InterAksyon.com
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MANILA, Philippines - Saying peace should prevail during Christmas time, Chief Justice Renato Corona on Monday brushed aside President Benigno Aquino III's criticism against the Supreme Court.
"Peace, hayaan na lang natin siya, malapit na ang Pasko [Peace, Christmas is near, let him say what he wants]," said Corona during the first National Criminal Justice Summit held at the Manila Hotel.
Just a few meters away from Corona, the chief executive on Monday delivered his speech starting with his frustration over the decision of the high court to declare his first executive order creating the Truth Commission as unconstitutional.
“Sinimulan natin ito sa pagbuo ng Truth Commission, na dapat ay susuyod sa mga di umano’y katiwaliang lumaganap noong nakaraan administrasyon at panagutin ang mga nasa likod nito. Subalit alam natin ang nangyari, labag daw ito sa konstitusyon ayon sa Korte Suprema. Unang hakbang pa lang natin, may barikada na agad," said Aquino.
[We started by creating the Truth Commission that was supposed to investigate anomalies during the previous administration and prosecute those responsible for it. However, we already knew what happened, the Supreme Court said it was against the Constitution. Our first step and there was already a barricade.]
Moreover, Aquino dished out a series of tirades against the high tribunal, including its issuance of a temporary restraining order on the watchlist order issued by the Department of Justice against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel.
“Aba eh naglagay ka pa ng patakaran kung wala ka naman palang balak na masunod ito. Lahat na ng proseso ay sinunod natin ngunit sa kabila nito, tayo pa daw ngayon ang naghahanap ng away," the chief executive said.
[They have imposed a condition only to later on say that it need not be followed. And then they said we were the ones looking for a fight,)” Aquino said.
“Hindi ito ang unang beses na gumawa ang Korte Suprema ng mga desisyong napakahirap unawain [This was not the first time that the Supreme Court made a decision that are hard to understand],” Aquino added.
In an earlier event, Aquino also assailed the Supreme Court, saying he was "puzzled and alarmed" by the high tribunal's "behavior."
“My task as Chief Executive is clearly spelled out to uphold and defend the constitution; implement its laws; do justice to every man; and consecrate myself to the service of the people. You know that even before I was president, I was puzzled, even alarmed, by the behavior of the Supreme Court,” the President said in his speech at the 30th anniversary of the Makati Business Club in Makati City last Thursday.
The President said that as the chief executive he needed clarity of rules and consistency in interpretations to effectively implement his plans.
But the President said he was wondering how he could fulfill his mandate as chief executive given the current behavior of the Supreme Court, contradicting itself and issuing decisions not serving the interest of the public.
Constitutional crisis?
On Monday, opposition lawmakers led by Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman warned that Aquino's attack against the high court might result in a constitutional crisis.
"The President again assaulted the Supreme Court...It is completely uncalled for, bashing the Supreme Court. It also affects our people, inciting popular disregard," said Lagman.
Meanwhile, Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay accused the President of "conditioning" the minds of the people "to distrust the institution."
Magsaysay defended the high tribunal and said that "it will always maintain its independence."
"I think Pnoy should rather blame his legal team kaya sila natatalo [why they always lose]. The sc is not somebody who will be partisan in politics," she said.
History of dispute
The Palace and the Supreme Court have been at loggerheads since last year even before Aquino assumed the presidency.
The dispute started in May 2010 when then President Arroyo appointed senior associate justice Renato Corona as chief justice. Corona served as chief of staff and spokesperson of Arroyo when she was still vice president. He later became Arroyo's presidential chief of staff.
Aquino, then the leading presidential candidate, criticized Corona's appointment as chief justice, saying it was a violation of the constitutional ban on midnight appointments.
In June 2010, during his inauguration, President Aquino broke the tradition by taking his oath of office not before the chief justice but before another magistrate, Conchita Carpio Morales, who was later appointed by Aquino as ombudsman.
In December 2010, the high court declared the Truth Commission unconstitutional. Aquino assailed the high tribunal's ruling, asking "those who are pretending to be blind and passing themselves off as deaf, please don’t stand in the way of my task."
The commission, which was created through Aquino's Executive Order No. 1, was supposed to investigate allegations of corruption during the Arroyo administration.
Aquino won a landslide victory in the 2010 polls on a strong anti-corruption platform aimed mainly at his predecessor who was linked to the P728-million fertilizer fund scam and the allegedly overpriced $329-million NBN-ZTE deal, among other scandals. She was also accused of rigging the results of the 2004 and 2007 elections.
The dispute between Malacanang and the high court worsened after Corona last October blasted the Palace and its allies in Congress for allegedly trying to impound P4.97 billion of the judiciary budget, saying that it was an "insidious attempts to undermine and destroy the independence of the judiciary."
On November 15, the dispute was further exacerbated by another ruling of the Supreme Court. Voting 8-5, the high tribunal issued an order favoring Mrs. Arroyo's November 8 appeal to stop the government from preventing her to seek medical treatment abroad. All of the justices who favored the former president's plea were appointed by Arroyo.
