Supreme crises: A terrible year for the High Court

In 2010, the Supreme Court clashed not only with the executive and legislative branches of government, but with members of the mass media and the academe. As the third branch of government, the high court is specifically tasked with settling controversies. But what happens when, instead of controversy being brought to the courtyard steps, we find controversy emanating from its chambers? Some say the foibles were foisted on the high court, but others insist these were the magistrates’ own undoing. Here’s a recap of the high court’s annus horribilis, when it was besieged on many fronts – the Palace, the Lower House, law school faculty, Bar exams hooligans, and even a book that became a surprise bestseller.

1. Palace peeves President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III said the biggest challenges his administration faced in its first six months have been with its differences with the judiciary. Of course, the Supreme Court denied it was training its guns on the executive branch. Palace officials maintained that despite clashes with the Supreme Court on numerous occasions, Malacañang is not "at war" with the country's highest court. The biggest bones of contention between the executive and judicial branch were the SC's decisions on Aquino’s first two executive orders that were not favorable to the palace. a. Truth-stricken Setting up the Truth Commission was one of Aquino's biggest campaign promises, and the decision declaring it as unconstitutional came as quite a blow. The Supreme Court ruled that Aquino’s Executive Order (EO) No. 1 creating the Truth Commission violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution by singling out the nine-year administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Justice Secretary Leila De Lima lambasted the SC’s ruling as “political" while protesters at an indignation rally called for the resignation of the 10 Supreme Court justices who voted to decommission the truth body. There was even talk about impeaching Chief Justice Corona for the high court’s ruling, but Aquino said such a move was “untimely" and that his administration would instead focus on holding wider dialogues about the Truth Commission. The Palace lamented that the high court’s ruling had set back the Aquino administration’s reform efforts, and has formally asked the high court to reconsider its ruling. b. Midnight disappointments On July 30, Aquino issued EO No. 2 revoking his predecessor’s “midnight" appointments which had put over 900 officials in government positions just a few months before she left the Palace. Despite the order, one Arroyo ‘midnight appointee’ managed to get back her post after the Supreme Court issued a resolution requiring Malacañang to observe the status quo that prevailed before Aquino’s issuance of EO No. 2. President Aquino hit the court’s ruling, ruing that it had “effectively turned back the clock" and “dishonors the decency of those who had the courtesy to resign." The Supreme Court defended its decision by pointing out that its reinstatement of Bai Omera Dianalan-Lucman to her post in the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos was an isolated decision, and not a blanket resolution applicable to other so-called Arroyo ‘midnight appointees’. 2. House hassle When the high court suspended the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez at the lower house, this got some congressmen talking with some NGOs over the possibility of impeaching Chief Justice Renato Corona, and perhaps, even the other SC justices who concurred with the decision. Gutierrez stands accused of protecting ex-President Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, by allegedly sitting on cases where the former First Couple have been implicated. On September 14, the SC issued a status quo ante order after Gutierrez asked the SC to nullify the resolutions of the House Committee on Justice finding the impeachment complaints against her sufficient in form and substance. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte has urged the high court to rule on the Ombudsman’s petition as soon as possible. He had promised that the House panel would not resume its impeachment proceedings until the high tribunal has issued its decision on Gutierrez’s petition. 3. Agitated academe The year 2010 saw the rise of a new unconventional legal tactic – accusing the ponente (the justice who penned a decision) of having plagiarized his or her ruling. When the SC absolved Hubert Webb and six others convicted for the Vizconde massacre, plagiarism charges were hurled against the convicting judge who now sits as a Court of Appeals justice. But this new practice of alleging plagiarism in court rulings began in the halls of the Supreme Court and spilled over into law classrooms. a. Plagiarism probe In July, SC Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo was accused of having committed plagiarism in his ponencia on the case of ‘comfort women’ that survived World War II atrocities whose petition was denied in an April 28 SC ruling. He denied plagiarizing portions of the ruling, but the comfort women’s counsel said the decision speaks for itself, and all one had to do was look into the law journals cited by del Castillo. The sources where Del Castillo allegedly borrowed passages without proper attribution were the law review articles “A Fiduciary of Theory of Jus Cogens" by Evan Criddle and Evan Fox-Decent, and "Breaking the Silence on Rape as an International Crime" by Mark Ellis, as well as the book "Enforcing Erga Omnes Obligations in International Law" by Christian Tams. Criddle has criticized Del Castillo’s ponencia for supposedly stating the opposite of what he stated in his article. On Oct. 12, the SC exonerated Justice Mariano del Castillo of plagiarism charges, explaining that the footnotes for the allegedly plagiarized material were merely “accidentally deleted" by his court researcher. But in her strongly worded dissenting opinion, SC Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno said the majority’s ruling would set a “bad precedent." She warned that, "Unless reconsidered, this Court would unfortunately be remembered as the Court that made 'malicious intent&' an indispensable element of plagiarism and that made computer-keying errors an exculpatory fact in charges of plagiarism" Sereno is the youngest member of the high tribunal and is the first SC appointee of President Aquino. As the year came to an end, del Castillo was still facing two raps: 1) an impeachment complaint filed against him by the group of “comfort women," and 2) yet another accusation of plagiarism for an April 8 SC decision which allowed a lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender group to run in the May party-list elections. b. Academic integrity When University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law