Monday, February 6, 2012

Judicial divinity of the "gods of Padre Faura"

The Supreme Court en banc is studying whether an SC justice subpoenaed by the Senate impeachment court should comply therewith without violating the constitutional doctrine of "separation of powers" among co-equal branches of government.  It must realize that an impeachment court is an extraordinary constitutional creation which is "not a co-equal branch" in government. It is a "sovereign court" created and designed by the Constitution to be above all the three regular branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary) when it performs its special sovereign duties to remove impeachable public officials. To my mind, if the Court insists on its "judicial divinity" and "judicial elitism", by rejecting the subpoenas, the People would equate such an act with institutional arrogance intended to hide the  dark secrets of its inner sanctum. Be open. Transparency is the hallmark of modern democracy. Let the light of truth and wisdom cleanse and purify the negative energy and the dead air inside the highly secretive institution, which the media has called the sacred  house of "the gods of Padre Faura". As a lawyer, I say this with all due respect to the rule of law and the administration of justice.        

- Atty. Manuel J. Laserna Jr.

See - http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/02/05/12/sc-tackle-possible-subpoenas-justices