Corona defends high court from Palace, other attacks

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona has vowed to defend the Constitution and the rule of law following the attacks on the Supreme Court and the judiciary’s independence, integrity and power of judicial review.

The Judiciary will continue to protect and defend the Constitution and the rule of law by making decisions based on the facts and without fear or favor, Corona said in a speech Tuesday night during the 49th anniversary of the Philippine Constitution Association at the Manila Hotel.

“The Constitution and the rule of law will never bend to the ever-shifting political winds and passions of the moment because it is the anchor that keeps the ship of state from being tossed aimlessly about or even tipped over by the waves of passing political and social events,” Corona said.

The Judiciary must be protected from political attacks and should enjoy the people’s full trust and confidence.

“The rule of law is what governs modern society. Our people allow the rule of law to dictate how they go about enforcing their rights and seeking redress for their grievances only because of the trust and confidence they have in the legal system,” Corona said.

“It is this trust and confidence in the rule of law that prevents anarchy and mob-rule from holding sway. It is thus of utmost importance that our decisions be handed down with justice and fairness, without fear or favor, and with no reward or expectation other than the honest desire to preserve and strengthen our democratic way of life.”

The Supreme Court only recently came under attack from the Executive Department and the House of Representatives, respectively, after it issued two separate orders preventing Malacañang from revoking the appointment of a supposed “midnight appointee” of the previous administration, and enjoining the House committee on justice from proceeding with the impeachment case against Ombudsman Maria Merceditas Gutierrez.

President Benigno Aquino III had earlier warned that the high court’s order against Executive Order 2 could result in chaos and in the paralysis of the Executive branch.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. asked the high court to respect the House’s authority to initiate impeachment proceedings, saying the high court’s status quo ante order “emasculates the power of the House to exact any form of accountability” from Gutierrez.

But Corona stressed that the 1987 Constitution vested the high court with the power to review the actions of its co-equal branches of government “to check transgressions on the Constitution.”

“When the Supreme Court invokes its power of judicial review, it does not assert its moral or constitutional ascendancy over the other two co-equal branches of government. It only reminds all and sundry of the non-negotiable supremacy of the Constitution,” he said.

The judiciary could not ignore its duty as the “vanguard of constitutionalism and the rule of law in our system of government,” Corona said.

“The power of judicial review is not an exercise of dominance or interference in the exclusive affairs of another department. It is in fact the means established by the Constitution itself to preserve the peace and stability of our political system so that the possibility of a constitutional crisis or a clash of powers may precisely be avoided.”

Corona said the Judiciary’s independence had always been under attack.

“Ever since I can remember, all sorts of accusations have at one time or another been heaped on it, from the truth to the downright malicious,” he said.

The Judiciary “is easy to attack because it does not have the means to defend itself.

“It has no sword. It has no purse. Other than the decisions it writes and its limited power of contempt, there is really nothing much it can do to fight a propaganda war. That is not its business anyway.”

The attacks and criticisms “matter very little, if at all,” for as long as the Judiciary was doing the right thing.

“When everything is said and done, there is no better defense than the balm of a good conscience. Beyond this, an upright and God-fearing magistrate can do no more,” Corona said.

“It is the magistrate’s integrity that keeps the balance and equilibrium of the scales of justice on an even keel. And as long as that scale tilts neither to one side nor the other, that is the assurance that our democracy is alive and our system of justice deserves the people’s trust.”

Rey Requejo, Manila Standard Today