Conviction or acquittal: The scenarios

Finally former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. has come out in the open after months of deafening silence regarding the impeachment trial of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona and was interviewed on ANC with anchor Ces Drilon. It just makes me wonder why Davide suddenly found his tongue. Of course it is easy for Davide to speak now because he is a staunch ally of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III and is not on the hot seat. Would he have felt this way if he were the one on trial?

In fairness to him, the former Chief Justice did not tell Ces Drilon whether he is for a guilty verdict or acquittal and even exhorted everyone to respect the decision of the senator-judges. But he also gave his legal opinion on the laws that CJ Corona used which gives us a hint that he is on the side of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III.

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Because we have an early deadline, I don’t think that this column can come up with whatever verdict that the senator-judges would impose on Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona. Suffice it to say that whatever the verdict… be it a conviction or an acquittal, it would have a serious consequence on public accountability and justice. Let’s first talk about a conviction because many people fear that this is what would happen.

If CJ Corona is convicted, he has one option… that is to file an appeal before his peers in the Supreme Court. Now whether this would take some time and result in an overturn of CJ Corona’s conviction, your guess is as good as mine. Then there is that other question whether or not Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III can appoint the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court because of that inherent defect in the 1987 Constitution.

This defect was pointed out to me last March 3 by Cecilio T. Arillo, PhD, who wrote the book “Greed and Betrayal.” Arillo pointed out that the 188 congressmen and women signed the articles of impeachment blindly because they succumbed to the promises of political patronage and party blandishments. These people did not realize that there is a serious flaw in the Cory Constitution. So let me quote Cecillo Arillo on that flaw.

“Supposed, for the sake of argument, Chief Justice Corona resigns, dies, is removed by the senator-judges or is incapacitated, how will he be replaced without first convening the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the body explicitly mandated by the Constitution (Sections 8 and 9, Article VIII) to nominate to the President his successor? As it is, the JBC cannot convene and nominate by itself to the President a successor in the absence of the CJ as ex officio chairman of the council.

The council has eight members and it has no vice-chairman or deputy chairman to act if the chairman is gone. This is the defect in the Constitution and the only way to correct it is to amend it. Neither the President nor the Supreme Court Justices can appoint from among its 14 remaining members an acting Chief Justice because it is only the JBC that can do that as ordained by the Constitution. Anyone violating the JBC provision is culpably infringing the Constitution.”

I have studied this portion of the 1987 Constitution and Cecilio Arillo is correct. In the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions, there was no JBC and the President can easily appoint the next Chief Justice. However, in a meeting with Court Administrator Midas Marquez, he told me that the JBC was never convened by CJ Corona.

But what disturbed me was when he said, “If the Chief Justice is convicted, the President has already made his choice in Justice Carpio to be the next CJ. So even if someone files a case in the SC for the appointment as unconstitutional, I’m sure that the other Justices will just concur with the appointment of the new CJ even if it is violative of the constitution because of the fear instilled in them by the President. They are only human.”

If the other Justices would declare something unconstitutional as constitutional, then we might as well throw out this constitution! PNoy would rule as the most powerful ruler in this country having all the three branches of the government, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary, in his pocket. This scenario sends a chilling effect to the nation that has been so used to having checks and balances in our democracy.

That’s as far as conviction is concerned. Now what if CJ Corona is acquitted? On the slim chance that CJ Corona is acquitted, we already wrote the scenario where PNoy might just declare a revolutionary government, which we also wrote in our column in the Philippine Star yesterday because as early as last year, DND spokesman Jess Paredes talked about this at the Kapihan sa Rembrandt Hotel. Now PNoy’s media rah-rah boys are freely talking about this. All I can say now is pray the Rosary.

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