This is what is disturbing about the Supreme Court decision allowing Gloria Arroyo to make a midnight appointment to succeed Chief Justice Reynato Puno: Arroyo can do anything illegal to stay in power beyond June 2010 and the Supreme Court will give it a mantle of legality.
Photo by Mario Ignacio for VERA Files
This is the scenario that we are looking: There will be partial failure of election. Only in the national level. That means no president, vice president and senators would be proclaimed by June 30, 2010.
Since the term of incumbent Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile will end on June 30, there will be no Senate President, who is third in the Constitutional order of succession. (There have been calls for Enrile to do the patriotic act of resigning as senate president so that someone whose term will end in 2013 could be elected senate president but he has refused.)
Meanwhile, there would be proclamation of winners in the local posts including members of the House of Representatives.
There have been reports of Gloria Arroyo subsidizing the campaign of a huge number of congressmen to make sure that she gets elected as speaker.
The speaker of the House is fourth in the line of succession.
By noon of June 30, 2010 without a proclaimed president, vice president, and Senate President, House Speaker Gloria Arroyo becomes the acting President. The House then meets as a constituent assembly and adopts a parliamentary form of government. Gloria is named prime minister.
Of course, concerned citizen groups will question it in the Renato Corona Supreme Court, which expectedly will throw it out.
The public would be outraged. They will try People Power. The AFP Chief of Staff is Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit. He may not be highly regarded by military officers but he is loyal to Arroyo. He has defended her against those who wanted the truth out and preserve democracy during the Hello Garci scandal in 2005 and 2006. He is expected to defend her against an enraged citizenry.
The Philippine Army, the biggest service command, is under Maj. Gen. Reynaldo Mapagu who belongs to Class ’78 of the Philippine Military Academy just like Bangit. Arroyo is honorary member of PMA Class ’78.
Putting Mapagu at the helm of the Army meant bypassing a more senior officer, Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, who belong to PMA Class ’77. I can imagine that Mapagu is very grateful to Arroyo.
Another from Class ’78 has also been put in a very strategic position. Rear Admiral Feliciano Angue is chief of the Army’s National Capital Region Command.
Let me tell you about something that happened in 2004 elections involving Rear Admiral Angue. He was then a Navy captain assigned in Tawi-Tawi as a task force commander.
Angue was telling his friends that then Maj. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, AFP deputy chief of staff for operations, was calling him to facilitate entry of election operators in the area.
Angue told his friends he appealed to Esperon to spare his area of jurisdiction since it didn’t have a big voting population anyway. He also said that if they must undertake the operation, he’d rather that he is taken out of the area.
He was taken out.
Commendable, wasn’t it. That’s what we thought.
Yet, sources in the military said he didn’t relate this incident during the investigation of the role of the military in tampering of the 2004 election results conducted by then Vice Admiral Mateo Mayuga.
With that, I’m not so hopeful Angue would side with the people in a political crisis.
What about the Philipine National Police? Last week, PNP Chief Jesus Versoza said he believes that there should a new president by June 30. But if Arroyo continued to hold on to power after June, he said, he would seek the guidance of the Supreme Court.
Naloko na.
Besides Versoza, who belongs to PMA Class ’76, may not really be in control of his organization. Last month Metro Manila Police Chief, Director Roberto Rosales of PMA Class ’78 tried to reshuffle police officers in Manila without consulting with Mayor Alfredo Lim.
Lim went to court citing the law establishing the PNP that “no reshuffle or reassignment of station police commanders can be effected in a particular city or town without the concurrence or clearance of the local chief executive.”
The Manila Regional Trial Court upheld Lim and stopped the reshuffle. The case has been appealed to a higher court. It is expected the reshuffle of police officers in the provincial level would be next. When the issue gets to the Supreme Court, expect the Arroyo toadies to uphold what will protect her even if it’s against the law.
Dapat nang irelease ni Vitug yung libro niya. The timing is perfect!
Ms. Ellen, siguro naman base sa mga previous posts ko, true blooded anti GMA ako.
Possible ang failure of election, pero isa ako sa mga naniniwala na hindi mangyayari ito. Massive cheating talagang mangyayari pero hindi failure of election. Ang paniniwala ko ay base sa mga sumusunod.
1. The scenario is too big a constitutional crisis that it is indubitable that GMA and her camp could pull this through. There may be an attempt but it is extremely difficult.
2. The term of office of the other 12 senators will end in June. A special session may be called before June 30 to elect a new Senate President. In case of a failure of election, the new Senate President will be the acting President.
