In his recent speech entitled “Safeguarding the Poor in an Economic Crisis”, delivered on March 26, 2009 during the 12th National Convention of Lawyers held in Bacolod City, Philippines, Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno stated, inter alia:
“It is therefore obvious that it is difficult to uphold the rule of law in a land where few live in opulence, while the many die in want. In that setting, power will be in the hands of the few. The handful will determine the law, not the multitude. The elite will dictate the rules of life, not the masses. Sovereignty will no longer reside in the people but in a new aristocracy, the aristocracy of the rich whose only power is the purchasing power.”
I wish to quote below important excerpts from that speech.
“Any crisis always throws respect for the rule of law on the table of debate, for, all too often, it is sacrificed for reasons of necessity.”
“I cannot disagree with your analysis that protecting the rule of law in the ongoing economic crisis is a continuing challenge for lawyers, a challenge we cannot bury on the ground of indifference.”
“This right to equality of the poor cannot be overemphasized. Economist David Landes claims that the “gap in wealth and health that separates rich and poor is the greatest single problem and danger confronting the 21st century.” In 2005, the Commission for Africa described the contrast between the world’s wealthy and the poor in Africa as “the greatest scandal of our age.”
“The richer countries, representing just over one fifth of the world’s population, are producing four fifths of the world’s gross national product. The per capita income gap between the richest and the poorest countries has progressively increased over the past 200 years from a ratio of 3:1 to between 30:1 or 50:1.”
“The wealthiest countries also dominate global trade and control the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). This inequality of power among nations in laying down the rules of global trade is one of the hot-button issues in global politics. These rules have contributed a lot to the ongoing economic recession devastating poor nations that had no voice in their formulation. These unilateral rules have virtually been forced down their throats for the poor nations have no option except to follow them.”
“Without doubt, these economic development policies brought by globalization and its free market philosophy have not only widened the gap between the rich and the poor. They have also invited the expressions of extreme concern by environmentalists. The fear is that because of this rush for development, the world might be overshooting its ecological threshold.”
“As you are lawyers, my plea to you is to concentrate your study on how inequality in wealth is wrecking the rule of law. More specifically, how poverty will
destroy the democratic republican government we installed in our 1987 Constitution. It is not an exaggeration to state that poverty will result in a person’s loss of autonomy in life.
“It is therefore obvious that it is difficult to uphold the rule of law in a land where few live in opulence, while the many die in want. In that setting, power will be in the hands of the few. The handful will determine the law, not the multitude. The elite will dictate the rules of life, not the masses. Sovereignty will no longer reside in the people but in a new aristocracy, the aristocracy of the rich whose only power is the purchasing power.”
“Look at how poverty has destroyed the legitimatizing effect of our elections. Free, fair and honest elections lie at the heart of a democratic and republican government. But elections cannot be free where too many of the people are poor. They will not really be free to vote. Some of them will just sell out their right to vote. Some will be coerced by their employers or benefactors. For lack of sophistication, some will vote the undeserving.”
“Worse, the rich who are few but strong may desecrate the election process,
because they may not able to resist the temptation of overwhelming power,
for they have the power of the gun and the power of the gold.”
“All this means that too much poverty is a game changer because it can destroy our political freedom; it can desecrate our democracy.”
“We cannot completely eliminate poverty but we must diminish its level and unless we can close the gap between the rich and the few, our democracy will be a farce. Let us remember that the curse of the poor is not their lack of resources; rather, it is the loss of their freedom. If the many will lose their freedom, the few can’t retain theirs.”
