I’m completely amazed on the emails, calls, and texts I acquired on my piece final Monday (“From awe to dismay on the Scotus”). Examples: “Disgusting, the Scotus is not the very best courtroom we admire.” “I by no means anticipated that sort of conduct from the honorable justices. No completely different from politicians.” “I hope Amb. MaryKay Carlson reported this to her superiors to cease the self-destruct of the Scotus.” It even rated a full column from Manila Abroad Press Membership prexy Tony Lopez (“The decline of Scotus,” Philippine Star, 6/18/24).
BUT WHAT NEEDS TO BE RESPONDED TO ARE: (1) “Why did you equate the removing of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno with the 2 unidentified justices who deserved their punishment?” And (2) “Did you neglect the dismaying choices involving Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Jinggoy Estrada?”
To be clear, I didn’t equate these three choices. I cited them solely as a result of they exemplify how our Supreme Courtroom disciplines its personal members, whereas the Supreme Courtroom of the USA (Scotus) has but to take action.
I’ve written a number of occasions on what I take into account to be, with due respect, the (1) plainly unconstitutional and (2) unduly harsh 8-6 determination ousting Sereno. It’s plainly unconstitutional as a result of, in my humble opinion, Supreme Courtroom justices could also be faraway from workplace solely by way of impeachment expressly canalized by our Structure and just for the grounds supplied therein, not by way of quo warranto.
It’s unduly harsh as a result of it was expressly made to be instantly executory. Thus, on the very day it was issued, the embarrassed and belittled erstwhile chief justice needed to depart the Supreme Courtroom premises carrying all her private belongings. Choices convicting even probably the most hardened criminals aren’t “instantly executory.” They might nonetheless file motions for reconsideration that might keep speedy execution.
THOUGH I DISAGREED WITH THE DECISION, I have to observe it and cite it as a legitimate judgment. So, too, whether or not I agree or not with another determination or order, together with these of Arroyo, Ponce Enrile, and Estrada, I have to respect and obey them. That’s the rule of legislation. As I at all times say, we are able to disagree with out being unpleasant and we are able to differ with out being troublesome.
Our justices and judges are required to render full-time service and to shed their political, enterprise, {and professional} connections. No aspect incomes. In my case, I dissolved my legislation agency once I ascended to the Courtroom in 1995 to heed the Structure’s name for “confirmed competence, integrity, probity, and independence.” Whereas dissolution was, and continues to be, not required (solely resignation is), I assumed it was greatest to shut the agency to stick to the Courtroom’s ideally suited of being, like Caesar’s spouse, past suspicion.
Whereas the Gesmundo Courtroom has not been examined by nation-shaking circumstances corresponding to these of the Concepcion Courtroom on the ratification of the 1973 Structure, or of the Davide Courtroom on stopping the Home of Representatives from impeaching the chief justice, or of the Panganiban Courtroom on rejecting the “folks’s initiative” to alter our presidential system to the parliamentary, I’m nonetheless impressed by its stable effort to implement the “Strategic Plan for Judicial Improvements 2022-2027.”
AMAZING ALSO WERE THE COMMENTS on my June 3 and 10 columns concerning the grasp’s diploma scholarships granted to my three gifted grandkids by high US universities with out their making use of. Properly, this proud Lolo simply discovered that a number of days in the past, a fourth “apo,” Katrina P. Hannett, was provided scholarships for a grasp’s in bioethics.
I at all times knew Katrina was gifted. Rising up, she flew by means of her work, getting simply bored and good-naturedly inflicting hassle. In kindergarten, she taught a fellow 5-year-old learn how to write in cursive script, a good friend who didn’t write in print but. In first grade, she was given difficult fourth-grade stage work to forestall her from doing her classmates’ duties for them. She did her homework mendacity the other way up on a settee, toes up on a wall, and hair cascading down the chair to the ground. Nonetheless, she acquired high grades and was elected pupil physique president (like her Lolo).
However what actually shone by means of was her compassion and humility. Her sibling was scolded for pushing Katrina round, however she was the primary to hug her crying offender. As an avid eighth-grade dancer, Katrina landed prima donna roles. Nevertheless, she pulled again to keep away from “dramas” among the many highschool dancers she beat. Now, as a younger grownup, she spends hours doing group service, even working as a medical volunteer at marathons, serving to save the lives of runners with cardiac arrest.
No shock that Katrina aspires to be a compassionate physician. Previous to med college correct, she determined to pursue a grasp’s in bioethics, the research of moral, social, and authorized points that come up in drugs. She is dedicated to offering care that’s each medically and ethically sound.
She’s been provided scholarships by high US universities together with Johns Hopkins, NYU, and Penn. She hasn’t made her last selection, possibly nonetheless pondering real-world human points? However no drawback. She is going to crack her mega-class dilemma quickly.
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