Dear Atty. Corona,
I, Pio Andrade, Jr., a real person, and not a Koala Bear, would like to comment on some of your statements in your first press conference which I read in the May 18, 2010 Philippine Daily Inquirer. You said your appointment as Chief Justice stood on solid ground, and is not bothered by president-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s threat not to recognize you, dismissing it as a political saber rattling.
Sir, I disagree. Your appointment does not rest on solid ground, but on illegal and immoral ground. It was a breach of the constitution Section 15 Article 7, which reads: “Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting president shall not make any appointments except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”
Your appointment is illegal. But you would cite the fact that the current Supreme Court voting, 9-3-1, approved of President Arroyo appointing a new Chief Justice to succeed retiring Chief Justice Ricardo Puno. This is a breach of mandate of the Constitution. The majority of justices [were] in grievous error. And their arguments of the ponencia has the weight of helium.
You were one of those who inhibited from voting. That was the responsibility at its height. You would have voted, but that would be exposing you as a harebrained lawyer. The safest way would be to abstain, for if you voted no, you would not be named Chief Justice.
By the way, the constitutional prohibition was an offshoot of President Carlos P. Garcia’s 315 midnight appointments on December 29, 1962, and, one day before his term expired, President Diosdado Macapagal’s 1,177 twilight appointments, executed between November to December 30, 1965. Both of these immoral appointments were thrown out by the Supreme Court on grounds of morality and propriety. The midnight appointment was not conducive to good government and an abuse of presidential powers, that the framers of the 1987 Constitution … propagated Section 15 Article 7 in the current Constitution.
Your decision to inhibit yourself from voting on the question of GMA’s right to appoint the new Chief Justice is an abdication of responsibility, deviousness and cowardice. On that point, you are tener huevos—walang bayag.
Ang kapal ng mukha ninyo, Atty. Corona. Atenista ka pa naman. What happened to the moral formation given to you by the Jesuits? Gone with the wind? Your lack of courage and integrity makes you unfit to be Chief Justice.
Your remark that Aquino’s threat not to recognize you is political saber rattling is off the mark. It was an expression of conscience, of disdain for a wrong done. It was immoral for GMA to appoint you as Chief Justice. Your political saber rattling remark is an arrogant remark and a clear lack of delicadeza. Between legality and morality you hold the former at a premium.
You would still repair the damage that you and GMA did—resign. The massive defeat of GMA’s candidates and her corrupt records, plus Noynoy’s landslide win, should have told you of the people’s will to go after the corruption of the GMA administration. Your being Chief Justice, given your questionable moral background, makes the people suspect that you would work not for the people’s welfare, but for GMA.
If you have delicadeza, you would have resigned, considering the revulsion of your appointment.
Sincerely,
Pio Andrade, Jr.
P.S. Don’t treat us as easily fooled people, the way GMA thinks we are. We may not be lawyers, but we know when the letter and spirit of the law is violated despite the technicalities put up by lawyers.
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