3. We have to consider international recognition as a deterrent for GMA to pursue the scenario.
#2. Walang quorum dahil hindi maka-boto si Sen. Sonny Trillanes. Kaya 12 less 1= 11 lang silang senador. Ewan ko kung panig ang Obama Administration kay Pandak sa ganitong constitutional crisis.
Rubber stamp ang Arroyo Supreme Court. Kahit labag sa ating Saligang Batas ayos pa rin. Malaking utang na loob nila sa pekeng pangulo kaya sila ay naka-puesto.
Ka Diego, i claro ko lang.
12 senators may term na mag expire sa 2013. yung kalahating 12, mag expire sa June 2010. Kaya bago mag June, 2010, pwede pa sigurong magbotohan ng Senate President.
Desperado na si Glorya …. kasalanan ni Noynoy. Biruin niyo naman na bubuo daw ito ng komisyon para ilitis itong si Glorya. Nanginginig na yong tumbong niya.
Sabi nga sa Abante … kompletos rekados na ….. lahat ng sangay ng Gobyerno ay puro aso na ni Glorya. Dapat talaga sipain na itong mga tangnang to.
The scenario that Ms. Ellen mentioned is highly improbable. It’s like a camel going through the eye of the needle. BUT knowing Gloria, she can even make an elephant go through a pee-hole. Iba ang magaling. 😛
The midnight appointment doctrine was made because Carlos P. Garcia, wanted to put one over the President-elect Diosdado Macapagal.
Isn’t it ironic that the president who wants to violate that doctrine is his daughter? Diosdado ang ama, Diosnegada naman ang anak.
Papayag kaya si Senate President Enrile mag-resign bago June 2010?
Iyan ang nagyayari pag umiinum ka ng cognac, tulad ni Gloria Ampatuwad. Pag tumutuma ka nito, lahat ng kawalanghiyaan gagawin mo. Ibang spirit ang cognac na iyan.
Sa kaso naman ni Erap, Blue Label na spirit. Ang effect nito alam na natin, pero sabi nga nila water under the bridge na iyon.
Papaano na si Manny Villar sa scenario na iyan? Ano ang papel na gagampanan niya? At kung magkatotoo nga ang malagim na scenario na ito, ano naman ang gagawin ng sambayanan? Tulad ba ng ginawa natin noong panahon ni Macoy? Lalo pa na nariyan si Bongbong na mukhang walang pinagkaiba sa ama niya.
Pinoys mga duwag, ang sabi ni George P. Schultz, US State Secretary noong panahon ni Reagan at Macoy.
Pinoys mga duwag, ang sabi ni George P. Schultz, US State Secretary noong panahon ni Reagan at Macoy.” — Isagani
Sa panahon natin ngayon surot lamang ang kalaban …. hehehehe …. duwag pa rin.
There are only 23 members of the Senate now because Alfredo Lim, who was elected in 2004 ran for Manila mayor in 2007.
The 11 whose terms are expiring June 30, 2010:
1.Rodolfo Biazon (running for congressman of Muntinlupa)
2.Pia Cayetano (running for re-election)
3.Jinggoy Estrada (running for re-election)
4.Richard Gordon (running for president)
5.Lito Lapid (running for re-election)
6.Jamby Madrigal (running for president)
7.Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.
8.Juan Ponce Enrile (running for re-election)
9.Ramon Revilla, Jr. (running for re-election)
10.Mar Roxas (running for vice-president)
11. Miriam Defensor-Santiago (running for re-election)
The 12 senators whose terms will expire in 2013:
1.Edgardo Angara
2.Joker Arroyo
3.Benigno Aquino III
4.Alan Peter Cayetano
5.Chiz escudero
6.Gregorio Honasan
7.Panfilo Lacson
8.Loren Legarda
9.Francis Pangilinan
10.Antonio Trillanes III
11.Manuel Villar
12.Juan Miguel Zubiri
Aside from the fact that 12 would not constitute a quorum (you have to have at least 13), enough to elect a new senate president.Trillanes cannot vote.
It is also doubtful if Lacson would show up on June 30 unless it’s clear that Arroyo is out of power.
So you would have only 12 senators remaining after June 30 if there would be no proclamation of winners of the May 2010 elections.
That’s why you will wonder why Juan Ponce Enrile refuses to relinguish the senate president position to say, Escudero or Pangilinan to avoid a possible leadership crisis on June 30.
Without Lacson, Enrile may not have the majority. Imagine if Money Villar gets reelected Senate President. You just handed him power on a silver platter.
There could also be the supreme joke, where the other Arroyo gets elected senate president.
