By Bingo P Dejaresco
The recent decision of the Supreme Court on the Court of Appeals (court) involvement in the takeover bid of the GSIS over the Meralco was a face-saving event meant for damage control.
For the seeming "obscene haste" that the CA had ruled that the SEC had no jurisdiction over Meralco - and allowing the Lopezes, de jure and de facto, to maintain control the power firm's management - and staving off the corporate pirates led by GSIS Head Winston Garcia, the SC ruled strongly.
CA Justice Vicente Roxas was sacked brutally while the apparent whistle-blower got a slap in the wrist (CA Justice Jose Sabio) and reprimands went to Justice Bienvenido Reyes and Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr.
The Roxas sacking was a mere illusionary show of strength but the suspension of Sabio, despite the propaganda blitz to canonize him a semi-saint was neither here nor there.
Justice Sabio's attempt to meet alleged pro-Meralco bribe-giver Francis de Borja in the Ateneo Law School grounds (where the former teaches) was clearly unethical - regardless if the true bribe money was P10 million or P50 million. His immediate silence over the try of his brother PCGG Chairman Camilo for Jose to load the dice in the Meralco-GSIS Case is, at best, an act of ineptitude and lack of balls.
Saying "I will vote according to my conscience, anyway" cannot justify his silence.
The act of Camilo Sabio, on the other hand, to unduly influence his brother's judicial decision undermines his post as top Stolen Goods Pursuer as PCGG Chairman, a post that demands the utmost transparency and unsullied integrity. He was last seen on the front pages, dancing the reggae with Imeldific Marcos during her birthday bash, the Shoe Queen being one of the principals the PCGG is training its guns on.
Is not Dancing with the Enemy totally without taste and at worst - dangerous liaison hatched at the ballroom?
Is that lack of decorum any better than the Executive Department's release of its bulldogs from the pit – a.k.a. the GSIS to terrorize the Lopez and power-drive the latter to the mat and thus submit to a "reverse privatization?" - ceding the private Lopez ownership to government hands? Can that be better?
A question can be asked if Francis de Borja, the cock-breeder and industrialist of Quezon, been a regular wheeler dealer whose expertise may have ended with the Meralco-GSIS imbroglio? Will he not be brought to court for bribery of persons in authority, magistrates at that?
If Meralco used money and influence to combat the predatory State, wasn't that a mere act of defense to survive the corporate assault on the ownership of the utility firm it had for decades possessed?
Were the spectacles we witnessed in this case really represent of how the wheels of justice in this country are really turned - for better, mostly for worse?
What ails the Justice system in this country? For one, as co-equal of three branches of Government (alongside the Executive and the Legislative) the Judiciary has a pittance of a budget - a mere P9.6 billion, a fiddling 6% of the entire Philippine Budget of P1.6 trillion in 2008.
Do we want Lady Justice to walk in crutches due to a tiny budget?
The Department of Justice already has a P5.6 billion Budget added to the Ombudsman's own Budget of close to a billion and another P250 million for the Commission on Human Rights. Are we treating the Judiciary - the arbiter of law and justice - with respect and fairness?
Does that small budget be the cause why words like fixcal and cashunduan ni Judge had become a permanent phraseology when referring to our Justice System?
Aside from budget hikes, shouldn't judicial reforms include lifestyle checks and evaluation of the quantity and quality of cases where a decision has been rendered by such judges - be started now rather than later?
Be that as it may, the Philippine Justice system seems to be (at least) just in the middle of rankings made (no. 6 among 12) by an independent survey team among over a thousand executives as to its efficacy - even though the Philippine Judiciary has been known not to enforce contracts, is susceptible to Executive interference and known to manufacture "obscene and inappropriate" court decisions.
With a ranking of 6.10 (0 Best and 10 worst), RP was behind (in order) Hongkong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan but ahead (in order) of Malaysia, India, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Notice that those ahead of the Philippines are nations with relatively good, progressive economies. Is there a correlation existing between economic prosperity and efficacy of the Justice System?
Let's aim higher then, if that is the case.
