EDITORIAL - Panic in the ramparts

Perhaps heartened when the Supreme Court itself removed all legal obstacles to her appointing the next chief justice, President Arroyo yesterday named associate justice Renato Corona to head the Supreme Court upon the retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

Unfortunately for Arroyo, the coast is not exactly clear regarding such an appointment. For while the Supreme Court already settled the "conflicting" interpretations of the Constitution pertaining to the matter, her action introduced an entirely new issue.

The issue pertains to the actual retirement of Puno. The sitting chief justice is not expected to retire until May 17. This means that until then, there is no existing vacancy in the Supreme Court to fill.

So if there is no existing vacancy to fill, the question may arise as to whether Arroyo can actually appoint a replacement before there is anyone to replace him with. Puno may be on the verge of retirement, but he hasn't retired yet.

It is just a matter of less than a week before Puno retires and creates the vacancy. A more prudent person would have opted to step back and just wait out for the inevitable to happen. Waiting five days does not make much of a difference.

But refusing to wait that long has changed the situation entirely. While waiting would have given Arroyo the legal platform from which to launch one of her most important final acts, her being quick to the draw may have only served to complicate her exit from office entirely.

What was once an expected legally unruffled execution of duty has suddenly become a trap that can only further erode her last remaining strengths. Not a good job for someone expected to be hounded by a self-admitted hostile incoming administration.

What was Arroyo thinking? Have her advisers totally abandoned her? Is she on the verge of panic now that she is bowing out of office and the next president vowing to prosecute her all the way through to her sigmoid colon?