Gusto niyo ng one-upmanship?
Let the Judicial and Bar Council nominate Carpio, Carpio-Morales, and Harry Roque.
Okay mag-appoint ka ngayon bruha. Time is of the essence di ba sabi ng decison?
From Rep. Ruffy Biazon:
The Appointment of a New Chief Justice – Make or Break the High Court’s Image
If President Arroyo wants to preserve the integrity and image of the Supreme Court, she should refrain from appointing a new Chief Justice and leave the decision to the next president. Even if the SC ruled that she can name the next Chief Justice, she also has the option not to do it, for the sake of preventing any speculation on the motive behind the appointment.
At this time, an appointment by President Arroyo will only suffer from credibility, with people suspecting that the Supreme Court is controlled by the President since all the justices are appointed by her. The seeming eagerness of the President to name the next Chief Justice in spite of the doubts raised also fuels the doubts that people have regarding this appointment. With the entire Supreme Court ending up to be Arroyo appointees, suspicion as to the members’ independence will certainly not be easily replaced.
It is now in the hands of President Arroyo whether the Supreme Court will be spared from this cloud of suspicion especially by her administration’s critics. Her actions will determine whether the people’s confidence in the Supreme Court will be restored or eroded. While Midas, a king in Greek Mythology (and coincidentally the namesake of the High Court’s spokesperson), turned everything he touched into gold, it seems that the President has the opposite effect on those she lays her hands on. Look at the candidacy of Gibo.
Villar disappointed at SC decision
Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar yesterday expressed sadness over the decision of the Supreme Court allowing President Gloria Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice, but said a reconsideration of the ruling is still possible.
“I’m saddened by the Supreme Court decision. But SC has the final say. If it can still be pursued, we will see what can be done,”
Villar maintained it would have been better if the issue of the appointment of the next chief justice were left to the next president.
He said he is counting on the petitioners in the case, including the Philippine Bar Association, chapters of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and the National Union of Philippine Lawyers, to file immediately their motions for recommendation before the high tribunal.
From AQ:
Mrs. Arroyo started her presidency with “constructive resignation”, and ended her term with “midnight appointments exception” controversies through both the courtesy of the SC. Amazing! Are they not? I pity the Filipino people if the scenarios you have laid out are to happen.
From Narciso Ner:
Sirang-sira na talaga ang institusyon na dapat sana ay nanatiling kagalang-galang. Pati nga ang maka-Arroyo na kolumnista na si Belinda Olivares-Cunanan ay hindi nagtataka kung bakit ganoon ang naging desisyon ng Korte Suprema dahil anya, maliban sa isa, lahat ng mga Mahistrado ay inilukluk ni Gloria Arroyo. Walang mga prinsipyo ang mga ito katulad ng karamihan sa mga Kongresista at ibang mga Senador, lahat ay mukhang pera at sakim.
Matunog ang pangalan ni Corona na siya ang pinili ng sociopath na papalit kay Punong Mahistrado Reynato Puno. Siya ay dating “Legal Counsel” ng Malakanyang at malapit sa mga Arroyo. Balita ko pa nga, si Fat Guy ang gumagastos sa pagpapagamot niya.
Someone sent me the names of the 10 army division commanders since he said, “you mentioned the names of the mistahs of 6 of the 10 division commanders in your article, namely Lt. Gen. Bangit and Maj. Generals Mapagu and Angue who were promoted shortly after the change of command of the AFP’s highest postion.”
They are:
Romeo Lustestica (Class ’78) – 1st Division
Jorge Segovia(Class ’80) -2nd
Vicente Porto (Class’78) -3rd
Mario Chan (Class ’78)= 4th
Rommel Gomez (Class ’78)- 5th
Anthony Alcantara (Class ’79) – 6th
Irineo Espino (Class ’79) – 7th
Art Tabaquero (Class ’78) – 8th
Ruperto Pabustan (Class ’77)-9th
Carlos Holganza (Class ’78) – 10th
“That’s why you will wonder why Juan Ponce Enrile refuses to relinguish the senate president position to say, Escudero or Pangilinan to avoid a possible leadership crisis on June 30.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
do not expect enrile to do the patriotic act of relinquishing the senate presidency to another senator whose term expires in 2013. he is another devilish politician who survives by slithering from one regime change to another as long as it favors his personal motives and goals. my only consolation is that he is always frustrated in his overweening ambition to rule this country.
