EDITORIAL - Bowing to the law

It’s good to hear officials reassuring the public that Malacañang will abide by whatever is the final ruling of the Supreme Court on the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program. Concerns have been raised that President Aquino is headed for a showdown with the SC over his stimulus program, key portions of which the high tribunal recently declared unconstitutional.

The softening of Malacañang’s tone comes on the heels of criticism over the President’s address to the nation at the start of the week, in which he openly suspected “vendetta” behind the unanimous SC ruling but did not elaborate, and dropped hints that the nation’s highest court might have mishandled its own funds. If the judiciary has indeed misused public funds and resists transparency in an attempt to conceal anomalous acts, then it must be investigated, without the probe being linked to the ruling on the DAP.

As the President had announced, a motion for reconsideration of the SC ruling was filed yesterday. This is part of due process and any party in a court case has the right to appeal a decision. It need not be accompanied by a nationally televised criticism of the ruling. As head of the executive branch, a president is expected to respect the independence and mandate of a co-equal branch of government.

One of the President’s few appointees to the tribunal, former chief peace negotiator Marvic Leonen, tweeted that SC decisions are meant to be read and understood carefully. Whatever the outcome of the appeal, Malacañang now promises to abide by the decision of the court. Parties in a case who are unhappy with decisions of the SC can of course voice their complaints in public, but a president is sworn to uphold the law. And the law is what its final arbiter says it is.

This episode should teach a lesson in presidential circumspection, and respect for the separation of powers. No one is above the law: not those who craft it, not those who interpret it, and not the one tasked to enforce and uphold it.