A litmus test for the new chief justice

MANILA, Philippines — The Sereno ouster by her own peers has stirred debates on the fairness of the Supreme Court justices, the President and the members of Congress. It puts in question in the minds of our people on the way we play the rules.

In general, when a person is appointed to a public office he is entitled to a security of tenure. What is required of him is to be faithful to his oath and his loyalty is to the people. He should not fear ouster at the assumption of a new administration regardless of divergent opinions on politics, policy and governance issues. 

To those unfamiliar with the antecedents of this event, Lourdes Sereno was the Supreme Court Chief Justice and her ouster was made by her own peers in the high court through the unprecedented quo warranto proceedings instead of the prescribed impeachment proceedings.

The Sereno affair is a sequel to the ouster by impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. These two successive events had come to pass without a national consensus on the lessons learned from them.

With the brouhaha created by the Corona and Sereno ousters, it would seem that the appointing powers had unwittingly taken the Supreme Court on the road to hell.

In Corona, the moral basis of the ban against midnight appointments was “legally” violated. Legally, because there was a Supreme Court decision that validated the appointment despite the ban against midnight appointments.

In Sereno, it took an arduous road of the Corona impeachment process that paved her appointment. It was reported that public disbursements were made prior to the vote of Corona’s conviction. The conviction created the vacancy of the position of Chief Justice to which Sereno was appointed to succeed him. She was a junior justice of the Supreme Court without any substantial trial practice and management experience.

In the aftermath of their ouster, the Supreme Court as an institution weakened, the stability of our rules to ensure a level playing field was shaken. Surely, ignoring the Constitution and fair play will have fatal consequences.

It is, thus, incumbent for the people in the streets to reflect on the Corona and Sereno affair as well as to understand the dynamics of appointing a new chief justice. Definitely, there are lessons to learn here. We should find a national consensus on what to expect from President Rodrigo Duterte when he appoints a new Supreme Court Chief Justice.

The President must not just rely on the legal requirements and qualifications of his appointee. He must take into consideration not only formal laws, which is just a basic requirement, but the indispensable dynamics of management and human relations. The appointment must not only be valid but the new Chief Justice must have the gravitas to be effective.

Considering a complex judicial set-up, management expertise and the ability to engineer human relations of a new chief justice are customary elements constantly and uniformly practiced in the social and business community.

Adherence to customs and conventions are not based on a legal vacuum. By analogy to a Judge deciding an issue in the absence of a law, the President can apply custom, and in default thereof the general principles of law and justice.

The people expect that the new chief justice can effectively manage and exercise moral leadership and ascendancy on the Supreme Court and the entire judiciary. It is the moral duty of the president to give fruition to that expectation.

A new chief justice must be guided by a philosophy and mission is to establish the Supreme Court as the conscience of the nation and keep the people united when it settles through its decisions critical controversies. A Supreme Court must be above the perception of partisanship and capture by vested interest. This is a litmus test.

We need a national consensus that the people’s faith in government and hope for the future are anchored on the principles of justice, fairness and the rule of law, freedom and respect of rights, order and equal opportunity for all. The role of the Supreme Court is to shape this national consensus.

The President has the courage and moral will to turn a new page that augurs new hope in the judiciary with his choice of a new chief justice.

(The writer is former chairman, Social Security Commission and former president, Philippine Association of Law Schools.)