Tragic situation the Phil. is in right now…but there is still a remedy if the people would vote a righteous man…who? bahala na sila kung sino sa akala nila ang the least evil of them all..to the youth.. kayo ang pag asa ng bayan..it is your future at stake…vote right!
read f. sionil jose’s article “philippine society and the elections” in the philippine star march 14, 2010 and decide for yourself if you agree with his assessment that elections in our country are exercises in futility.
Ellen,
I believe the senators whose term ends in 2013 may elect a new Senate President after June 30 (in case there would be no proclamation of winners) because the Senate is a continuing body according the intent of framers of the 1987 Constitution. But then again this is subject to the interpretation of the ‘Arroyo SC’ once justiciable controversy on this issue arises.
You are correct, Lito B: “But then again this is subject to the interpretation of the ‘Arroyo SC’ once justiciable controversy on this issue arises.”
And you know what would be their decision.
That’s the point I’m stressing in this article. Anything, illegal man yun, if it is to protect Arroyo and her obsession for power, the Supreme Court will give it a mantle of legality.
Noong panahong nababasa pa sa diksyunaryong Pilipino ng paglilingkod bayan ang mga salitang “pagiging marangal at walang pasubaling katapatan sa tungkuling sinumpaan”, ang paghirang ng gabinete ay hindi nagkakaroon ng balakid at kuwestiyong legal.
Subalit ngayong ang kasalukuyang pamahalaan ay hinulma at nabuo sa pundasyon ng kasinungalingan at pandaraya at pagkauhaw sa kapangyarihang may kaakibat na pag-iwas sa mga pananagutan, anumang batikos ay walang saysay sapagkat KAKAPALAN NG MUKHA ang pinapairal.
Niyong nagtalaga at mga itinalagang hayok din sa posisyong gagamitin sa pansariling kapakanan.
Kusabagay, sino pa ba ang dapat magsama kundi silang pareparehong iisa ang likaw ng mga bituka?
Naloloko na talaga’t nabababoy ang bawat institusyon ng pamahalaan, partikular itong Armed Forces of the Philippines noon na naging Armed Forces of the Pidals ngayon. Gayundin ang Philippine National Police na ngayon ay Pidals’ Notorious Police na.
Sa promotion, wala na ‘yung criteria’ng efficiency. Pinalitan na ng SIPSIPficiency.
Hindi na importante ang time-in-grade. Ginawa na itong “who do you and/or who shall you serve?”
Nawala na din ‘yung TO (Troop Organizational) position. Ginawa ng TIYO’s position.
Nawala na ‘yung performance. Pinalitan na ng PUT (lagay) na lang.
Hindi na importante kung sa promosyon ang sagot ay you do not know. Ang mahalaga ay sino ang kilala mo.
Haaaay!
The Supreme Court is supposed to uphold legality. What has happened to these people that they now can’t define right from wrong?
I am so aghast I’m speechless.
The country is behing held hostage by a group of senilistic individuals who have pretty much appropriated powers that were not theirs from the start.
They may be sitting as magisters of the law but by golly, are they forgetting that they are first and foremost civil servants, assigned to do a certain job and are paid by taxpayers’ money.
Hang those criminals from the highest lamppost!
But who do they think they are? They have now become the tulisans of the lowest order!
No other definition for these individuals who have closeted themselves into believing they are immune from the wrath of the people.
They are barking mad!
Where I sit, something like this happening, expect them to be put to the sword!
Lito B:
A continuing body still needs a quorum. Nine senators do not make a quorum (Eleven minus Trillanes and Lacson).
Puno should have taken the bull by the horn and said: buck stops here! What a legacy of cowardice he’s leaving behind.
Tony Carpio, I have naturally expected to be a fence sitter (which he has always been from the time he was legal adviser to FVR, a legal thief of the scum variety), so I’m disappointed but not surprised.
Corona doesn’t even deserve to sit in the SC, so not at all surprised he inhibited himself.
A bunch of scalawags — not even remotely elected by the people. They should cover themselves in shame.
Nothing more criminal when magisters of the law thwart the rule of law!
The Supreme Court should be purged
Now READ this, Section 15, Article VII as amended…the sitting President is now not precluded to go ahead with the Midnight Serenade and other than the Temporary Positions in the Executive Branch, when vacancies may put the national security in peril can now Appoint Her Favourite Pet to Chief Justice within the Prohibition Period. (this amendment is subject to amendment by the incoming President, and the SC will oblige.
Sax, I think the senators whose term ends in 2013 may do business in the event there are no 12 senators-elect after June 30. A majority is enough to constitute a quorum. The Senate does not cease to be a continuing body merely because only half of its members continue to the next Congress. The Senate must be viewed as an institution quite apart from the Senators composing it. Senators come and go but the very institution of the Senate remains.
