EDITORIAL - Risks in dealing with the SC we cannot take

Never mind if video footages of Chief Justice Renato Corona before a gathering of judges showed him calmly and gently reading from a prepared speech, not once raising his voice, as the accompanying audio will attest.

It was the content of the speech that was important. And the content was combative, even fiery. If tweaked a little, it would even seem he was spoiling for a fight. And it was good that he did. It was, in fact, about time that he did.

For as he said in his speech, the Supreme Court has maintained its silence in face of a relentless and concerted assault from its two other co-equal branches of government that there was now the danger the silence can be misinterpreted as a capitulation and surrender.

Well, Chief Justice Corona rightly asserted that, under his watch, the Supreme Court will not be bamboozled into submission by forces apparently conspiring to undermine its constitutional authority. That is the key phrase — constitutional authority.

This Supreme Court may not be the best in many years. It may have rendered decisions that correctly raised many eyebrows. Even the ascension of Corona himself to the pinnacle of power in the judiciary has not been without question, having been close to the former president.

But it is still the Supreme Court, the only Supreme Court we have. Whatever infirmities that may attach and cling to any or all of its members do not and should not justify the tearing down of the institution that it is.

The consequences of allowing passions, no matter how validly rooted, to dismantle the fading authority of the Supreme Court as an institution will not only be dire for the nation, they can in fact be fatal. Without a bastion of final authority, we will all slide into anarchy.

It is very clear that this nation has been seized by the people power syndrome. What started as a legitimate exercise for change has become a tool for destruction that brooks no reverence or respect for anything that stands in the way.

Great care must be taken in dealing with the Supreme Court. Like in a delicate surgical operation, if getting at undesirable members risks damaging the fragile authority of the court as an institution, the better part of prudence is not to go ahead with the operation.