Odd Gods

The Supreme Court prepares to welcome two new members. One for the seat to be vacated by a retiring Justice; the other for the hot seat from which a Chief Justice was brazenly removed. Or, if ever, the newbie replaces the Senior Justice that the President may bump up to Chief.  

The complexion of the Court becomes a matter for thought given President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s offensive against the Bill of Rights. What is it with the President’s aversion to codes of conduct? Look at his other jihad. Against the Commandments. The Commandment casualty rate has increased with his latest tirade, taking the Lord’s name in vain.  

PRRD’s issues with God is between him and his God. We cannot force anyone to believe as we do. But the tension between his other pronouncements and the guaranteed liberties in our Constitution is fodder for certifiable High Court intervention. It seems that this President will be engaging the Court’s power of judicial review more than even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ever did. 

Bless the beasts and children. On the anti-tambay crusade, his instruction to include minors in the round up has triggered the expected bashing from Constitution sentinels.  The challenges are on the expected grounds of freedom of movement and freedom from arbitrary arrests. Of course, he is disparaged by those who view the treatment of the weak as the true moral reflection of them who govern. 

We have asserted, previously, how the President is channeling the notorious Amendment No. 6 power to “legislate” policies he wishes to implement. Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes P.A. Sereno has noted how he has replaced rule of law with the rule of sheer will. But PRRD did supply the best  justification to include minors in the dragnet. The countervailing argument to the state’s interest to prevent juvenile crime is the protection of minors from crime. 

The invocation of Parens Patriae jurisdiction, however, would not justify a wholesale abandonment of the parents’ role as their children’s principal custodians in favor of the State. Parens Patriae is a common law residual power to fill in gaps in the law or one made available on judicial review. But its use is limited to wards of the State or those whose parents have reneged on their duties, case to case. It was not intended to allow an executive to make decisions for the entire population of minors. If so, it ceases to be a case to case proposition but becomes a policy decision that only Congress can make.

Je suis Rody. The silver lining here is that his reflex defense about exercising his freedom to speak has further enshrined the respect for the right. Blaspheming is seen by the faithful as a category unto itself. But, in secular truth, it does belong in the realm of freedom of expression. Previously, the signal was: defy me at your peril. See: Mesdames De Lima and Sereno. But the President’s open embrace of this liberty to comment should bring about a paradigm shift in his own respect for his critics’ right to snipe.

The world stood still. Beneath the surface of the disruptive and divisive events spanning the continents these past weeks, there has been a transient glue keeping us connected – regardless of who we are and where we may be. It has been four years since Brazil 2014. Across the world, sleep cycles, work patterns and school schedules have been disrupted as globalization takes a step back to reviving attachments, citizens rooting for their roots. It must be the World Cup.

International sporting tournaments like the World Cup of Football are triggers for great outpourings of national pride. On the pitch, any nation, regardless of its stage of development, enjoys an equality with the strongest States, including the unparalleled chance to be more than equal. Vide: 4-time and defending World Cup champion Germany eliminated by an unyielding South Korean side; tactical Japan humbling South American heavyweight Columbia to make it through to the next round. Someday soon, the Azkals.

Soccer!? Much has been written about the beautiful game. Even those who don’t play – counting the great bulk of our countrymen – can appreciate the vicarious lure produced by a game of relatively simple rules: two 45 minutes halves; goals on either end; a ball to put through the goal, or denied it, through the determined efforts of your 11-man team; a playing field (a pitch) larger than a basketball court and American football and baseball fields. And, of course, no hands.

Fans appreciate the virtuosity on the ball, both individual and team; the deft touch, the slick pass, the towering header, ball flights that bend, the thunderous strike, spectacular save, the clean  clear. The sublime artistry produced when 11 men on the pitch – in telepathic union – combine in perfectly executed passes, probing weaknesses, creating openings from nothing to produce an attempt at goal. To score is bonus. The World Cup is the greatest stage to witness this magic. I am a fan.

Tidbits. I’ve returned from a quick trip to the US to attend my goddaughter’s graduation. Despite the number of commencement exercises we have participated in locally which are no different in ceremony, we couldn’t avoid being mesmerized. The reason was the assembly of world-class universities represented by the mixed faculty seated at the platform. Among others, we spied Columbia, Yale, Oxford, Georgetown, Harvard academic gowns. The graduates were also products of the same top notch variety of alma maters in college.

We were inspired by the commencement speaker, alumnus Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser Busch InBev, who dared the Stanford MBA class to answer the question “what would the world miss if you did not exist”? We congratulate our dearest Alexandra Rufino Maceda on this latest achievement. We look forward to how she, her batchmates, and new graduates everywhere will tell us what the world will miss if they were not here.