"Who will be chosen to fill these vacant posts?"
"Who will be chosen to fill these vacant posts?"
With the retirement of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Oct. 26, the composition of the Supreme Court is in for a big change in composition.
The foremost question is who in the Judicial and Bar Council short list President Rodrigo Duterte would choose to fill the vacancy left by Chief Justice Bersamin. Then, there is the key post to be filled with Carpio’s retirement.
Sources inside the high court said there are nine candidates vying for Carpio’s vacated post. Among them is a Muslim magistrate in the Court of Appeals, Japar Dimaampao of Marawi City. If he gets the post, this would add to a more diversified Supreme Court to the benefit of our Islamic brothers in Mindanao.
What is Carpio’s plan after years of service in the judiciary? An articulate and vocal advocate of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling favoring the Philippines and rejecting Beijing’s sweeping claim in the South China Sea, Carpio has enough credentials and following to run as presidential candidate in 2022. Will he seek the presidency despite the voting record of Filipinos of not electing competent candidates and instead favoring popular presidential wannabes?
This was shown in the election of movie actor Joseph Estrada and Noynoy Aquino whose presidencies had to be the worst the country has ever experienced. Recall that Estrada was convicted of plunder but was pardoned just as soon as he stepped out of his Tanay. Rizal rest house. He even went on to become mayor of Manila.
The year 2022 is going to see a crowded presidential race . Already prancing around and making noise for visibility are Senators Richard Gordon and Grace Poe. The latter, despite her dubious citizenship, looks like she will try again to make it to Malacañang. Cynthia Villar in her own quiet way is already campaigning with community livelihood projects nationwide that carried her to the No. l senatorial spot in the last election. Has husband, mega-millionaire Manny Villar, given up on his dream to become president?
And then there are Vice President Leni Robredo and former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos. No matter the outcome of their vice presidential poll protest, voters can expect them to file their respective presidential bids. And why not, when they have come so near their ambition?
Will there be someone in the wings we have not heard of yet who will suddenly emerge to change the field equation of presidential hopefuls?
As usual, bloc voting by religious sects like the Iglesia ni Kristo, El Shaddai and Jesus is Lord Movement will figure in the crucial count. The Catholic Church for all the millions of Catholics in the country is never known to command its flock on whom to elect as churchgoers normally are unmanageable and tend to go their own way.
This unwieldy way of Filipinos is reflected in their leadership which is often also divisive. That we are an archipelago country of more than 7,000 islands also mirrors the 7,000 small republics each led by a warlord and his political dynasty. Someone said that the scattered islands of the Philippines is the very picture of our fragmented political situation. That indeed seems like an appropriate comparison.
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Meanwhile General Guillermo Eleazar and two other police generals are in the running for PNP chief, after Oscar Albayalde went on terminal leave under a cloud of allegations that he had a role in the recycling of confiscated drugs seized in a Pampanga raid. Albayalde has denied the allegation, which he says is embarrassing his family, particularly his daughter who’s still in school.
Albayalde will get all his retirement benefits unless he is proven guilty of the crime even after he has retired. Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate justice committee investigating the case against Albyalde and the so-called “ninja” cops, says the case against Albayalde is strong and deserves full conclusion.
