EDITORIAL - ‘Bane of efficiency’

Temporary restraining orders, President Duterte said the other day, are “the bane of our efficiency.” The President made the observation as he directly urged Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was seated in the audience during his second State of the Nation Address the other day, to lift the Supreme Court’s TRO on the implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act.

The RH law was passed in 2012, and the TRO has been in place for two years now. Contraceptives and other drugs costing millions in public funds, bought by the Department of Health before the TRO was issued, are about to expire because of the restraining order, Duterte said.

Last May, the SC stressed it had tossed the issue to the Food and Drug Administration, which was ordered by the tribunal to determine if two contraceptive implants are safe to use and not abortifacient. The SC should give the FDA a deadline for completing a task that doesn’t require rocket science.

Similar deadlines should be given for resolving the subjects of TROs throughout the judiciary. A two-year TRO is anything but temporary. Criminal cases in many other countries are resolved with finality within that period. President Duterte correctly pointed out that TROs have grossly delayed many government projects and programs, setting back poverty alleviation and reform efforts.

He’s not the only one complaining about the TROs. Local and foreign investors have long lamented the issuance of TROs and denounced the corruption that underpins many such orders. The orders are not only issued arbitrarily, they complain, but can also take forever to lift. This is what the Supreme Court TRO on the RH law is starting to look like.

Benigno Aquino III, during his presidency, had also feuded with the SC over “judicial overreach” including the restraining orders. President Duterte, who at the start of his term included the promotion of reproductive health in his 10-point socioeconomic agenda, asked Congress in his second SONA to give him a law that would deal with judicial TROs. The judiciary should not wait for this. The SC should be able to temper the exercise of its power without the need for checks and balances from the two other branches of government.