New SC justice urged to inhibit from DAP case

MANILA, Philippines - Newly appointed Supreme Court (SC) Justice Francis Jardeleza was urged yesterday to inhibit himself from the resolution of the case involving the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Rep. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna, one of the groups that questioned DAP before the SC, said the “dice would be loaded against the petitioners” if Jardeleza participates in the resolution of the government’s motion for the SC to reconsider its decision on the DAP.

“As solicitor general, he was the lawyer of the President and the officials and agencies involved. He justified and defended the DAP,” he said.

The SC had struck down at least four practices under the program as unconstitutional, including the declaration of savings before the end of the fiscal year.

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III, a member of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives like Colmenares, supported the call for Jardeleza’s inhibition in the DAP case.

However, Albano said people should give every new appointee to the SC the benefit of the doubt.

He reminded his colleagues that recent appointees of President Aquino – Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Justices Marvic Leonen and Estela Perlas-Bernabe – voted against the DAP.

“That only shows that they are independent-minded, even if they are appointees of the President. All of them in fact are presidential appointees because it is the President who is empowered to choose the members of the Supreme Court from among nominees presented by the Judicial and Bar Council,” he said.

He said an appointment signed by an incumbent President is no guarantee that the appointee would not vote against the appointing power.

He noted that some appointees of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also went against her.

Better choice

Detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said Jardeleza is a better choice compared to Commission on Audit Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan.

He said Tan “allowed herself and the commission to be used for partisan politics and exhibited questionable integrity as head of an independent constitutional body.”

He expressed hope Jardeleza will uphold the independence of the SC and insulate it from partisan politics.

Estrada said he is also optimistic that the new SC justice would bring “meaningful reforms to our lethargic court systems to deliver without delay justice for every Filipino.”

Truly qualified

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban said presidents should appoint “truly qualified lawyers” to the SC regardless of whether they are for or against them.

“Anyway they will be independent,” he said during a forum organized by the Far Eastern University Public Policy Center on Wednesday.

He said presidents should also get the advice of lawyers “who understand how the court decides” and not just from those “who want to polish their back and say it can be done.”

“Sometimes, we do not like the bearers of bad news but sometimes, it’s necessary to hear the bearers of bad news. After all, nobody is perfect,” he said. “It is a good policy to listen to the other side and to find out and test one’s conviction, one’s beliefs. It’s a matter of weighing alternatives.”

Panganiban, who was chief justice during the Arroyo administration, said people who are appointed to the high court “transform” and “become a different person.”

“I will have to be true to my pledge to uphold the Constitution at all times. Other justices should feel the same way,” he said.

Former justice secretary and 1-BAP Rep. Silvestre Bello III welcomed Jardeleza’s appointment, saying he is “very qualified.”

“Competence-wide, even in terms of integrity and industry, I cannot say anything against him,” he said.

Insult

A group of coconut farmers, Coco Levy Fund Ibalik sa Amin (CLAIM), said the appointment of Jardeleza is “an insult” to small coconut farmers still fighting for the recovery of the 20 percent coco levy fund shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

“Jardeleza’s appointment further exposed Aquino’s anti-peasant and pro-kamag-anak, kaklase, kabarilan rule,” CLAIM spokesman Nestor Villanueva said.

Villanueva, a coconut farmer from Laguna, said Cojuangco now has an “insider” in the SC that will take care of his family’s political and economic interests.

“We fear that Jardeleza’s appointment will strengthen Danding’s plunder and illegitimate claim over the still contested 20 percent coco levy fund shares in SMC,” he added.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairman Rafael Mariano challenged Jardeleza to inhibit himself not only from coco levy fund cases but all Cojuangco cases, including Hacienda Luisita. – With Alexis Romero, Christina Mendez, Ding Cervantes