President Diosdado Macapagal revoked all 350 appointments made by his predecessor Carlos P. Garcia the very next day after being sworn into office before his adoring family, which included 14-year-old Gloria.

Last week, the Supreme Court cited the ruling which upheld what Macapagal did 49 years ago. In the same ruling penned by Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin, he said:

the appointment of the Chief Justice is any President’s most important appointment”

And then Bersamin promptly and inexplicably told an exiting president she could continue to wield that “most important” power, even if by doing so the next president could be denied the chance of ever exercising that power. If Arroyo appoints someone who will only reach the retirement age of 70 years old after six years, her successor will not even get to use that presidential power that Bersamin deemed “most important”.

The Supreme Court has turned a blind eye on the reality that Pres. Arroyo has already made “that most important appointment” not just once but twice – with her appointments of Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno to the post of Chief Justice.

If she insists on making a third “most important” appointment, how greedy is that? (more…)

There’s a very easy, painless, legal way to avoid a dangerous power vacuum in case a new President is not proclaimed by June 30 – the same day the tenures of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Vice-President Noli de Castro, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles all lapse.

This is by electing a new Senate President between May 31 and June 4, 2010 when Congress officially resumes its sessions. If you want to see the Senate calendar, click on this link.

This morning, before I uploaded this entry, I heard University of the Philippines College of Law dean, Marvic Leonen, express the same legal opinion on radio.

I base mine on what I learned while covering the Senate as a beat reporter.

The Constitution specifies that the Senate President should serve as the acting President “until the President or Vice-President shall have been elected and qualified.”

In the Senate President’s absence or incapacity, the House Speaker takes over. But that would be impossible after June 30 since all congressmen would also be out of office by then.

However, 12 senators would still be in office beyond June 30. In fact, their tenures would only expire in the year 2013. That was how the Constitution designed it in order to avoid a vacuum.

Unfortunately, the incumbent Senate President Enrile is not one of those senators. He will also be out of office by June 30, which is why he is running again.

Let’s examine the 12 senators who will remain beyond June 30 and see how acceptable they might be to their colleagues:

• Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Villar are both running for President.
• Senator Loren Legarda is Villar’s running mate.
• Senator Alan Cayetano is aligned with Villar.
• Senator Francis Pangilinan is aligned with Aquino.
• Senator Joke Arroyo is aligned with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is suspected of angling to stay on in office.
• Senator Edgardo Angara is also aligned with Pres. Arroyo.
• Senator Miguel Zubiri is also aligned with Pres. Arroyo and suspected of electoral cheating by veteran Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
• Senator Panfilo Lacson has gone missing because of double murder raps.
• Senator Antonio Trillanes is in jail on rebellion charges.
• And who will trust a habitual failed coup plotter like Senator Gregorio Honasan to assume the post of Acting President?

And so that leaves only Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, a man without a political party – the man least likely to power grab for himself. A man who is credible and competent in law.

If you have a better suggestion, I would like to know.

I nearly fell of my seat while reading the newly-issued Supreme Court ruling allowing President Gloria Macagapagal-Arroyo to make midnight appointments to the high court in the twilight of her presidency.

Because in that same 62-page decision, the Supreme Court explicitly states that Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution:

in effect deprives the President of his appointing power ‘two months immediately before  the next presidential elections up to the end of  his term.’

In Pres. Arroyo’s case, the court said,

the period of the ban on midnight appointments (starts) on March 10, 2010.

Wait a minute, I told myself. Didn’t General Bangit take his oath of office as Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff on March 10? I remember this because I filed a story for South China Morning Post about that, but my editor told me to hold off submitting it by one day due to lack of space.

Just to make sure I wasn’t wrong, I scoured the Office of the President website. Sure enough, it stated that on March 10, 2010:

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today presided over the assumption of command by new Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff General Delfin N. Bangit, who she said, will ensure the continuity of the military’s role in keeping the nation strong.

“Congratulations,” the President said to Bangit as the latter assumed the AFP command from Gen. Victor Ibrado, who retired today upon reaching his mandatory retirement age of 56. It was Ibrado’s 56th birthday today.

General Bangit’s appointment therefore took place on the first day of the constitutional ban on presidential appointments. But the ban allows for one exception, according to the same court ruling issued just the other day, March 16, 2010:

“The exception (to the ban) allows only the making of temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”

Going by that ruling, General Bangit’s appointment is only temporary and will lapse by June 30, when President Arroyo’s term also lapses. Not when he turns 56.

Hmmm.

Will all the other military appointments following that of General Bangit also lapse on that day? Bet you’d like to know, generals.