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Lawyers in our politics

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WILLIAM Shakespeare, the greatest English playwright. is oftentimes quoted as supposed to have obliquely endorsed a litigicidal campaign against lawyers in a play. 

“Let’s kill all lawyers,” Dick, the Butcher, says in Shakespeare’s Henry VI.  It’s not about knocking or wiping them out, many say, but ,in fact, portraying the lawyers as guardian of rules against unruly mobs. The famous Bard, however, has other things to say about lawyers in his other works.

In any case, lawyers have always been significant players, even leaders, in our societies for better or for worse. Our own society is filled with them. In the present, with both politics and the pandemic hounding us, they seem to be inescapable creatures of comfort or discomfort.  It is conceivable that some may think Shakespeare’s line is worth the gallow humor.

At least two of our better known — popular, populist but not quite famous —  presidents are lawyers. One was a bar topnotch, the other apparently barely making it through. Both will go down in history as human rights violators; history has yet to show who is worse than the other.  Ferdinand Marcos imposed a dictatorial rule  for about 20 years while Rodrigo Duterte has presided over an authoritarian regime for nearly six years.  He is eyeing an extension, to be sure. The first one ended being buried in a heroes’ cemetery while the other is toying with a plan to run as vice president. The length of time isn’t the issue; it’s how it leaves a taste in the mouth.

Other lawyers ,who hold the Constitution as an inviolable, sacrosanct document, are waiting to thwart Duterte’s ambitious plan in court.  Not that it is a bad idea; it is viewed a wrongful one.  It is labeled an unconstitutional upfront. Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the 1987 Charter, says it’s contrary to the no-reelection provision for the president. It’s a backdoor move to regain the presidency, he says. Be smart, President Bartlet was told in the US television series ‘West Wing’, but don’t be showy.  If, and when, he becomes showy, that’s when Monsod et al will go to town.  

Another lawyer, former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio is in the political forefront of strengthening the opposition against the Duterte Administration. He is the leader of 1Sambayan looking out for a presidential bet in 2022. So far, the group has yet to nail down a nominee as many of those invited have turned it down.  Meantime, other minor political parties sprouting like mushrooms, have made it known they are not in the opposition. 

It doesn’t help Carpio’s cause that he is at odds with some members of the late President Noynoy Aquino’s Cabinet, many them lawyers from another well-known school. The brewing controversy is an offshoot of the Arbitral Award the Philippines won for its territorial claims in the South China Sea against China.

Carpio has accused some Aquino Cabinet members of opposing the filing of the case in the International Arbitral Court. Issues of deception and disinformation, among others, are have come out in the open as result of  Carpio’s post mortem about the South China Sea.  On the other hand, Carpio has been portrayed as less than patriotic but was moved by a selfish reason in pushing for his agenda in the South China Sea.  The controversy is now influencing not only the public debate on the South China Sea but politics as the 2022 elections loom. On the surface, it’s just a thing between them lawyers.  The fracture could widen into political chasm. 

If only Noynoy had left a memoir, or something to that effect. 

The public is also at a lost with how lawyers in high places in government are rendering eyebrow-raising decisions about honesty and integrity in government. A former Sandiganbayan justice implicated in the Napoles PDAF scam, is recently granted mercy by the Supreme Court.  He can now collect his retirement pay for services (disservice?) rendered and can be appointed to any government office, no sweat.   He  was reported   to have visited Janet Napoles in her house twice, a no-no for someone of his position and stature. The expectation was the law should have come down hard on him.   

In another court ruling, Sen. Bong Revilla is now shouting free of the nuisance suit about his alleged involvement the scam. In the meantime, his aide will now spend many, many years in jail for the same involvement.   What is sauce for the gander, is not necessarily the gravy for the goose. 

Two former chief justices of the High Court were unseated for wrong or non-filing of their statements of assets,liabilities and network (SALN), in what looked like a legal tit-for-tat.  Renato Corona, an appointee of the  Arroyo Administration, was impeached  during the Aquino Administration. Maria Lourdes Sereno, an appointee of Noynoy Aquino, was removed via quo warranto under the Duterte Administration, which had the support of the Arroyo camp. In politics, as in history, the victors write the narratives.

Amidst all the legal confusions  and engineering involving politics, comes now Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello belly aching about the abolition, among others, of the bar examination. For one, he says, bar top notchers are lousy practitioners. It may sound self-serving,but he may have point. He and his principal ranked  11th , as everybody who didn’t make it to the top 10 finishers . But, look where they are now.  Every now and then, Duterte runs the who’s who list in his Cabinet, and guess who’s on top of them. 

Will Bello’s suggestion help the Philippines move better forward in the years ahead?  At the moment, the quick takeaway is that the performance of the Philippine judiciary leaves much to be desired in the presence of political leaders more inclined to flout the  democratic  rule and  the Constitution.             

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