Sunday, February 5, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion Columns Hail to the chair by Victor Avecilla

PNoy’s Marcosian judicial politics

December 26, 2017, 12:03 am
in Hail to the chair by Victor Avecilla
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

ALTHOUGH there is no constitutional or statutory provision mandating it, the historical tradition in the Philippines is that the most senior associate justice of the Supreme Court is next in line as chief justice.  This tradition, however, is not akin to a hard and fast rule, as the historical record reveals.

During the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines (1942-1945), the Executive Commission appointed Jose Yulo chief justice.  Four other associate justices were appointed to serve in the Yulo Court, including Manuel Moran, who was the most senior associate justice of the Supreme Court under the ousted Commonwealth of the Philippines.

In fine, Yulo’s appointment as chief justice by-passed Moran, and it was in breach of the foregoing judicial tradition. He was also an outsider inasmuch as he was never an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

At any rate, the appointment of Chief Justice Yulo did not create any stir since the country was undergoing extra-ordinarily unusual times.

Philippine presidents beginning from Manuel Roxas until Diosdado Macapagal honored the judicial tradition by appointing the most senior associate justice of the Supreme Court the chief justice whenever a vacancy arises in the said office.

ADVERTISEMENT

President Ferdinand Marcos honored the judicial tradition four times—once during his first term (1965-1969), once during his second term (1969-1973), and twice during his extended term under martial law (1973-1981).  More specifically, Marcos appointed Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion in 1966; Chief Justice Querube Makalintal in 1973; Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro in 1976; and Chief Justice Enrique M. Fernando in 1979.

Chief Justice Concepcion administered the oath of office to President Marcos in December 1969, while Chief Justice Fernando did the honor in June 1981.  Fernando was particularly close to Marcos since they were contemporaries in the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law.

Under the original text of the 1973 Constitution, a justice of the Supreme Court must retire upon reaching the age of 65 (it was 70 under the 1935 Constitution).  Thus, Chief Justice Fernando was due to retire in July 1980.

Chief Justice Fernando’s retirement plans, however, were postponed when in early 1980, the 1973 Constitution was amended anew, this time restoring the compulsory retirement age of 70 for all judges and justices provided in the 1935 Constitution.

A difficulty for President Marcos arose in July 1985.  Chief Justice Fernando was due for compulsory retirement, and the most senior associate justice of the Supreme Court was Claudio Teehankee.

The ties between President Marcos and Justice Teehankee go back a long way.  Even before Marcos won the presidency in 1965, Teehankee was Marcos’s legal counsel and adviser.  In 1968, Marcos appointed

Teehankee associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Their close relationship soured in April 1973 when the validity of the 1973 Constitution was challenged in the Supreme Court. Teehankee was among four justices who voted against the validity of the new charter.  Since then, Teehankee became the anti-administration vote in the Supreme Court whenever the validity of the official acts of the Marcos regime were challenged in the high tribunal.

If the judicial tradition were to be observed, President Marcos should appoint Teehankee chief justice upon the retirement of Chief Justice Fernando. Although Chief Justice Fernando did not always rule in favor of the Marcos administration (he was a staunch advocate of judicial review of authoritarian measures), Marcos was comfortable with Fernando at the helm of the judiciary—a coordinate branch of the national government.  With Fernando as the chief justice and former Chief Justice Querube Makalintal as the head of the Interim Batasang Pambansa, Marcos had both the judiciary and the legislature on friendly terms with him.

President Marcos’s advisers stressed that appointing Teehankee chief justice will create the specter of a hostile judiciary. Indeed, Marcos was not keen on a Teehankee Court.

Thus, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Fernando, President Marcos by-passed Justice Teehankee and appointed Teehankee’s next-in-line, Justice Felix Makasiar, chief justice. Like Castro and Fernando before him, Makasiar was a Marcos appointee to the Supreme Court.  He was also the strongman’s solicitor general before his judicial appointment.

Because Makasiar’s appointment as chief justice breached the judicial tradition, anti-Marcos politicians quickly denounced Makasiar’s appointment  as an affront to the independence of the judiciary.

When Chief Justice Makasiar retired in November 1985, President Marcos again by-passed Justice Teehankee and appointed Teehankee’s  next-in-line, Ramon Aquino chief justice.  Like what happened earlier, anti-Marcos politicians denounced the Aquino appointment.

Teehankee finally became chief justice in 1986 when Mrs. Corazon Cojuangco Aquino appointed him to the post days after seizing power.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo also breached the judicial tradition when she appointed Artemio Panganiban chief justice, succeeding the pro-Aquino Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. She by-passed Reynato Puno, who was the most senior associate justice at the time Davide retired.  Puno was more senior to Corona.

