Spare the Supreme Court from politics

The Supreme Court is held in high esteem and respect by the public. It is the country’s beacon of morality and impeccable integrity. It contributes in strengthening democracy in our country. Hence, let us not involve it in politics.

Justices have every right to change their minds as more facts of a case are brought to light. They have every right to discuss the merits of a case with their fellow members in the Highest Tribunal of the land, and to take the necessary time before making a final decision. If Chief Justice Reynato Puno wants to look more carefully at the disqualification case of Rep. Josie Limkaichong, then he may do so. Former Associate Justice Ruben Reyes (who penned the ruling which the Chief Justice did not sign), emphatically holds this view when he said that “it is unfair to the Chief Justice to be accused of committing irregularity when it was the entire court that decided to take a fresh look at the case.”

Of course, some people have attached all sorts of motives to Chief Justice Puno’s actions, but a quick review of his track record will reveal his character. In 38 years of public service, he has earned the admiration of his peers and the community he serves. His work ethic, proficiency, and integrity have become a beacon to those in the legal profession. Among his awards are being named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM), the Araw ng Maynila Award as Outstanding Jurist, UP’s Most Outstanding Law Alumnus, Grand Cross of Rizal from the Order of the Knights of Rizal, Grand Lodge Gold Medal from the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines, and the Centennial Awardee in the field of law given by the United Methodist Church. More recently, the World Peace Prize Awarding Council (WPPAC) recognized him as a “Human Cultural Asset.”

The public is not supposed to be privy to the Supreme Court’s ponderings. Unfortunately, it’s been reported that the Supreme Court document on the Limkaichong case has been leaked. If this is true, an immediate investigation is in order.

Let us wait for the Supreme Court’s, and the Chief Justice’s decision on the Limkaichong case. If they find Limkaichong to be an alien, and her records show that she is not, then they will say so in their final judgment.

As to the move to have the Chief Justice run for President of the Republic of the Philippines, this, I believe, is for him alone to decide.

Again, let us first wait for what he and the Highest Tribunal of the land decide on the Limkaichong issue and put it to rest.

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The whole world — including this columnist — watches with bated breath the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States tomorrow.

How creative the President-elect and his advisers are to let Obama take a day-long rail trip to retrace the path Abraham Lincoln, Obama’s idol, had taken to Washington.

Obama’s train ride reminded me of the journey Lincoln took to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Nov. 19, 1863, to dedicate the National Cemetery. During the ride, he scribbled a two-minute speech. All of us students in Philippine schools were made to memorize the speech: the declaimers and orators recited it in intramural competitions. Lincoln called it a “flat failure.” The speech, now called “Gettysburg Address,” is one of the world’s finest oratorical pieces.

My friends have been asking that I send them a copy of the address. I retrieved it from the Internet and now proudly reprint it.

The Gettysburg Address

By President Abraham Lincoln

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that their nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

“But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but I can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

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