I think Rene Saguisag would have preferred an appeal to the Supreme Court and a proper acquittal, considering that Erap was illegally and unconstitutionally removed in 2001 when his impeachment trial was aborted by Davide, instead of proceeding to acquittal as the Craven Eleven proved on 16 January 2001. Moreover, the two crimes for which he was convicted of plunder did not add up to plunder but mere illegal gambling and simple graft and corruption. That no appeal was mounted and a pardon was applied for and accepted, was the "client's call" in Rene Saguisag's phrase. I agree with that too, and this from Rene: "The pardon is a tyrant's way of correcting an injustice she herself had done."
There is only one point upon which I do disagree with Rene Saguisag. The biggest criminals and most dangerous ones from Edsa Dos are not the Arroyos, nor even the Military that colluded with them, but the Supreme Court, which stands up there, heads unbowed and leering down on us, ready to do more damage to the Constitution they swore to uphold but have done nothing but violate. They usurped the Congress' powers in 2001, now they are moving in on the Executive, and later this year, they will start giving away territory to terrorists.
If there is any lesson to be gained from Edsa Dos that is yet unlearnt it is this: the Weakest Branch of the Government, just ain't. It is the most dangerous. Mark them!
Either we learn that lesson or learn to bear the chains they are fashioning for us in abashed silence. Their barrio-style constitutional carpentry is turning nuts into bolts, north into south, upending checks and balances, making a mockery of the separation of powers, and leading the Ship of State off the edge of sanity and reason.
What Is Fair Has Just Priority Over What Is Good
Our Bantay Salakay Supreme Court and the Separation of Powers
Ancestral Domain or Bangsamorostan?
Creation Myth of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines
Laughable Textbook Errors In Crucial Supreme Court Decisions
The son of a Lanao Judge newly-appointed Comelec Commissioner by President Gloria Arroyo describes Moslemen Macarambon on his personal blog (a pseudo struggle of a Moro youth to self-determination thru blogging)--
"My dad - Comelec Commissioner Moslemen T. Macarambon Sr. a former RTC Judge in Iligan City who is been serving the Judiciary for over 30years. He is just appointed to one of the two vacancies at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).""Jun" Macarambon uses the blogger handle, "Wyzemoro," and identifies himself further: "I'm the webmaster of Bangsamoro.com - a flagship website of Young Moro Professionals Network, Inc. (YMPN) and also webmaster/maintainer of Morofocus.com - The Bangsamoro Documentation Project." but the intriguing links lead to under-construction sites.
ABSCBN News is reporting immediate angry reaction to the appointment of Judge Macarambon including a vow by Senator Panfilo Lacson to block the move in the Commission on Appointments, saying Macarambon is a protege of the notorious Virgilio Garcillano. The latter accusation has been denied by the commissioner-designate, who crows that he has the recommendation of Hilario G. Davide, Jr. Hmmm, the other vacancy, the very chairmanship of Comelec vacated by resigning Ben Abalos, is not expected to be filled until next February, since a replacement now would only serve till then.
So who should we expect in February to head the Comelec? Garci or Davide? (Well, it's Halloween, ain't it?)
Purgatory and the LSD in the Communion Wine The Holy Mass that preceeded the Press Conference of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomista (KME is said to be the official CPP NPA NDF affiliated mass organization doing "united front" work among the "national bourgeoisie") the other day must've had LSD in the Communion wine or something, judging by what has been proposed by the principal participants, Teofisto Guingona, Bishops Deogracias Iniguez, Antonio Tobias, Julio Labayen. First they want the President, the Vice President, the Senate President and the House Speaker all to resign. But instead of immediate snap elections as provided for by the Constitution even if their hallucination were to come true, they want the Comelec abolished along with the Value Added Tax, and the formation of a "transition junta" to be headed by no less than Chief Justice Reynato Puno. The latter has politely declined the offer to head the Bishop-led abolition of Constitutional democracy in the Philippines.
But I wonder what ever made them think he would consider the option, if not Puno's own intemperate and immoderate acts and statements of the last few months.
4 comments:
djb
I find it funny that each time a group of people have their own hidden agenda or ulterior motive, they found their own group and hide behind the civil-society crowd. Of course, it's perfectly their right to do so but what I am aghast about is that they always claim that they represent a vast majority of people but in fact their membership only number to the hundreds.
Honestly, I don't even know who this Enteng Romano is and where he came from not until he started to go the rounds of gma7 and abs-cbn2. Who is he anyway? What happened in 2001 is plain and simple power grab come to think of it. It was another case of mob rule that was cleansed by a constructive resignation supreme court ruling. I would have admired former CJ Davide more if he stuck to his guns of being a farmer after his retirement but by the looks of it, he's having the time of his life in the big apple.
I would not be amazed if in the next decade, the philippines would become a banana republic on how democratic institutions are being destroyed and desecrated one after the other.
It's really hilarious that some of the atheist-communists are sleeping with some men of the cloth. If the bishops teach something about morality and ethics, yes, maybe i would humbly heed their calls (with consideration to my conscience of course). But them making political statements is just I think way off their league and jurisdiction.
Like most of that crowd, Enteng Romano is really a good guy, with good intentions and a good heart. He became famous for starting one of the online petitions calling for Erap to resign, which I also signed, never realizing, like everyone else who signed it, what a mockery of the law "constructive resignation" would become after the coup d'etat they called edsa dos. Honestly, most edsa dos diehards are still relatively clueless about what really happened. In a way it is so incredible it really is hard to believe that that is what happened. Edsa Dos started a streak of pure moralism with blinders on that I'm not sure how we can ever get back to a working constitutional democracy. What with the Supreme Court feeling its oats, having already successfully deposed one President, and being convinced it seems, of their invincibility and omniscience, who can resist them and how. It is largely inconceivable to most people that the Supreme Court has a strictly defined jurisdiction, so that like a rampaging herd of bulls that have broken down their enclosure, they are feeding wherever there is hay and doing every cow in sight. And no one has any idea how to get them back in the pen, or why. It's really the reason why nothing seems to work anymore, why check and balance is an almost meaningless concept. Catch as catch can.
so much easier to follow the rules and to go by the rule of law.
The writer's argument is incorrect because Estrada also asked for and accepted the pardon.
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