The recent decision of the Supreme Court on the Court of Appeals (court) involvement in the takeover bid of the GSIS over the Meralco was a face-saving event meant for damage control.
For the seeming "obscene haste" that the CA had ruled that the SEC had no jurisdiction over Meralco - and allowing the Lopezes, de jure and de facto, to maintain control the power firm's management - and staving off the corporate pirates led by GSIS Head Winston Garcia, the SC ruled strongly.
CA Justice Vicente Roxas was sacked brutally while the apparent whistle-blower got a slap in the wrist (CA Justice Jose Sabio) and reprimands went to Justice Bienvenido Reyes and Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr.
The Roxas sacking was a mere illusionary show of strength but the suspension of Sabio, despite the propaganda blitz to canonize him a semi-saint was neither here nor there.
Justice Sabio's attempt to meet alleged pro-Meralco bribe-giver Francis de Borja in the Ateneo Law School grounds (where the former teaches) was clearly unethical - regardless if the true bribe money was P10 million or P50 million. His immediate silence over the try of his brother PCGG Chairman Camilo for Jose to load the dice in the Meralco-GSIS Case is, at best, an act of ineptitude and lack of balls.
Saying "I will vote according to my conscience, anyway" cannot justify his silence.
The act of Camilo Sabio, on the other hand, to unduly influence his brother's judicial decision undermines his post as top Stolen Goods Pursuer as PCGG Chairman, a post that demands the utmost transparency and unsullied integrity. He was last seen on the front pages, dancing the reggae with Imeldific Marcos during her birthday bash, the Shoe Queen being one of the principals the PCGG is training its guns on.
Is not Dancing with the Enemy totally without taste and at worst - dangerous liaison hatched at the ballroom?
Is that lack of decorum any better than the Executive Department's release of its bulldogs from the pit – a.k.a. the GSIS to terrorize the Lopez and power-drive the latter to the mat and thus submit to a "reverse privatization?" - ceding the private Lopez ownership to government hands? Can that be better?
A question can be asked if Francis de Borja, the cock-breeder and industrialist of Quezon, been a regular wheeler dealer whose expertise may have ended with the Meralco-GSIS imbroglio? Will he not be brought to court for bribery of persons in authority, magistrates at that?
If Meralco used money and influence to combat the predatory State, wasn't that a mere act of defense to survive the corporate assault on the ownership of the utility firm it had for decades possessed?
Were the spectacles we witnessed in this case really represent of how the wheels of justice in this country are really turned - for better, mostly for worse?
What ails the Justice system in this country? For one, as co-equal of three branches of Government (alongside the Executive and the Legislative) the Judiciary has a pittance of a budget - a mere P9.6 billion, a fiddling 6% of the entire Philippine Budget of P1.6 trillion in 2008.
Do we want Lady Justice to walk in crutches due to a tiny budget?
The Department of Justice already has a P5.6 billion Budget added to the Ombudsman's own Budget of close to a billion and another P250 million for the Commission on Human Rights. Are we treating the Judiciary - the arbiter of law and justice - with respect and fairness?
Does that small budget be the cause why words like fixcal and cashunduan ni Judge had become a permanent phraseology when referring to our Justice System?
Aside from budget hikes, shouldn't judicial reforms include lifestyle checks and evaluation of the quantity and quality of cases where a decision has been rendered by such judges - be started now rather than later?
Be that as it may, the Philippine Justice system seems to be (at least) just in the middle of rankings made (no. 6 among 12) by an independent survey team among over a thousand executives as to its efficacy - even though the Philippine Judiciary has been known not to enforce contracts, is susceptible to Executive interference and known to manufacture "obscene and inappropriate" court decisions.
With a ranking of 6.10 (0 Best and 10 worst), RP was behind (in order) Hongkong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan but ahead (in order) of Malaysia, India, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Notice that those ahead of the Philippines are nations with relatively good, progressive economies. Is there a correlation existing between economic prosperity and efficacy of the Justice System?
Let's aim higher then, if that is the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment