Posted in Manila Bulletin
By: Ben Rosario
Manila, Philippines — A close Malacañang ally in Congress
raised anew the sword of Damocles over the heads of Supreme Court (SC)
justices as he revived his threat to impeach magistrates whom he accused of
abusing the power of judicial review and violating the principle of separation
of powers.
In a privilege speech, Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali
appealed to witnesses of alleged judicial abuses and irregularities in the
judiciary to come out in the open to help the executive and legislative
branches of government cleanse the courts of bad eggs.
Delivering his second SC bashing in three months, Umali
assailed several High Court decisions which he claimed to have flip-flopped on
past rulings, saying that these were reached by magistrates in the guise of
“judicial elasticity.”
In his first anti-SC privilege speech, the administration
lawmaker vowed to push for the impeachment of two Supreme Court members,
telling journalists later that the complaint will be filed in January 2014.
In his latest blast against the SC, Umali did not state
reasons for failing to pursue the impeachment cases, but he reiterated his
accusations that certain members of the judiciary were guilty of betrayal of
public trust which is an impeachable offense.
“As the highest tribunal in the land, the Supreme Court
should be the stronghold of integrity and impartiality. Yet how can we
trust a Supreme Court that changes its mind whenever such change appears to be
convenient?” asked Umali, who takes pride of having authored impeachment
resolutions that led to the resignation of former Ombudsman Merceditas
Gutierrez and the ouster of former SC Chief Justice Renato Corona.
He detailed a number of cases which he said have been
shrouded with judicial controversies due to reversals of previous decisions.
But his main criticism appeared to be aimed at the case of
Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes whose proclamation as congressional race winner
over former Rep. Lord Allan Velasco has been ordered nullified by the Court.
Failing to get Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to acknowledge the
ruling, Velasco, son of SC Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, filed a
Petition for Mandamus seeking to compel Belmonte to administer his oath of
office and direct Secretary General Emilia Barua-Yap to remove Reyes’ name from
the roll of members of the House.
Citing a House resolution signed by majority of congressmen
and jurisprudence, Umali, himself a lawyer, stressed that the Supreme Court no
longer has jurisdiction over the electoral controversy because the decision is
already under the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral
Tribunal which Justice Velasco chairs.
“Surely, a full blown constitutional crisis will ensue at a
huge cost to our political system on account of a flip-flopping , albeit,
unwarranted decision of the High Court to favor a son of a sitting
magistrate, which I submit constitute betrayal of public trust, a clear ground
for impeachment,” Umali said.
Reyes case was “motu propio” decided in record time of 18
days, without even requiring the sitting solon to comment, he said.
“It is very unusual how the Supreme Court was able to decide
the Reyes case so swiftly when some, if not most, cases remain for years in the
court dockets despite its mandate under the 1987 Constitution to resolve cases
within 24 months from the date of submission,” Umali said.
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