“What is judicial independence? It is fidelity to law, regardless of personality, the person of the President, or the person of the Chief Justice.”
Atty. Florin Hilbay, former Solicitor General of the Philippines, spoke these words to an overflowing auditorium at the Ateneo Professional Schools on April 26, 2018. Preceding a keynote speech made by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Hilbay provided the necessary information and foundation on judicial independence and the deep need to defend it.
Attended by law students from various universities, the forum entitled “Tindig: A Forum on Upholding Judicial Independence as a Pillar of Democracy” was a rousing success.
Atty. Hilbay spoke about judicial independence from the perspective of someone who teaches Constitutional Law; as a practitioner of law; and finally, as a citizen of the Republic.
“Under normal times, it’s easy to compartmentalize and speak about judicial independence from those separate categories. But these,” he said, “are not normal times.”
He hinged his address on cases that he handled: Leila de Lima’s alleged link to drug trafficking, the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao, and the present quo warranto proceedings against the Chief Justice. Hilbay explained that these cases were clear exemplars of the status of judicial independence in our country today.
He expressed his concerns about these occurrences.
“I’m worried about a clear pattern of departure from commonsensical understandings of the law. When that happens, what is the consequence? Loss of faith in the most important pillar of democracy: judicial independence.”
There is also a destruction of discipline that happens, he added. Law is a discipline, just as much as Philosophy and Science are. Because many established concepts have been reversed in practice, Hilbay said it is becoming more difficult to teach as a subject.
“The things that we have decided to be so settled, so commonsensical, so easy to decide, will be decided by the Supreme Court the other way,” he said. “And with that, the myth of the cold, neutral, impartial judge is gone and one of the more important pillars of democracy is also gone.”
At the end of his talk, Atty. Hilbay offered a solution.
“Talk to your friends, classmates, parents, neighbors, teachers. That’s for the short term,” he said. “Long-term: reflect, learn from what’s happening. Remember what’s happening today so that when you come to decide these cases as a member of the Supreme Court, you will maintain fidelity to the law.”
Sereno, for her part, did not give a straightforward speech about the rule of law. Instead, she asked a series of questions so that those listening to her would learn about judicial independence “simply by observing and living life.”
She narrated the sequence of events that led to the filing of the impeachment case against her. “At that point,” she said, before the audience erupted in laughter, “the crucial question became, ‘Who is Atty. Larry Gadon?’”
“Why was it not dismissed outright?” she asked, regarding his complaint and how it should not have been given the light of day.
Continuing to speak about the stalled Senate trial, Sereno asked: “If they were so sure, why are they so hesitant?” She maintained that she has nothing to hide.
“I am willing to face the judgment of the people. I am willing and I am ready to make myself accountable directly to the people, narrating in detail how I make decisions on a day-to-day basis. No Chief Justice has ever undergone what I have undergone and what I am going to undergo.”
She stated that the actions being done against her are a form of “selected targeting,” as she and her colleagues are facing the exact same situation, but it is only her that is being singled out; only her that is being preyed on.
In recounting the events that led to the filing of the quo warranto case against her, the Chief Justice did not mince her words. “It is—effectively—dictatorship.”
She explained that this is because the future and the rights of many are being held by the hands of the [current] Solicitor General and the president. She continued, in increasingly impassioned words: “The exercise of will by one man or his government is not the law, is not the Constitution, is not authorized under any moral or legal principle. It has no foundation in our history as a nation. It is completely anathema.”
At the close of her oration, Sereno pledged: “What I can assure you is that I will not abandon this fight. I will be with you until the end.”
“Tindig: A Forum on Upholding Judicial Independence as a Pillar of Democracy” was organized by classes 1B and 1C of the Ateneo Law School.
