Finally, Supreme Court is legally & morally upright

By Al S. Mendoza 

 

BONGBONG Marcos is in the news again.

Good for him?

In a sense, yes.  For his political career.

All news is good.  Why, because the subject of the news gets free publicity.

It may be bad news, but still, it will inflict the politician’s image into the consciousness of the reader/viewer.

To be a politician is to court publicity—of any kind.

This much Bongbong must have learned from his father, who mastered the art of news manipulation while he ruled as dictator from 1972 to 1986.

And why, again, is Bongbong in the news?

Because this week, Bongbong’s bid to overturn the victory of Leni Robredo was rejected by the Supreme Court—with finality.

Leni defeated Bongbong in the vice presidential derby in 2016.

For almost 4-1/2 years, Bongbong has been contesting Leni’s winning 14,418,817 votes against his own 14,155,344 votes.

Actually, Bongbong lost thrice in his petition to ask the Supreme Court to declare him the winner.

First, Bongbong told the high court that the Comelec’s ballot-shading threshold of 25 percent should have been at 50 percent.

That prayer, soon to be supported by Solicitor General Jose Calida, would carry a connecting bid to have Associate Justice Marvic Leonen inhibit himself as officer-in-charge of Bongbong’s election protest for allegedly being biased against the Marcoses.

Leonen was among the five justices who rejected Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani on Nov. 8, 2016. The four others were Sereno, Carpio, Caguioa and Jardeleza.

The pro-Marcos magistrates were ponente Peralta (now chief justice), Bersamin, Brion, Perez, Mendoza, Del Castillo, Bernabe and Velasco (now Marinduque governor).  Bienvenido Reyes abstained.

But the tribunal voted unanimously to sustain Leonen.

The Supreme Court would next reject Bongbong’s second petition to declare Leni guilty of vote cheating in the pilot provinces of Camarines Sur (Leni’s bailiwick), Iloilo and Negros Oriental.

It was likewise thumbed down, even as results of the recount would take a dramatic turn as Leni even increased her votes to 14,436,337—a gain of 15,093.

As if to rub salt to injury, Bongbong’s tally was reduced to 14,157,771.

So that, finally, last Tuesday, Feb. 16, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed “with entirety” Bongbong’s election protest

SC’s emphatic 15-0 vote against Bongbong more than restored the nation’s faith in the high court’s capacity to be both legally and morally upright.

Call it funny, but Bongbong’s response to his protest-defeat was he’d run again in the 2022 national elections.

If he goes for the jugular aka the ultimate office—Malacanang Palace—he didn’t say.

But what office might that be, let him be.

That’s democracy for you—our beloved country being the land of freedom and choice.

As Lincoln aptly said it, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

So that anyone styling himself as pro-democracy can do it for all the world to care, not excluding the dictator’s son.

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