The Philippine Online Chronicles

Talks of election failure and martial law, followed by her announcement to run for a House seat while still sitting President. Next was her appointment of General Delfin Bangit as the new chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Then, there were talks of giving her emergency powers to address the power crisis in Mindanao. Now, it’s the Supreme Court (SC)’s ruling giving President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo authority to appoint the next Chief Justice.

People are asking, are all these part of her grand plan to stay in power even after June 2010?

It can be recalled that last March 18, nine of the 15 Supreme Court justices voted to allow President Arroyo to appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who retires on May 17. According to the nine justices, Section 15 Article VII that prohibits midnight appointments does not apply to the Supreme Court.

Five of these nine justices interpreted the Constitution as exempting the entire judiciary from the ban while four made a special case to exempt only the high court.

Former Ombudsman and Philippine Bar Association (PBA) president Simeon Marcelo, in a news item, described the SC decision as “shocking.” He said the Constitution clearly prohibits midnight appointments by the outgoing president.

Former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Christian Monsod, who is one of the 50 authors of the 1987 Constitution, said the Constitutional Commission had enunciated a clear policy against presidential appointments 60 days before an election and until the end the president's term. According to Monsod, the Supreme Court should have upheld the ban on midnight appointments as found in Article 7, Section 15 of the 1987 Constitution.

Liberal Party senatorial candidate Brigadier General Danny Lim also warned that this development is “inviting a new military uprising.” While LP standard-bearer Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III went a little too far by announcing that he will not recognize a new chief justice appointed by President Arroyo, if he gets elected as President.

Asked for his opinion on the matter, administration standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro thinks President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should let her successor name the new chief justice to avoid undermining the Supreme Court's credibility.

According to Teodoro, President Arroyo should exercise prudence "in considering whether or not an appointment should be made.''

SC Spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said that the decision of the SC on the issue went through proper deliberation and independent vote by each magistrate.

Marquez said that it cannot be avoided that there were those who would not favor the SC ruling, however, they could still file their appeal before the highest court of the land, and that petitioners still have a period of 15 days within which to file their motion for reconsideration.

Groups which are set to appeal the ruling are the PBA, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) and militant party-list groups Bayan and Akbayan.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or Bayan continues to call on people “to prevent the likely abuse of this power. It is up to the people now to muster the strength to oppose maneuvers that will allow Mrs. Arroyo to stay in power with the help of the military and judiciary.”

It is clear and it cannot be ignored nor denied that people do not wish to extend the Arroyo administration. With a month or so to go before the May 10 polls, the best thing to do is to unite, remain vigilant and pray that all this madness ends on June 30, 2010.

Modern mom to four kids, Megan takes pride and finds joy in being a stay-at-home mom. She is a graduate of Communication Arts with a post-grad degree in Bachelor of Laws, but has put her career in government service temporarily on hold to personally take care of her growing children Megan blogs at Over A Cup of Coffee.

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