So the camp of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Speaker Martin Romualdez is now in panic mode because no less than former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and father of Vice President Sara Duterte is appearing as counsel of the VP in the case raised to the Supreme Court seeking to quash the impeachment case against her?
That is what some sectors in the pro-Duterte camp are claiming. Their reason for thinking that way is that the former President has a wealth of experience in court litigation having been a long-time prosecutor before he became a politician. Above all, according to these sectors in the Duterte camp, at least twelve of the Supreme Court justices are appointees of the former President.
As such they believe that FPRRD is quite familiar with the way the said justices think and strategize their mores. After all, the former President may have completely absorbed the outcome of the vetting process done on the justices when they were considered for appointment.
And without doubt these avid Duterte followers are convinced that the 12 justices may still be thinking that in some ways they have a “debt of gratitude” from the former Chief Executive for their rise to the position in the Supreme Court.
But will the justices go against their conscience if they feel that something is not right if they make decision that is contrary to applicable laws, or even just by some issues of “debt of gratitude?”
Will the Supreme Court justices allow themselves to be intimidated for knowing that the one standing as counsel of the petitioner is their appointing officer?
Of course it is common knowledge that it is innate in the Filipinos to be so conscious of the need to pay their “debt of gratitude.” Thus it would not be very surprising if such is perceived to have been resorted to by a number of the High Court’s justices.
But is such possibility reason enough for the Marcos Jr.-Romualdez camp to be panicking?
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Frankly we could not imagine how the members of the House of Representatives could perform their duties and responsibilities that they have taken oath to do for the Filipino people they represent. And why are we raising the question? Of course, because we know that their primordial duty is to craft laws relevant to Philippine society.
But what are our Congressmen doing? They are fighting tooth and nail against each other in almost the whole of their term instead of finding opportunities where relevant legislations should have been molded. Imagine spending almost all of their time conducting investigations supposedly “in aid of legislation” but in reality are intended to pin down some of their peers and other fellow workers in government so they can be prosecuted or taken down!
In fact the latest of the developments in the House where so much of its members’ pre-occupation is geared to, is the filing of an impeachment case against the Vice President of the Republic. Prior to the impeachment rap against the Vice President the lawmakers in the House were busying themselves with investigations to show their oversight powers.
The probes actually were the ones exhausting the Congressmen’s time which they could have used to design proposed legislations that may be in perfect accord with the calls of the time. But no, the House members would rather consume their session hours investigating alleged anomalous activities by some officials in government.
The congressmen who are very much involved in the many probes even use the venue as their opportunity to grandstand.
To cap it all, now a Congressman, former Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez, and some private lawyers, are filing a petition with the Ombudsman seeking for the preventive suspension of Speaker Martin Romualdex and two other lawmakers. The petition is in connection with another case Alvarez and company filed against the former three House leaders for their alleged role in the blanked portions intended for the amounts allocated for certain budgetary items in the copy of the national budget. The copy of the 2025 proposed budget was attached to the Senate-House Bicameral Report. Former Speaker Alvarez and his co-accusers possibly believe they will have a fair chance of winning their case if Romualdez and the two other lawmakers will be preventively suspended.
And what os Alvarez and fellow petitioners banking on, that the Ombudsman, like the 12 associate justices of the Supreme Court, is also appointed by the top political nemesis of the administration?
But of course with the many cases now lodged with the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, and even in some lower courts as consequences of the impeachment of VP Sara, the alleged “most corrupt” General Appropriations Act of 2025 and the over-heated political squabble between two opposing camps, the truth will finally be out either sooner or later.
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