Hindi pa ba na puPuno ang mga taumbayan sa kalukuhan ni putot?..dapat itapon na siya..litsonin ang leche! the decision is on the voters..the youth most specially…throw her out..what future will you have with this kind of a court? hindi naman kailangan ang jesters? so are we willing to just tiis in this kind of a supreme court?
Lito B:
I have no dispute with the institution being a continuing body. But even today, with a full complement of 23 sitting senators, you need a quorum to do business; for business to be considered the act of the Senate.
Come July 31, there will only be ten senators of 24, so how can business be done? Similarly, if eights justices suddenly dropped dead, there can be no en banc decision, even if you get a unanimous seven votes. Of course, the Supreme Court as an institution is still there, and decisions by division may still be made.
I do see, where your argument may be developed, that only a majority of the present or sitting senators at the time , is required for any action. That is the case of Avelino v. Cuenco http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1949/mar1949/gr_l-2821_1949.html
where the Supreme Court held that:
The argument therein was, since there are 24 to constitute “the Senate”, then the quorum is 50% of 24 plus one or thirteen. But the decision says that since there were 23 sitting senators, then the majority and quorum is 12.
Following that line of argument then, if there are twelve sitting senators, the majority is 7, and that constitutes a quorum.
Remember, however, that Avelino v. Cuenco had twenty three senators, and the Supreme Court took half of that as quorum. With eleven, and a purported quorum of six, you are taking half of less than half (eleven senators).
It will take nothing short of a revolution to rehabilitate the lady of justice back to its former sanity after the constant rapacious misdeeds of Gloria’s government.
Corona will probably be CJ until Gloria is old and forgotten. He is retirable only after 8 more years and his successor, and his successor’s successor, shall all be Gloria’s stooges.
Gutierrez holds over until 2012.
Possibility of impeachment of Speaker GMA or even just Ombudsman Gutierrez is very remote as Congress will be packed by more Arroyo henchmen, including very influential former cabinet members (and not few of them are running under Villar’s NP) either by direct vote or the backdoor partylist nomination.
Do you think a solution within the legal framework is still possible? I don’t think so. I can only prescribe a solution that may well be violent if not deadly, in order to be effective.
Lito B:
Let us do a thought experiment (apologies to Einstein) and stretch Avelino v. Cuenco to the absurd, to test the principle.
Let us say that Merceditas mercifully retires, but Goyang digs deep into her allies, and issues Edong Angara a midnight appointment as Ombudsman (the Ombusdman, by Constitutional provision is an independent body, not under the Executive). Uy lusot na naman Goyang.
Let us say further that the Joke develops Alzheimer’s and retires.
So now, we have nine senators; effectively, seven, because Trillanes cannot vote, and Lacson is globe-trotting. So the majority or quorum of seven is 4 (five if you count Trillanes, since he is not out of the country). Under Avelino v. Cuenco, the four or five will be able to do business as “the Senate”. Is that still defensible as a Constitutional principle?
It will take nothing short of a revolution to rehabilitate the lady of justice back to its former sanity after the constant rapacious misdeeds of Gloria’s government. — Tongue
Sadly, there’s not enough brave souls in this country to make that happen.
the rally in front of the Supreme Court.
Ellen, how did the rally go? Did they sack the SC building? Set it on fire?
Did they sack the SC building? Set it on fire?
Nah, the worst they could have done prolly was to shower the gates with a few saliva from all the shouting.
Ah… Did they even shout is my next question?
I have posted this scenario, 14th March (Marami Pa Ring Duda).
I really hope I am mistaken, but the trend is headed that way.
Failure of Election and GMA resumes power. Darn really.
Someone mentioned about international recognition. Can someone enlighten us on the US Military Base in Japan? I think the Japanese Govt has given USD 10 Billion to US in order for them to relocate. Their lease expires 2010 May.
Note, how US and Japanese Govt are into the peace accord with MILF. Not to be overlooked is the Sarangani Port built.
GMA and FG went to the US, and I could only presume, they have sealed a deal with Obama, forget his “Wrong Side of History” Inauguration speech. US and Japanese recognition of a government is more enough for the International Community to recognize it as well. I really hope we do not come to this. Or this could lead to a bloody civil war. Not a peaceful people power. The mechanics are in place, and so are the logistics.
