TIME HAD SPOKEN
By: CHARLEMAGNE G. LAVIÑA, Ph.D.

During the time of President Marcos, it can be easily perceived that some Supreme Court decisions sought refuge behind the political question doctrine and in case the doctrine cannot be invoked, decisions will be made in favor the Chief Executive for the simple reason that the magistrates are afraid to displease the powerful. Thus, in the landmark case of Javellana vs. Executive Secretary, (G. R. No. L-36142 March 31, 1973), the legitimacy of the ratification of the 1973 Constitution via raising of hands in the barangay level instead of via ballot boxes — was upheld as constitutional by a majority of six (6) justices over the four (4) dissenting votes of Chief Justice Conception and Justices Zaldivar, Fernando and Teehankee.

In our present time, much opinion have been expressed that the majority of the justices of our present Supreme Court appointed by President Arroyo will be impartial after 2010. This only means, that the case of Neri vs. Senate can be easily overturn by the same (or nine justices who concurred) members of the Supreme Court when executive privilege is claimed by the President after Arroyo. Their impartiality after 2010 will, in no way redeemed their alleged inclination for Arroyo. Simply put it this way, supposed the nine justices who upheld the executive privilege claimed by Neri will remain after 2010, will their decision be the same if lets say if Lacson is the president?
I am still convincing myself that the independence of the Supreme Court still holds true today. Few weeks ago, a clash between the Senators and Executive Secretary Ermita took place when the latter comments that Cabinet secretaries cannot be compelled by the Senate to attend investigations in aid of legislations unless the Senate rules are published. Ermita was ridiculed by Sen. Pimentel for his comment and said he (Ermita) doesn’t know what he is talking about.
In my opinion, Pimentel and Ermita are both correct. Their word war is caused by the inconsistency of Supreme Court decisions. Ermita based his conclusions on the ruling of the Supreme Court that the Senate action was constitutionally infirm because the latter failed to publish their ruling in relation to Article 6 Section 21 of the Constitution which states “The Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its respective committees may conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The rights of persons appearing in, or affected by, such inquiries shall be respected”. (Emphasis supplied).
In Senate vs Ermita and Savio vs Gordon, the Supreme Court decisions were commended. In these decisions, the Supreme Court did not look into whether or not the Senate rules had been published. They set aside the rules of technicality in these cases. However, the same is not true in case of Neri, the Supreme Court exert effort to find fault committed by the Senate, and even though the Senate rules were published in the internet, ruled against the letter.
Chief Justice Puno commented that only time could tell whether the Supreme Court decision in the case of Neri vs Senate is correct. I believed the time had spoken.

Hi po.

I am not sure kung naalala pa po nyo ako, ako po ung taga pangasinan who referred 5 students pra makapag-avail ng scholarship at ikinatutuwa nman po namin na naaprove. that was way back 2003 po. saan po b ang headquarter ng cibac dito sa manila pra po makadalaw din po ako, one time pumunta na po ako sa batasan sa tanggapan ni rep miraflores ng aklan.

marami pong salamat at asahan po nyo ang tawag ko anytime from today onwards po...

God bless us all po...

Hi po.

Nais ko sana mginquire kung ngbbgay din po kau ng scholarship pra sa studyante ng open university (e.g. PUP-OU at UPOU) kasi po nais ko sana mkpgaral..at kung sakali man po anu nman po ang mga kinakailangan na aking isumite at gwin upang makamtan ko po ang pgkakataon na matulungan ng CIBAC....

maraming salamat po...

GOOD PM PO KUMUSTA NA PO ANG SCHOLARSHIP DITO SA SSU CATBALOGAN CITYTULOY TULOY PO BA AT MAGDADAGDAG PA PO NG SCHOLAR KASI MARAMI PONG GUSTONG MAKAAVAIL NG SCHOLAR SA CIBAC

Pwede po bng mlamn kng pde pah puh mgCIBAC scholarship if mern kah nah poh nah other scholarship?
Kc nde po sapat ung isang scholarship lng..kng pde lang po sana..

tnx..sna po replyan nio po ito..