Editorial: Manila Standard Today
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/sectionOpinion.htm?f=2011/december/14/editorial.isx&d=2011/december/14HIS administration's decision to ram the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona through the House of Representatives this week is so fraught with danger that we are almost at a loss where to begin.
Certainly, the one-day sensation confirmed the complete subservience of the House to the wishes of President Benigno Aquino III.
The one, overarching mental image of the Speaker of the House punching out a text message on his cell phone to dutifully and promptly report to the President the success of his signature campaign against the Chief Justice speaks more eloquently than words could ever do of the extent to which Congress has surrendered its prerogatives to the Palace. The celebratory lunch that followed the next day at a five-star hotel became yet another venue for the President to publicly attack the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court with his folksy, self-righteous rhetoric
Another clear and present danger is the death of judicial independence.
If the brown shirts in the President's Liberal Party can impeach the Chief Justice at will because they dislike the way he has passed judgment, will other justices of the Court and judges of the lower courts dare to rule against the administration again, right or wrong? Already, there are rumbling about the next targets for impeachment. True or not, these rumors would certainly have a chilling effect on the Judiciary, which has already had to contend with this administration's selective adherence to court rulings, and its open defiance of the Supreme Court.
It is easy to dismiss as hyperbole Judge Antonio Eugenio's warning comparing Mr. Aquino to the German dictator Adolf Hitler, but the words of the incumbent president of the Manila Judges Association ring true.
“They act by sheer numbers. They act on the basis of popularity,” Eugenio said of the President and his allies in the House.
“But remember history. When Hitler assumed power in Germany, he was the most popular figure and trampled upon the rights of everyone because he was popular. We all know what happened to Adolf Hitler,” Eugenio said.
The warning tells of the third major danger in the latest impeachment drama—public apathy. In an environment that demonizes any person associated with the previous administration, it is difficult to raise the alarm over the loss of our rights and the diminution of our democratic institutions without being smeared by broad, yellow brush strokes. Yet these are already happening under our noses, thanks to a President who has cynically used his popularity to subvert the institutions he has sworn to defend and uphold.