Posted 14th March: (marami Pa Rin Ag Duda thread…)
I am hopeful that the elctions would be good. However from what I have learned through fora and presenations, including the Senate and Congressional hearings, I am now more inclined into believing that Failure of Elections would be concluded. Also noted that CJ Puno have asked COMELEC if any laws pertaining to the Omnibus Election Code needs any amendments, particularly of Protests, the answer from Comm Sarmiento is ” Perhaps”. In one instance Sen. Escudero asked the same, and the reply of Comm. Melo is : The Book is simply too thick to be read.
Possible secnarios : Failure to transmit National Electional results. Local is transmitted, Gloria wins congressional seat in Pampanga. She is elcted by Congress as Speaker of the house. Since Neither President, Vice President, Nor Senate president has been duly recognized, Gloria is declared “leader” yet again…. darn!
Anna, the picture above is the only one I’ve seen. I was not able to attend. So busy with meeting deadlines.
Thanks, Ellen.
Aha… they did burn the pictures of the Judases in the Supreme Court.
Now, if only a spark of those burning placards could burn down the robes of these shitheads…
No Rift Between President and PNP Chief Verzosa – PNP Spokesman
Drama lang ba o tutoo, ano sa palagay nyo??? 😛
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100319-259632/No-rift-between-President-VerzosaPNP-spokesman
Ito pa…
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20100319-259713/GMA-vs-PNP-chief-Verzosa
Mike,
Of course, they won’t admit to a rift.
Gloria took Versoza’s declaration as an affront and was upset. So snubbed the graduation rites. What the dwende didn’t realise or think about is that she’s snubbed not Versoza but the future police officers of the country.
She’s a lil person, with little mind and absolutely little class (or no class at all.)
Anna, she (Gloria) has class… she is PMA class ’78 muse. Yucks… hehehe 😛
If there really is a rift between Verzosa and Gloria, I just hope that the rift widens further…. !!!
she is PMA class ‘78 muse hikhikhik! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Sax, I am inclined to believe that such an eventuality is still defensible in conjunction with the nature of the Senate as a continuing body as explained in Arnault, dissent of CJ Puno in Neri and similar case laws.
Now this:
Palace sees junta if polls collapse
How very clever! RP’s lil Joseph Goebbels (Gloria Arroyo) is preparing public mind for a junta that will have her as chief.
Gloria has begun to adopt Joseph Goebbels’ doctrine:
Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo himself raised the fact that the Supreme Court (note that majority of sitting judges have been appointed by Arroyo) convenes as a Presidential Electoral Tribunal that handles election protests pertaining to the presidential and vice presidential race.
If Gloria appoints her man to be next SC Chief, there is a strong possibility that the actual loser in the presidential race may become the next president Either that or cause the elections to fail thus paving the way for her to stay indefinitely.
Unmindful of what they were taught or what they actually teach, some lawyers like to do their own interpretation and put ambiguity into the text of the Constitution.
“The Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members”
will mean Congress will vote jointly.
– Some HOR and Palace lawyers
“The President shall not be eligible for any re-election”
will mean any past President can be re-elected as long as he is not the immediate-past President (or the incumbent President).
– Nicodemo Ferrer (Comelec 2nd Division) and Erap lawyers
“No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time”
will mean any past President can be qualified for election if he didn’t complete his 6-year term provided his incumbency is not more than 4 years.
– Nicodemo Ferrer (Comelec 2nd Division) and Erap lawyers
Now it’s out of the bag. Even the “Supreme” magistrates themselves are guilty of putting ambiguity to the text of the Constitution:
“Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety”
will mean the President can appoint members of the Judiciary even in election period.
Joseph Story, American lawyer and jurist, once said:
“Where the words are plain and clear, and the sense distinct and perfect arising from them, there is generally no necessity to have recourse to other means of interpretation.”
Perhaps Joseph will be sad and I’m sure most of us are…for this flawed reasoning that some lawyers like to do will now forever be the norm.
+with all the denials and lies of the minions of this present administrations comes now a disturbing addition to their over-all plans:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100320-259765/Alarm-raised-vs-Arroyo-private-army-in-House
Anna, she (Gloria) has class… she is PMA class ‘78 muse. – Mike
Muse? Meron bang muse na mukhang dagang rabbit?
Masscot, puwede pa. At mas akma at dapat!
Palace sees junta if polls collapse
This is the very scenario we all fear about since they announced the poll automation. Glaringly, gloria made appointments consisting of her most trusted and ever loyal followers to include those occupying top military posts who are her lover boys, este beloved boys.
Lest everyone forgets, they had been planning it after gloria’s Itim Unity did not win a majority during the senatorial elections. And they had the very reasons to do so since everyone is vocal in running after them once gloria steps out of malakanyang.
