THE Roa-Bernardo petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking to unseat President Arroyo for allegedly using public funds in her campaign for the presidency and install Vice President Tito Guingona is not only a novel theory. It may be an absurd theory. Since this is an election period, how can we tell whether the money used during her tour of the country is part of the public funds spent for her campaign. Assuming she is not a candidate in this election, there certainly is no restriction on her to go on official tours in the performance of her presidential duties. There, she could join her party candidates in their campaign sorties. The Constitution does not prevent the president from being a politician or member of any political party, does it?
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If the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists are in their right senses, they would not think of attacking us the way they did in Madrid. They would just incur the hatred of their fellow Muslims in Mindanao. The resulting destruction in our country by their attacks would cost our government money for rehabilitation. President Arroyo said the Bush administration had given $33 million for education program in Mindanao and pledged another $30 million in development projects once a final peace agreement is signed by the MILF. Those are the sure dollars our Muslim brothers will lose if al-Qaeda attacks us.
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The FPJ camp’s boast of free access to NPA-controlled areas will not help Da King’s acceptability to the US even if he has inherited some American blood from his mother. Washington might take him as a potential leftist who is indebted to the NPA for helping him in his presidential campaign. I doubt whether the US government will welcome another country in this region governed by a communist-leaning chief of state if FPJ becomes president. This is a free country. FPJ can campaign anywhere for free or for a fee. But why boast about such free access while others aren’t treated equally?
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It is unnecessary for President Arroyo to join in any debate, regardless of who the opposing debaters are. What the President has or has not done officially is public knowledge. To argue on the proposition, say, that it was a mistake for Gloria to have done, or did not do, a certain official act will not serve any objective but just to find fault in her administration. As to the question of what she, or any other presidentiable, will do after winning their election, this is not a valid proposition to debate on. Any one can verbally paint a castle in the sky, but who can say it is not a castle.
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Today is the 1st anniversary of the endorsement by the Las Piñas Bar Association of the program called "Express Court: A 180-Day Justice System" during the Bench-Bar Dialogue session held on March 19 last year at the Agustinian Abbey School in the BF Resort Village. Judge Bonifacio Sanz Maceda, as Executive Judge of the Las Piñas Regional Trial Courts, implemented the program. True to its name, the program accomplished its objective during the past year. The program’s goal is for the court to dispose of all cases within 180 days from their filing in court.
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The Las Piñas Regional Trial Court judges, with Judge Maceda as their executive judge, and members of the Las Piñas IBP Chapter headed by now Court of Appeals Justice Magdangal de Leon, should be congratulated for such accomplishment. But they must not stop there. This program, together with the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) Case Flow Management (CFM) project, if also implemented in the other regions, will certainly bolster our criminal justice system. In fact, as early as January 2003 the PHILJA resolved to present this joint project for Supreme Court approval.
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The appointment of 18 additional Court of Appeals justices for Cebu and Cagayan de Oro was timely. With the joint Maceda Express Court program and the PHILJA Case Flow Management project in operation, there certainly will be an avalanche of decided cases that will go up to the Court of Appeals for adjudication. But at this time of writing, neither the Supreme Court nor the Court of Appeals has come out with a resolution on how to integrate the 18 new justices into the existing Court — by simply adding them or by some other scheme to protect their hierarchical seniority.
