Arroyo Supreme Court Indeed

Photo of the Day: Docked Ship
This HDR image of a docked ship was made with a single RAW exposure converted into three separate image files and then processed using Photomatix.

With the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the current occupant of Malacanang to appoint a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a few months before she steps down, the stage is now set for the grandest scheme of Arroyo.

Everything else, Proclamation 1017, Executive Order 464, probably even “Hello Garci” is dwarfed by this. It may even be said that everything that has been done before May 2010 is a mere prelude.

This decision also answers a question raised by former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban in a column last March 30, 2008 (almost a year ago), regarding a controversial Court decision allowing Romulo Neri’s refusal to answer questions on the NBN-ZTE scandal for reasons of “executive previlege” :

“An epochal Supreme Court is endearingly named after its chief, like the Davide Court or the Teehankee Court. However, when it unduly legitimizes kingly excesses, it is derisively named after the president it serves, like the Marcos Supreme Court. As a retired chief justice, I would like to believe that the Neri decision is a mere aberration and would not suffice to label the present tribunal as the Arroyo Supreme Court. But then, it must quickly choose what it wants to do. Is it to serve or to check President Arroyo?”

One of the last remaining pillars of democracy in our country has fallen, and a gravestone has risen in its stead. When Chief Justice Renato Puno retires on May 17, the 15-member court shall all be Arroyo’s appointees (she shall appoint two justices: Puno’s successor and the successor’s replacement).

Arroyo’s quest to become Arroyo-forever has to go through one final barrier before its fulfillment: Us. I have no doubt that we, as a people, will rise up against the prospects of a tyrant ruling the country until kingdom come.