Any president can make appointments EVEN a day relinquishing office ONLY if that president is a duly elected and mandated one.
That president MUST NOT be a grabber, a liar nor a cheat!
“…..EVEN a day before relinquishing office…..”
Gumagawa din lamang sila ng bersiyon, gawa din tayo ng mas maliwanag na paliwanag tungkol sa ganyang mga dapat ipaliwanag upang maliwanagan ang kanilang hindi maliwanagang isipan.
Simple lang mana ang dapat nilang pagbatayan, eh.
Si gloria ba bakit naging presidente daw? Kailan ba siya tunay na inihalal ng taong bayan?
Ano’ng karapatan niya upang manatili sa malakanyang ayon sa sarili niyang kagustuhan?
At ang pinakaimportanteng dapat itanong din sa kanilang mga sarili ng mga legal fairies natin, gayundin sa mga heneral natin na noong mga tinyente pa lamang ay napakamakabayan ang prinsipyo at sumumpang magpapakatapat sa tungkulin – bakit sila nagpapakasangkapan sa alam nilang maitim na balak ng babaeng may bangaw sa mukha at usli ang ngipin?
Marahil darating ang panahon,ang P.I. ay mapapalitan na ng B.I. ang bansag sa ating kaawang bansa,ano ang ibig sabihin ng B.I. wala iba kundi BABUYAN ISLAND,wala ng ginawa ang mga namumuno kundi bababuyin ang lahat.Pati ang batas ay ginagawang laruan sa kanilang mga palad.
Sige na nga – Failure of Elections na!
Okey dagdagan pa nila ng Military Junta na isusulong ng isang coup-me.
Sige nga. Tignan natin.
Puro lang rin sila pananakot, hindi rin naman nila kayang ituloy.
Yung martial law, ni hindi naitesting sa Mindanao.
E ano ngayon kung may balak kayong mag-Junta?
Kaya ba ninyo?
Tongue,
Kaya yan. Alam nila kasi madaling matakot ang mga Pinoy. If SC is in the pocket of the chief of the Junta (could be civil military junta kasi), then lusot sila.
I made a correction in #s 13 and 14. Nonoy Aquino’s term as senator is up to 2013. He ran for re-election in 2007.
From Noel Mapili:
Senate not a continuing legislative body
Senator Edgardo Angara proposed for all 23 senators to elect a new Senate president before May 10 because of the possibility of a power vacuum in which no newly elected president is proclaimed by June 30 as a result of a failure of elections. According to him, without a new Senate president, the line of succession would be broken because the terms of office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles will end on June 30.
Reacting to the proposal made by Angara, Enrile said he would ask the senators to elect a new Senate president with a term up to 2013 who could act as interim president of the republic to ensure a smooth transition of power should the May automated elections fail.
However, although the Senate president is the second in the line of succession after the Vice President, with only half or 12 of the 24 Senate members serving until 2013, the chamber is not considered a “continuing body” because a majority or 13 of the 24 members are needed to constitute a quorum and do business. Hence, there would still be a leadership vacuum in case of a failure of elections.
Unlike under the 1935 Constitution wherein only eight of the 24 senators were elected every two years such that 16 senators constituting two-thirds of the Senate always continued into the next Congress, and, therefore, was deemed a continuing body, in contrast, under the 1987 Constitution, the term of 12 of the 24 senators expired every three years leaving less than a majority to continue into the next Congress. Ergo, the present senate is not a continuing body.
Atty. Emmanuel LJ. Mapili
Acting Chief, Canvass Board Service, House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal
Co-author, Omnibus Election Code (2007) (with Retired SC Justice Josue Bellosillo and SC Administrator Jose Midas Marquez)
Six NPs seek reversal of SC ruling
by Evangeline de Vera and Jocelyn Montemayor
Malaya
Six Nacionalista Party senatorial candidates yesterday filed a motion before the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the suit allowing President Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice.
The candidates – Adel Tamano, Liza Maza, Satur Ocampo, Susan Ople, Gilbert Remulla and Gwendolyn Pimentel –also filed a motion for reconsideration seeking a reversal of the SC’s March 17 ruling, citing serious and adverse ramifications to the country’s governmental institutions, particularly to the judicial system.
Tamano said the high court, in coming out with its ruling, may have amended the Constitution by circumventing the prohibition against all appointments under Section 15, Article 7 of the Constitution two months before the presidential elections.
The group said there is nothing in the constitutional provision that exempts the judiciary from its coverage. The only exceptions are “temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety,” it added.
The SC, in its assailed ruling, granted the consolidated petitions allowing Arroyo to appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno who will retire on May 17.