Dean Marvic Leonen led 37 faculty members in calling for the resignation of SC Justice del Castillo for allegedly plagiarizing works of international scholars in the “comfort women" case, he surely did not expect to be tendering his resignation after facing up to plagiarism charges of his own for a law review article he had written early in his career. Similarly, ‘comfort women’ counsel Atty. Harry Roque also had to deny plagiarism charges made against him. A few days earlier, both Leonen and Roque had heard President Aquino say in his speech before the reunion of UP Law alumni, “You should not lie. You should not copy. And you should not steal or use others' works without their authors' permission or proper attribution." Aquino also said that those who are in power should also not threaten those who only express their opinions, alluding to the SC’s threat to discipline the 37 UP Law faculty members who signed the petition “ Restoring Integrity in the Supreme Court." These were the latest twists and turns related to what one pundit has described as the ‘UP Law 37 vs. the SC 10’. When the SC ordered the UP Law 37 to explain why they should not be held in contempt, Ateneo Law School dean emeritus Fr. Bernas urged the high court to withdraw its ‘show-cause’ order. As regards the notion that plagiarism requires “malicious intent," the Loyola Schools of Ateneo maintained that such a requirement contradicts the university’s 'code of integrity' while the Ateneo School of Law stood by the university guidelines despite the SC ruling. More schools rejected the Supreme Court denial of plagiarism. UP Diliman leaders condemned the decision while the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines – the largest association of Catholic schools and universities in the country – followed the lead of the Lyceum Makati College of Law and the De La Salle College of Law in upholding academic integrity despite the SC ruling on plagiarism 4. Shadow cast With the launching of her book, Newsbreak editor Marites Vitug cast a ‘Shadow of Doubt’ upon the high tribunal. A few days before the book launch, Vitug’s online articles particularly got the goat of SC Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, who filed a P1 million libel suit against her for insinuating that his son won the election through “influence." She answered Velasco’s libel raps, saying her journalistic and civic duties and sense of responsibility, not ill will or spite, motivated her to write the article. Vitug said she got more than just a libel threat, but this time from unknown quarters, after her book got published. This was dismissed as a publicity stunt by SC spokesman Court Administrator Midas Marquez. But international media groups, including a New York-based group, pushed for a probe on the threats. 5. Bar blast On the last Sunday of September, as SC personnel were wrapping up the annual Bar exams, a bomb exploded just outside the exams venue – severely injuring several law students. Never before had traditional festivities accompanying the exams led to actual loss of limbs. A grenade was lobbed at a crowd of well-wishers gathered on Taft Avenue, Manila; it exploded at the feet of law student Raissa Laurel, who had to have her legs amputated just below her knees. The blast also left about 46 other persons hurt. But the brave girl captured the attention of the public and help poured in for the bar blast victim The high court created an independent committee that conducted a parallel investigation into the blast and recommended the imposition of stricter measures for the conduct of the traditional Salubong during the yearly exams. Chief Justice Corona later announced that the 2011 Bar exams would no longer be held in the De La Salle University campus. It remains unclear whether the high court would consider the suggestion to decentralize the Bar exams to avoid bomb-throwing incidents. 6. Chief Contended In her nine and a half years’ stint as President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo left her mark on the Supreme Court by appointing 14 of the 15 justices currently sitting in the chamber. To top it all, she appointed Renato C. Corona as SC chief justice during the May 2010 election period. The Constitution specifically prohibits an incumbent president from making so-called midnight appointments 60 days before any national election and until his or term expires. But on March 17, the SC ruled that the appointments ban did not apply to judicial appointments, paving the way for Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice. Mrs. Arroyo appointed Corona on May 12, just two days after the presidential elections and less than two months before she bowed out of office. Together with four other candidates for president, front-runner Aquino opposed the SC decision to allow Arroyo to appoint the chief justice before she stepped down. Although he was urged to reject the appointment, Corona donned the robe of chief justice and faced the challenge to prove his independence. After winning in the elections, Aquino declared that he preferred to take his oath as President before a barangay chairman instead of the customary oath-taking before the Chief Justice, whose appointment he had questioned. Later, however, he decided to be sworn in by SC Justice Conchita Carpio Morales instead. In his capacity as the head of the third branch of government, SC Justice Corona attended the President’s inauguration but Aquino did not mention him. Aquino publicly acknowledged Corona as chief justice for the first time during the Red Mass held at the Manila Cathedral on July 7. In his first State of the Nation Address, Aquino also acknowledged Corona as chief justice. 7. Budget woes The Supreme Court always had one problem with its budget: it’s too small. Therefore, news that the SC failed to remit over P5 billion to the National Treasury came as a surprise. The court was quick to clarify that the P5-billion fund was 'never concealed' and remains intact in the bank. In the last quarter of 2010, the high court had to quell fears of a mass leave in the judiciary, considering that the government still owed judges and justices P900M in unpaid benefits. Instead of leaving their courtrooms, judges staged an 'armband protest' in reaction to Congress cutting the judiciary’s budget up to the point that there was zero capital outlay for new courtrooms. Chief Justice Corona has often stressed that a larger budget for the courts was needed, so he welcomed President Aquino’s mention of the judiciary's low budget in his State of the Nation Address. The two even met up to discuss the judiciary’s budget despite criticism from legislators. Aquino's ally in the upper chamber, Senator Francis Pangilinan, sought a budget hike but the judiciary still failed to get its requested increase from one percent to at least 2 percent of the 2011 budget. – YA/HS/GMANews.TV