Noynoy camp mulls appealing SC decision on chief justice issue

Laoag, Ilocos Norte – The camp of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III is considering filing a motion for reconsideration appealing the Supreme Court decision allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice despite the supposed constitutional ban on midnight appointments. For the meantime, Aquino said they would have to respect the court’s decision. “Meron po tayong patakaran ng batas, nagdesisyon ang Korte Suprema kailangan lahat tayo sumunod (We have the rule of law, the Supreme Court has decided so all of us have to abide by it)," he said in an ambush interview at the Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte where he is currently campaigning. Aquino said his lawyers are studying whether to appeal the Supreme Court decision, saying it appears to have reversed an SC decision in the late 1990s prohibiting the incumbent president from appointing members of the judiciary two months immediately before a presidential election.
Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who is the only non-Arroyo appointee in the 15-member tribunal, is set to retire on May 17, seven days after the elections. Critics of the administration are concerned that President Arroyo would be able to tighten her hold on the high court if she is allowed to appoint the next chief justice before she bows out of office on June 30. Asked for comment on former Elections chairman Christian Monsod’s remark that an entirely Arroyo-appointed Supreme Court would look like a Marcos court, Aquino said, “Sana di magkaganoon (I hope that will not happen)." Aquino had earlier said he would not recognize a chief justice appointed by President Arroyo. Monsod, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, earlier said the Supreme Court under President Arroyo’s administration is reminiscent of a subservient high tribunal under the rule of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. [See: Christian Monsod: SC under Arroyo is like a Marcos court] The Supreme Court under Marcos regime was criticized for allowing the late dictator to issue decrees that curtail democracy, such as Proclamation No. 1081 or the oppressive martial law imposed from 1972 to 1981. Only the late Associate Justices Claudio Teehankee Sr. and Cecilia Muñoz-Palma were known to express opposition in the supposedly Marcos rubber-stamp court. - Johanna Camille Sisante/KBK, GMANews.TV