Chief Justice Puno's bday wish: Clean, honest 2010 polls

MANILA, Philippines – “A clean, honest and fair elections." This was the birthday wish of Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who turned 69 last Sunday. “I have only one wish that the [Commission on Elections] succeeds in all its preparations for the holding of clean, honest, and fair elections next year," Puno said in an ambush interview. Comelec chair Jose Melo last week expressed apprehension over the possibility of a no-election scenario next year, saying this could happen if an unsuccessful bidder or a politician would ask the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the elections. He said the filing could be timed on the months leading to the May polls, which he said would leave the election body no time to shift to manual elections. Puno meanwhile reiterated that he would not run for any government office next year despite calls, particularly from Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, for him to lead the transition government to ensure that the elections would push through. “I do not see how it can happen, within the framework of the present Constitution," Puno said. The chief justice also defended his earlier statement that oligarchs are still running the country. Puno, who heads the so-called Moral Force Movement, said all he did was to "describe the current structure of our society," which according to him is composed of a very small elite, a weak middle class, and a sea of poor people. "The few elites and again that's a matter of fact the few elites are in control of our society," he said, adding that "if u have this kind of mixture you will never have a successful democracy." He also assured critics that he is doing his part by cleaning the anomaly-tainted justice system in the country. - with Carlo Lorenzo.