Enrilegate redux

The first thing  I  noticed about  the Supreme Court decision releasing Enrile was that the four SC justices who opposed the granting of bail were among the most highly respected members of the Court – Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Senior Justice Antonio Carpio, Justice Marvic Leonen and Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe.

These four SC Justices have not always agreed in past decisions; but they have developed a reputation for judicial competence and integrity. Their unity in supporting the dissenting opinion seems to me a clear indication that the Leonen dissent had more substantial legal ground than the majority opinion penned by Justice Bersamin.

Even to non-lawyers like me, the most disturbing thing about this SC decision is the fact that the bail was granted based on humanitarian grounds and not on legal arguments. In fact, Enrile’s request for bail did not even argue on the bases of humanitarian considerations but on the basis of lack of evidence regarding his case.

 I always believed that the Supreme court was the final interpreter of the law and was the supreme advocate for adherence to the laws of the land. Now the Supreme Court is basing its decision on “humanitarian” grounds and is making itself as the final interpreter of defining moral issues based on personal values of the justices.

Both Justice Leonen and Justice Secretary de Lima have warned that the consequence is the inevitability of selective justice. This means that the Supreme Court will not be bound by the maxim that everyone is equal in the dispensation of justice, but can now decide that some persons are entitled to special treatment based on so-called humanitarian considerations.

The synonyms for humanitarianism are philanthropy, benevolence, charity, generosity and good will. A humanitarian is a philanthropist, Good Samaritan, benefactor, do-gooder. Are the SC justices now envisioning themselves as benevolent, generous, charitable do-gooders and  benefactors?  The dangerous question is – how will these justices determine who deserves to be the object of their generosity and humanitarianism?

Rene Sarmiento, a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, was absolutely right when he said: “ If the Supreme Court ordered the release of Senator  Enrile based on humanitarian grounds, the same should apply to the aged, ailing and underprivileged detainees and prisoners all over the country.”

In fact, Justice Leonen gave the same warning in his dissenting opinion when he said the bail release “will usher in an era of truly selective justice not based on their legal provisions, but one that is unpredictable, partial and solely grounded on the presence or absence of human compassion.”  Leonen cited the example of other detainees who were old and ill but were still languishing in jail.

Compassion is defined as mercy, charity, pity, sympathy, and kindness. The eight Supreme Court Justices who voted to release Enrile have apparently decided that a powerful and wealthy Senator deserves more compassion and pity and kindness than those that Rene Sarmiento described as “ the unknown and poor, ailing and dying detainees and prisoners” all over the country.

In weighing the scales, justice is supposed to be blind even in the case of rich and powerful senators.

Enrilegate redux

Like many others, one voice I am waiting to hear about this highly controversial Supreme Court decision allowing Enrile to go out on bail is that of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. I still vividly remember that scene on the floor of the Senate where she gave a privileged speech about Enrile, who was sitting on the first row facing her. He was smirking and awkwardly playing a game on his gadget trying to give the impression he was unconcerned about the charges being publicly hurled against him.

In her speech, Senator Miriam Santiago had the audacity to bring out to the public what had already been discussed in whispers. The first was her accusation that Enrile was the “King of a Smuggling Empire.” She was referring to the Cagayan Export Processing Zone Authority.

According to Miriam: “... during all this time, in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling banning importation of used cars, CEZA continued its importation. In 2012, car traders imported some 5,400 vehicles contained in 18 shipments. In February 2013, a Japanese cargo ship set off for Port Irene with a shipment of Hummers, Porches, BMWs, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari, Lamborghini and other used luxury cars.”

Senator Santiago then accused Enrile of being the “mastermind of the biggest plunder case in Philippine history. “She said that during the period 2005 to 2015, Enrile was the biggest recipient of pork barrel amounting to P1.189 billion. Enrile reportedly gave P641.65 million to syndicates of dummy NGOs run by Napoles.

Miriam also accused Enrile of “command responsibility for the death and disappearance during martial law” of close to 4,000 people during the Marcos reign of terror.

After hearing Senator Miriam Santiago’s speech, I was wondering when there would be equality of justice in the courts of our land. After the filing of the graft and plunder cases before the Sandiganbayan and three Senators were jailed, I had thought that now the judiciary finally proved that there was equal justice for  the rich and the poor, for the  weak and the powerful and for those who could afford legal aid and those who could hire the most expensive legal practitioners in the country.

This SC decision, as Justice Secretary de Lima, has said, is a return by the Judiciary, to the days where the rich and the powerful are accorded special treatment.  I still hope that someday we will have a nation where the rule of law is applied equally to each and every Filipino. The fight for judicial reform must continue.

Justice Marvic Leonen

Justice Leonen is the youngest member of the present Supreme Court and the second youngest to hold that position. Prior to being appointed by President Benigno Aquino III,  he was the chief peace negotiator of the Philippine government panel in the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

He graduated from UP College of Law and, after graduation, co-founded the Legal Rights and Natural Resource Center, Inc. [Kasama sa Kalikasan], a legal and policy research and advocacy center focusing on legal services for the Cordillera rural poor and indigenous communities. He was the executive director for 15 years and then went to Columbia University for his Master of Law degree. He joined the UP faculty and became Dean of the College of Law in 2008 to 2011.

In November 2012, he was appointed to the Supreme Court where he remains also as the poorest member. In less than three years, he has already penned major decisions. One of them was when he wrote a separate concurring opinion on the unconstitutionality of pork barrel.

He said: “A member of the House of Representatives or a Senator is not an automated teller machine from which the public can withdraw funds for sundry private purposes.”

Justice Marvic Leonen – may his tribe increase.

 Where the Write Things Are’s  Classes for Kids and Teens

Young Writers’ Hangout on  September 5 (11am-12:30pm) at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street. Classes are every first Saturday of the month. 

Write Away! Weekend: Getting started on your comic book on September 26 (1-4pm) with Manix Abrera at the Canadian American School, Alphaland Makati Place.

For registration and fee details contact 0917-6240196 / [email protected].

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