Justice beleaguered
Chief Justice Meilou Sereno is under siege. What a stunning turnaround from a few years ago, when she was hailed as the first woman chief justice.
I dug through my files, knowing I said something in this column about her appointment. No doubt, it was fawning and perhaps even cringe-worthy (I gave up after not trying hard enough). So maybe I'm going to repeat myself, in which case this paper can dock a few bucks from the fee I'll receive from submitting this piece.
I was one damn proud ex-student, having endured a couple of tortuous subjects in Law school at her hands. I knew she was smart, having listened to her lectures, and recognized she hit the high points of the course work. (Yep, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, there were grumbles from other students who were struggling to pass, and perhaps some who failed did not deserve to fail. But Law school wasn't just about passing exams, but excelling in myriad ways).
I was also a "victim" of her excellence, having gone to the University of Michigan Law School right after her own stint there. In the picturesque city of Ann Arbor, while I was trying to impress the professors and establish my own credibility, I had to listen to paeans of praise from faculty members who encountered her. Silently, I complained "hey, you're extolling the virtues of a person who not only has a few years on me, she actually schooled me in the finer points of law! So how could I possibly compare? Much less compete?"
Naturally I had to suck it up because that's reality. Just my luck to be the small asteroid trawling behind a comet.
Since I returned to the Philippines, I have encountered her in various fora, conferences, reunions, and parties. She was a gracious former professor, taking pride in her ex-students. She was a naturally maternal mentor, concerned about our well-being and careers. And after being named to the Supreme Court, she shifted seamlessly to being a dignified role model, always happy to accommodate her rambunctious former students in selfies and groufies, but nevertheless maintaining the required decorum befitting her station.
Watching her now from a distance, as she is pilloried by the king's men and maneuvered into untenable corners by slick political manipulators, I am gripped by a sense of unreality. The universe seems to have upended itself.
How could it happen, in the span of a year or so, that a simple, bespectacled schoolmarm wielding weapons of reason, logic, honesty, and intellect suddenly find herself surrounded by the forces of political ogres, social media trolls, and career opportunists?
What could such a person, with no machinery, no gold, and definitely no goons, do in such circumstances? It seems almost hopeless.
It is up to the Senate now, as the Articles of Impeachment are brought before it, to be the test of truth and the voice of reason. We have seen great senators, luminaries not just in law, but in statesmanship, perform magnificently and blaze their way through history. The likes of Senator Jovito Salonga, Lorenzo Tañada, and even, dare I say, Pia Cayetano, have held their posts with distinction, compelling vision, and exemplary conduct.
Will the current senators rise to the challenge? Will they cave in to the demands of revisionists and oligarchs, or remain steadfastly neutral? Will they be swayed by hard evidence or the false rhetoric of rabble rousers?
Will the Filipino be his own worst enemy? Or will we see just how glorious a people we can be?
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