Smoking gun: Passages from book

(Following are excerpts from the book "Reforming the Judiciary" by Supreme Court Justice Artemio Panganiban, published by the SC Printing Press. The excerpts, from pages 132-133, form the basis for the impeachment complaint.)

From the Epilogue to Chapter 11: Saving the Constitutional System:

"Before I end this piece, let me articulate my faith that EDSA 2 was indeed a confluence of events planned in heaven. I do not have the time to relate all these events.

"Let me just say that, frankly, I am still wondering up to now how I summoned the courage to propose the oath-taking of Mrs. Arroyo even when she had not yet requested it, and even when President Estrada was still in Malacañang; and why Chief Justice Davide immediately agreed to it, even prior to consultation with the other justice.

"The Chief Justice and I both knew that the Supreme Court was a passive institution and that, ordinarily, justices did not take any active part in political events. The Court’s extraordinary action to resolve an extraordinary situation can only be explained as the work of the Holy Spirit on both of us and, in fact, on all the key players of EDSA 2. It was the same Spirit that animated us to do what we did, not because of conventional human wisdom, but because of faith instilled by the Lord.

"Let me add that the Chief Justice and I have the same habit of reading Scriptures as the source of God’s daily instructions on how we should do our work. In my case, I take my bearings from the daily Mass readings. But in the case of Chief Justice Davide, he cuts the Bible and reflects on the page that opens. On that fateful morning of January 20, he woke up as usual at 3:30 a.m., prayed, cut his Bible and reflected. On that morning, the Holy Book opened to Isaiah 62, which spoke of the ‘Restoration of Zion.’ As he prayed and meditated, he was struck by the unmistakable impression that he should act to restore Zion; that is, to bring normalcy to the country. Hence, when I called him up at 5:30 a.m., he was spiritually and psychologically ready for my then ‘weird-sounding’ proposal.

"Finally, you may want to be reminded that the gospel reading for January 20, 2001 was taken from the third chapter of Mark, Verses 20-21, in which our Lord was accused by his own relatives of being ‘out of his mind’; and in Verse 22, by the Scribes of being ‘possessed by Beelzebub, the prince of demons,’ because the crowds were so mesmerized by his teachings that they refused to eat. Indeed, in our community — whether it be of people who are supposed to love us like our relatives, or of those who hate us, like our never-satisfied critics — we could be misunderstood, even thought of as insane, when we should espouse unorthodox ideas and actions. But we should always stand fast and take courage, especially when our eccentricity is born of faith that transcends human wisdom."