Group warns vs subservient Supreme Court

MANILA, Philippines - A constitutionalist on Friday said that if recent decisions of the Supreme Court on controversial cases are used as indicators, then majority of the justices are not independent. This was the opinion of Fr. Joaquin Bernas as he talked to reporters during the re-launching of the Supreme Court Appointments Watch (SCAW). The SCAW is a coalition of law groups and civil society monitoring the appointment of persons to judicial positions. During the forum, Bernas expressed concern over the looming prospects of a Supreme Court which would be filled by appointees of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo before the end of 2009. 2009 is the year when seven out of the 15 justices are due to retire. Mrs Arroyo, whose administration has been hounded by allegations of numerous scams and scandals, is set to end her term on 2010. Justices who will retire later this year and next are: Ruben Reyes, Adolfo Azcuna, Dante Tinga, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Leonardo Quisumbing, and Minita Chico-Nazario. The seventh, Alicia Austria-Martinez will opt for early retirement in April. Of the seven retiring, Santiago and Quisumbing were not appointed by Arroyo. Puno himself will reach the mandatory retirement age on May 2010, a month before Arroyo ends her term. The committee will undertake an open and transparent search for qualified candidates and submit their names to the JBC. The coalition, composed of the Alternative Law Groups, Libertas, Philippine Association of law Schools and the Transparency and Accountability Network, together with the online news magazine Newsbreak, reactivated itself to prepare for the selection process of candidates to the vacancies in the high court. Bernas, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution and who was appointed as member of the citizen’s search committee that will screen and recommend prospective nominees to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), said much can be desired about the present composition of justices at the SC and their political independence on cases. “They (SC justices) give the impression sometimes that they vote according to loyalties," he told reporters. One case that Bernas said manifested the toeing of administration lines was the petition questioning the constitutionality of the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain, and which showed a polarized voting among the justices. While acknowledging that SC magistrates strive to try cases on their merits, “we are confronted with recent decisions with strong dissenting opinions (indicating) that we have a divided court." In his speech, Bernas said it’s not possible for a magistrate who may be perceived as loyal to be changed, citing as example the late SC associate justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, who he described as “a great dissenter, one who left a very important legacy." Bernas said that every president, in making appointments to the SC, would want to leave their legacy behind. “It’s their legacy they want (to leave) behind. If it’s a noble legacy that fine, but if it’s an ignoble legacy…" his voice trailed. However, the noted constitutionalist said that there are still those justices in the tribunal who exhibit independence. “It’s very important really that they are independent in the sense that they are men and women of the law who will follow the law rather than the dictates of their own loyalties," Bernas said. He noted that in the United States, the justices voted according to their conservative or liberal leanings, but he observed that “I don’t think our Supreme Court decide on ideological lines; they decide based on something else." Lawyer Marlon Manuel, spokesperson for the coalition and coordinator of ALG, said there is a growing concern that the upcoming retirements and the process on how replacements will be made should be fine-tuned to ensure that the President will be picking selecting people to the judiciary based on their qualifications and not on how loyal they will become to her and her administration. “Never in the post-Marcos history has a president of the country made appointments of nearly all of the sitting justices. The independence of the third branch of the government is at stake," Manuel said. The SCAW was reactivated in response to the request of Chief Justice Reynato Puno for private groups to help search for SC candidates. The SCAW consortium has formed a citizen’s search committee composed of respected and independent-minded individuals. The committee will be composed of Bernas, Solita Monsod, Dean Andres Bautista, former CA Justice Hilarion Aquino and other respected personalities from the academe and private law practice. - GMANews.TV