By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated March 19, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) ruling allowing President Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice is tantamount to amending the 1987 Constitution, former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said yesterday.
“It is a very clear violation of the 1987 Constitution because of the absolute prohibition,” Marcelo, president of the Philippine Bar Association, told The STAR, referring to the appointments ban from March 10 to June 30, when Mrs. Arroyo steps down.
“It (SC ruling) is shocking to the legal community because the wording of the Constitution here is very clear. There should be no appointments to the judiciary two months before the elections,” said Marcelo, a former law partner and Sigma Rho fraternity brother of the most senior SC associate justice, Antonio Carpio.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno retires on May 17, when he turns 70.
Marcelo, Mrs. Arroyo’s first Ombudsman in 2002, also agreed with the position of Justices Eduardo Nachura and Presbitero Velasco Jr. that the SC cannot at this stage compel the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to submit a shortlist of nominees to the top SC post since there is no vacancy yet.
“The issue is not yet ripe for adjudication. There is no vacancy yet. The discretion is with the JBC, whether or not the incumbent president or the next president can appoint the next chief justice,” he explained.
He said he is still hopeful that the high tribunal can change its mind, noting how the magistrates have reversed themselves on several occasions.
“There’s still hope. You know sometimes the SC can surprise you,” he said.
“We’ll just pray after filing a motion for reconsideration and we hope to prick their conscience,” he said in Filipino.
Marcelo lamented that the justices didn’t even bother to seek the legal opinion of experts or even the framers of the Constitution.
“They didn’t schedule oral arguments. Why the haste? We still have two more months before the retirement of Puno,” he said.
The SC acknowledged the importance of oral arguments at least on two occasions - the deliberations on the impeachment case against former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and on the citizenship issue involving the late Fernando Poe Jr.
In these two instances, the justices sought guidance from amicus curiae or friends of the court.
Nine justices voted in favor of allowing Mrs. Arroyo to name Puno’s successor. They were Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Roberto Abad, Martin Villarama, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Jose Mendoza, Mariano del Castillo, and Diosdado Peralta.
Only Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales gave a dissenting vote. Justices Nachura and Velasco said the case was premature.
Legacy
Despite the SC’s ruling, President Arroyo should let her successor name the next chief justice if she wants to leave behind a good legacy, her former chief economist and now opposition senatorial candidate Ralph Recto said.
“The President is in the legacy mode. Simply bequeathing onto her successor the right to name the head of a co-equal branch is one classy act of saying goodbye,” Recto said.
“There is no gesture more noble than in refusing to exercise a power that is yours,” he said.
He said that if the President “forfeits her right of appointing a new chief justice, she will score a double victory: legally, in the bench; and morally, in the bar of public opinion.”
Another LP senatorial candidate, Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, gave the same advice.
“Even if the SC ruled that she can name the next chief justice, she also has the option not to do it for the sake of preventing any speculation on the motive behind the appointment,” he said.
“At this time, an appointment by President Arroyo will only suffer from credibility, with people suspecting that the SC is controlled by the President since all the justices are appointed by her,” he said.
Kapatiran Party presidential candidate JC de los Reyes said the latest controversy over the SC decision has underpinned the need “to reformat this government as viruses shattered the nation’s CPU.”
“The midnight appointment violates the Constitution, statutes and jurisprudence, even basic delicadeza,” he said.
De los Reyes, who is running on the platform of moral recovery and God-centeredness, said “a miracle will happen, I just don’t know how and when but I foresee the Lord coming to our rescue.”
“The Lord will meet us at the battlefield and we will prevail,” he told The STAR. With Jess Diaz and Perseus Echeminada
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