already been issued.

And Estrada, in the latest round of television advertisements, has vowed to project himself as “presidential,” a complete departure from the song-and-dance routine of his opponents.

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To prove that we will have Estrada slugging it out until election day, read this account of Maceda: “Weeks before the Dec. l deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy, Aquino met with Estrada at the Makati residence of a common friend, businessman and former Jose Pardo, in the hope of persuading the 72-year-old ex-president to pull out from the presidential derby and secure Erap’s backing for his own candidacy. Estrada candidly told him that he could not accede to his proposition because he was determined to seek political vindication after his term as president was cut short by Edsa Dos. He said he wanted to resume his programs that were abruptly disrupted and discontinued by his unceremonious ouster from the seat of power.”

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At the Kapihan sa Sulo yesterday, Cavite Representative Boying Remulla accused Senator Noynoy Aquino of “having blood in his hands” for his complicity with what Boying calls the “SCTEX Massacre” and the decades long and often violent oppression of farmers in the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac.

Remulla said he dubbed the scandal over the construction of the SCTEX as a “massacre” because it involves slowly murdering the farmers of Hacienda Luisita by paying them starvation wages, limiting their workdays and the area of the land they till.

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Remulla disclosed that hearings at the House of Representatives elicited the fact that Noynoy used his influence as a legislator not only to push the SCTEX project, but specifically the interconnection of Hacienda Luisita to it, at a stupendous cost to government and taxpayers.

The net effect of Noynoy; s machination is that from its original cost of P18.7 billion in 1999, the SCTEX project cost ballooned to a whopping P32.808 billion, or double the original price, by the time it got finished.

Noynoy is being marketed as a presidential candidate with integrity and one who is not tainted by corruption and scandals. But with the SCTEX Massacre, this claim of the Liberal Party violates the cardinal rule requiring truth in advertising.

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Remulla distributed copies of DBP Check No. 17026953 dated April 16, 2004, made out to “Hacienda Luisita, Inc.” in the amount of P50 million as part of the SCTEX right-of-way payment. He thereby raised the very distinct possibility that Noynoy may have won re-election as congressman in 2004 (against Victor Yap, the present governor of Tarlac) through the use of “blood money” extracted by his family from the overprice in the right-of –way payment.

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When the House of Representatives resumes sessions on May 31, 2010, it should proceed, as its first item in the agenda, to the ratification of the Bicameral Conference Committee report on the Freedom of Information Act. The Senate, despite the intramurals over the C-5 Report, managed to ratify the Report on February 1. For lack of quorum on the last day of sessions on February 3, the House of Representatives failed to ratify the Report.

The Right to Know, Right Now! Campaign, which has pushed for the enactment of the Freedom of Information Act since 23 years ago upon the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, has vowed to see to it that Speaker Prospero Nograles will do as he promised to support the ratification on May 31.

Those who wish to join the Right to Know, Right Now! Campaign are invited to attend mass to be celebrated on February 14 at the Sto. Nino de Tondo Parish at Chacon Street in Tondo, Manila.

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