Friday, September 25, 2015

POLITICISATION AND JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE PHILIPPINES - Dante B. Gatmaytan





"x x x.

IX. CONCLUSION 

The suggestion that Supreme Court opinions are not the final word on legal disputes might strike some as irresponsible. By limiting the powers of the Court in settling disputes are we not in effect inviting instability? Discomfort at the notion that the Court cannot or does not always command respect comes from our expectation that the Justices of the Court are beyond politics. Our experiences with Javellana and the present Supreme Court suggest that we are no longer awe-struck by our Justices. We respond to the Courts’ weaknesses with meta-constitutional checks (public outrage or private correspondence) which are designed to check the Court, not to destroy it. We rattle sabres to remind the Court that it does not occupy an exalted place under our constitutional scheme—that it is one branch among equals and that it is subject to the rule of law and ultimately, the will of the sovereign. The Supreme Court is neither infallible nor final.

x x x."