President Arroyo breached the tradition once more when, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Puno, she appointed Renato Corona chief justice, by-passing Antonio Carpio, who was the most senior associate justice.

When Mrs. Aquino’s only son, Benigno Aquino III (also known as P’Noy) assumed the presidency in 2010, he was staunchly anti-Marcos. As president, P’Noy loved to recall what he considered as abuses committed by President Marcos during the latter’s incumbency. He also disdained President Arroyo.

In 2012, after Chief Justice Corona was removed from office by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court, P’Noy appointed one of the most junior justices in the Supreme Court, Maria Lourdes Sereno, chief justice.  P’Noy appointed Sereno associate justice in 2010. By the time Sereno became chief justice, she had been in the judiciary for just two years.

Sereno’s appointment as chief justice was as shocking as it was unprecedented.  Aside from by-passing several justices who were her senior, Sereno’s appointment made her the first female chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Evidently, PNoy not only breached the judicial tradition; he politicized the appointment process for justices of the Supreme Court. In doing so, Benigno Aquino III had become, among others, another Ferdinand Marcos.

Tags: Chief JusticeJapanese occupationJose YuloManuel Roxas Diosdado MacapagalPhilippines
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

Doy Laurel in Philippine history

December 23, 2017, 12:01 am
0
18
Doy Laurel in Philippine history

(Part 3) With Cory Aquino bent on running for president despite Laurel’s presidential candidacy, the opposition was doomed.  Marcos was...

Read more

CJ Sereno’s two serious problems

December 19, 2017, 12:03 am
0
8
CJ Sereno’s two  serious problems

It looks like Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s problems concerning the impeachment complaint against her are mounting.  Three...

Read more

Doy Laurel in Philippine history

December 16, 2017, 12:01 am
0
9
Doy Laurel in Philippine history

Later on, President Marcos made it difficult for Doy Laurel to get included in the NP senatorial line up for...

Read more

Doy Laurel in Philippine history

December 9, 2017, 6:48 pm
0
21
Doy Laurel in Philippine history

November 18, 2017 marked the 89th birth anniversary of the late Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel.  The Laurel family celebrated...

Read more

The Alvarez-Sereno collision course

December 5, 2017, 12:30 am
0
8
The Alvarez-Sereno collision course

The impeachment complaint filed against the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon appears to have set...

Read more

Understanding the impeachment process

December 2, 2017, 12:01 am
0
8
Understanding the impeachment process

Surprisingly, the jurisprudence on impeachment proceedings appears to favor form rather than substance.  In other words, once an impeachment case...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • ‘Western arms won’t be used to hit Russia’
  • Pope urges end to ethnic hatred in South Sudan
  • Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf dies—Army
  • US cargo train derails, causing massive fire
  • Coach Tiu: Dubai tourney good experience for Strong Group
  • Amazon Sets a New Record for Most Renewable Energy Purchased by a Single Company
  • Kaspersky Threat Intelligence enhances its threat data feeds, threat analysis, brand protection capabilities
  • Check out Tommy Hilfiger’s February 6 store launch on Shopee

Advertisement

Latest News

Amazon Sets a New Record for Most Renewable Energy Purchased by a Single Company

byThe Standard
February 5, 2023, 2:10 pm
0
8

The company’s renewable energy portfolio now totals more than 20 GW, and will generate enough clean energy to power 5.3...

Read more

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence enhances its threat data feeds, threat analysis, brand protection capabilities

byMST Tech
February 5, 2023, 12:31 pm
0
8
Kaspersky Threat Intelligence enhances its threat data feeds, threat analysis, brand protection capabilities

The latest release of Kaspersky Threat Intelligence service includes a range of improved feeds that contribute to a deeper understanding...

Read more

Check out Tommy Hilfiger’s February 6 store launch on Shopee

byMST Tech
February 5, 2023, 12:29 pm
0
8
Check out Tommy Hilfiger’s February 6 store launch on Shopee

Filipinos don’t mind paying extra to items that flaunt their success, because, after all, they deserve the best things in...

Read more

Nine missing after fishing boat capsizes in South Korea

byAFP
February 5, 2023, 12:00 pm
0
8
Southwoods nails Seniors’ Fil golf crown

Rescue workers were searching by sea and air for nine people missing after a fishing boat capsized in waters off...

Read more

Endangered monarch butterflies face perilous storm

byAFP
February 5, 2023, 11:30 am
0
8
Endangered monarch butterflies face perilous storm

As devastating storms pounded California, nature lovers feared for endangered monarch butterflies that winter there as part of a seemingly magical...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App