The Unappealable

Oh, my aching head!

They already dropped the gavel. That should be it. By the way our laws work, the buck stops at the Supreme Court. If it were one of the lower courts, it could be brought to the Court of Appeals. Then, it could be elevated to the Supreme Court. But there isn’t going any higher than that. When I heard about it, as much as it was a bitter pill to swallow, I resigned myself to it. That’s it. That’s how the rules go. That’s how the ball rolls. As much as I get annoyed whenever Senate President Chiz Escudero rationalizes his position on issues like he’s reciting in a balagtasan, he raises valid points, we’re going to look like a banana republic if we defy rules or the Supreme Court ruling. In a democracy governed by the rule of law, citizens and officials are expected by norm to respect rulings and verdicts despite disagreements against them. When our candidate loses in an election, we respect the results and still abide by the new leader’s directives. When legislators lose a debate, they are expected to respect the prevailing side and still strive to work together with the other side of the aisle.

We could have been rooting for Paquiao against Barrios, we may think that Barrios’ face was all beat up after the fight, we may not understand how the two judges could have given equal number of points to them, but we should accept the draw when it was declared. Paquiao could not just simply lunge after Barrios to attempt to change the decision. Game’s over. The best thing he could hope for is a rematch. Sadly, there’s no rematch with the Supreme Court.

This must have been the game plan when the Senate President stalled the impeachment case for weeks. Even before the Senate convened as a court, Senators dela Rosa and Padilla already prepared motions to dismiss the case. With the case dismissed or (as it turned out) returned to Congress, no impeachment case could be immediately filed based on the one-year rule. That must have been the plan all along. No one can’t blame them. Any party would exhaust all measures to defend his/her side. It’s just sad that the odds worked in their favor.

Now, the House of Representatives, the Congress submitted to the Supreme Court a motion for reconsideration on the matter. Four senators have signed a resolution appealing the SC decision. Okay, okay. What are we hoping to achieve here? Do we expect that the high court would, at the motion of the House and the resolution of one-sixth of the Senate, in a matter of weeks, flip its decision at a 180 degree angle? If that happens, what does that make of our highest judicial court? Are they a group of friends who just had a bad day a couple of weeks ago, and later have their heads cleared from alcohol hangover, and turnabout -face from a previous conclusion? The Court has pages of legal bases on which they pass verdicts including this one. What would happen to those legal arguments? Would they be flipped on the opposite side like a frying burger patty? Do those arguments suddenly become wrong? Again, what does make of the Supreme Court of the Republic of the Philippines? Are they a group of teenagers who make clumsy decisions? Would the Philippine Supreme Court flip its decision just like that? Well, the US Supreme court overturned the decades held Roe v. Wade ruling. That was a complete 180 degree turn-around. The US Supreme Court just nullified its own decision. But, the first ruling were made by a different set of justices, now reversed by a different group. Could the same group of judges overturn a decision that they themselves made?

A headline says, “Duty, not Defiance”, about the Congress’ motion for reconsideration. Okay, I think I get that. I think, they mean that they’re filing the motion not as an act of defiance against the decision, but as an act of duty on the principle of the merits of justice. I think, this is similar to a lone board member manifesting objection to a decision that the rest of the board has agreed to approve, for the reason that he just wants to put his objection on record. Okay, okay. I’m trying hard to digest the idea that the motion and appeal are not acts of defiance, and at the same time, still bears respect.

Come on. You have six months to strengthen your case for a new impeachment case on March 2026.

Daniel 2:21: “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;”