But contrary to the opinion of the majority of justices, the six senatorial bets said the decision not only undermines the separation of powers doctrine in the charter, “but also effectively renders nugatory the system of check and balance, hence destroying the very foundation of separation of powers.”
The NP bets were the first to appeal the high court’s decision.
The Judicial and Bar Council will meet on April 5 to discuss the SC’s March 17 ruling, in time for the justices’ regular summer session in Baguio City.
Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, an ex-officio member of the JBC, said he will propose that the eight-man JBC panel discuss if there is a need to interview the six candidates for the position of chief justice.
Agra said the JBC must submit its shortlist to Arroyo on or before May 17, the date of Puno’s retirement, otherwise it would eat into the 90-day period within which the President may appoint Puno’s replacement.
The JBC is also expected to clarify with Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales if they still want to be included in the shortlist to be submitted to the Arroyo in the light of the SC’s ruling allowing the incumbent president to appoint.
Carpio and Morales earlier said they would accept their nomination if it is the next president who will appoint the next chief justice.
Malacañang officials meanwhile belittled the plans of Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson to launch an impeachment campaign against the nine justices of the Supreme Court who ruled that Arroyo can appoint the next chief justice.
Press secretary Crispulo Icban Jr. said they are confident the move will not prosper. “They cannot even gather a quorum for more important matters,” he said, adding that Joson must have a very good basis to pursue impeachment.
That opinion is culled from the concurring opinion of Carpio in the Romulo Neri case found here:
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2008/mar2008/gr_180643acarpio_2008.html
That was the opinion of one justice, not the majority.
There is, however, a contrary view, decided en banc (Avelino v. Cuenco) found here:
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1949/mar1949/gr_l-2821_1949.html
Feria, concurring opinion.
The majority made the same conclusion, but I quoted Justice Feria’s, because the explanation is better stated.
Read the concurring opinion of Justice Feria (further down) where he traces this from Mabanag v. Lopez Vito, where the 3/4 was computed not from the total number of members stated in the Constitution, but from the total of the senators present.
If I remember right, Grand Old Man Tañada, and I believe, two others were ousted (suspended or disqualified by the chair), which produced the required number to ratify the parity rights agreement.
Noon pa lang, binebenta na ang Pilipinas.
However, although the Senate president is the second in the line of succession after the Vice President, with only half or 12 of the 24 Senate members serving until 2013, the chamber is not considered a “continuing body” because a majority or 13 of the 24 members are needed to constitute a quorum and do business. Hence, there would still be a leadership vacuum in case of a failure of elections.
That opinion is culled from the concurring opinion of Carpio in the Romulo Neri case found here:
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2008/mar2008/gr_180643acarpio_2008.html
That was the opinion of one justice, not the majority.
There is, however, a contrary view, decided en banc (Avelino v. Cuenco) found here:
http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1949/mar1949/gr_l-2821_1949.html
“a majority of each House shall constitute a quorum to do business,” shows the intention of the framers of the Constitution to base the majority, not on the number fixed or provided for the Constitution,but on actual members or incumbents…
Feria, concurring opinion.
The majority made the same conclusion, but I quoted Justice Feria’s, because the explanation is better stated.
Read the concurring opinion of Justice Feria (further down) where he traces this from Mabanag v. Lopez Vito, where the 3/4 was computed not from the total number of members stated in the Constitution, but from the total of the senators present.
If I remember right, Grand Old Man Tañada, and I believe, two others were ousted (suspended or disqualified by the chair), which produced the required number to ratify the parity rights agreement.
Noon pa lang, binebenta na ang Pilipinas.
SnV, a lawyer told me yesterday that even if a senator whose term ends in 2013 is elected senate president, that would only be good for the 14th Congress which ends noon of June 30, 2010. You still have to elect a new one after June 30, and without a quorum, you still can’t elect a new senate president.
Tama ba ito?
The term 1st, 2nd, etc., Congress, refers to the Sessions of Congress, not the Congress as a body, because it is a continuing body. That is the same practice in the US, which is why they refer to their, 1st, 2nd etc., Congresses, alternatively, as sessions of Congress.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/one_item_and_teasers/Years_to_Congress.htm
Congress, after all, just means a meeting, or encounter. In fact, in Cheap Justice Fernando, in one decision, referred to physical contact as “sexual congress”.
In the same way, there are sessions of the Supreme Court, before they take their recess.
When the Congress first meets, somebody will call the meeting to order and preside. That is the incumbent Senate President. He stays on until replaced.
The incumbent Senate President also usually swears in the newly elected senators.