Chief Justice's focus

Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno is the man in the news for having been born at an “opportune” time, that is, 69 years ago. He celebrates his 70th birthday on May 17 — seven days after the May 10, 2010 election. That has become a problematic situation, as the question of electing his successor falls on the shoulder of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

As what we’ve been reading and hearing, there are two schools of thought here.

The president, one says, has the right to name the next CJ. The latest to declare this is Regalado Maambong, a retired associate justice of the Court of Appeals, who says the constitutional ban on midnight appointments does not apply to the president’s selection of members of the judiciary.

The second, spearheaded by constitutional expert Joaquin Bernas, S.J., says, she will violate the Constitution which prohibits her to name the CJ within 60 days before the presidential election.

Still a third sector, if it has to be considered at all, has brought up the suggestion that, to put an end to the bickering over who should appoint the CJ, it would be well, generous, and patriotic for Chief Justice Puno to resign his post now. That would mean President Arroyo would be free to appoint the new chief, and there would be no vacancy in the high tribunal.

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At the Observance of Constitution Day by the Philippine Constitution Association (PHILCONSA) two weeks ago, Chief Justice Puno was guest of honor and speaker as well as the PHILCONSA awardee as “The Great Defender of the Constitution.”

The reading of Justice Puno’s accomplishments left the audience nodding their heads in appreciation, and hopes, that his successor would be able to fit his shoes well.

Puno finished law at the University of the Philippines in 1962, and pursued master’s degrees in universities on scholarships, and received doctoral degrees, in universities in the US.

While a post-graduate student, he bagged five awards given by the Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co. of New York and the Bancroft Whitney Publishing Co. of California, namely, the American Jurisprudence Prizes for Excellence in US Constitutional Structure, Comparative Private International Law, International Organization, and Problems in Doing Business Abroad and Commercial Law.

He garnered the most prestigious awards in the country, among them, the Ten Outstanding Young Men’s Award, 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 Centennial Awardee in the field of law given by the United Methodist Church in the Philippines on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.

He is currently an active lay member of the Philippine Methodist Church.

Not surprisingly, Justice Puno did not touch on the issue of his successor, but rather chose to speak on his focus of attention on a legacy he wants to leave behind, and approved before his retirement. This is what he calls “Writ of Kalikasan,” which upholds the supremacy of nature, and puts to task persons and entities who violate environmental laws. More on the Writ in a next issue.

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Constitutionalists, justices and judges and lawyers and students of the law have not stopped egging President Arroyo not to name Puno’s successor. One of them is former Sen. Franklin Drilon, whose advocacy is to preclude President Arroyo from appointing the next chief justice.

Drilon has taken the unbending stance that it is in the public’s interest that the incoming president, not the incumbent, should appoint Puno’s replacement. This scenario expediently places Associate Justice Antonio Carpio as Puno’s likely successor, being the most senior among the incumbent SC justices.

Fine by me, even if seniority is not the overriding factor in getting the highest judicial position in the land. Recent history shows that on some occasions, a junior associate justice takes the quantum leap over his seniors in the scramble for the Chief Justice post.

People who do not want the president to name Puno’s successor, are apprehensive about her picking Associate Justice Renato Corona, saying that he would be a “yes” man to the president even when she has left the presidency.

Those who oppose Drilon’s suggestion believe that the next president is likely to appoint Associate Justice Carpio — not Corona. Both Drilon and Carpio are fraternity brothers dating back to their school days at the University of the Philippines College of Law. Also, Drilon and Carpio were partners in the law office labeled “The Firm,” which went all out to support the candidacy of Drilon’s late wife, lawyer Violeta Drilon, for the presidency of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (KBP) in 1989. Carpio vigorously campaigned for Mrs. Drilon among his fraternity brothers and other IBP members.

Mrs. Drilon subsequently won the IBP presidency, only to lose it by a bizarre twist of fate. The Supreme Court nullified the results of the 1989 IBP polls.

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The International Inner Wheel, to which the Inner Wheel Clubs of the Phils., Inc. (IWCPI) is affiliated, will hold its national conference at Taal Vista, Tagaytay City, on February 19-20. The IWCPI is a worldwide organization of women Rotarians. In the Philippines IWCPI has existed for more than 50 years for the main purpose of promoting friendship and serving the community.

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