CAPILLAS
Watched an ANC interview of Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque done by broadcaster Karen Davila on the ANC YouTube channel and anyone with zero knowledge of or simply don’t care about the “Oust Chief Justice on leave Maria Lourdes Sereno” case will accept hook, line and sinker Roque’s view that she deserves to be kicked out.
The core of Roque’s argument stemmed from his point that President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to move for Sereno’s ouster is not an attack on the judiciary but on her alone.
The foundation for such an argument—flawed as seen in the prism of those who question the President’s moves—lies in the fact that most of the justices testified in a congressional inquiry against Sereno and they are of the opinion that she is unfit to hold the post for failing to submit a complete list of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
That and the undeniable resentment and hostility of most of the justices towards Sereno gives the impression as relayed by the Palace and its allies that the Chief Justice-on-leave has brought everything that happened to her on herself.
But for me and perhaps a lot of others, what drove the justices to testify against Sereno is summed up by Sereno’s claim that Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro supposedly told her that “she should not have applied for the Chief Justice post” in the first place.
To oversimplify the row between Sereno and the justices as simply a case of envy would be understating it, though that comes across as the most prevalent impression. It also didn’t help that Sereno caused further resentment among the ranks by bypassing the justices in issuing court orders.
There are undoubtedly justices who are more than qualified for the Chief Justice post—Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and his nearly one man crusade against Chinese territorial incursion into the Spratlys comes easily to mind—but if there’s someone whom the justices should blame for Sereno’s ascension to the post, it should obviously be former president Benigno Aquino III.
Sereno wasn’t exactly Aquino’s first choice since that honor belonged to former justice secretary and now detained Sen. Leila de Lima. But unless Mr. Aquino or the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) overlooked Sereno’s incomplete SALNs, there was nothing to disqualify her from applying for the post.
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Learned that National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) chief Ernesto Pernia acknowledged the value of pursuing the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project as a viable mass transport system for Cebu City and it’s about time he did.
It was last year when Pernia made his about-face on the BRT when he corrected himself and said that the BRT will be put on hold pending a review of the Light Railway Transit (LRT) project as called for by Presidential Assistant to the Visayas Michael Dino.
It was no secret that Dino took Pernia aside and made a case for the LRT which caused the NEDA chief to make his about face on the BRT.
Now, Pernia is saying that the BRT is a short term solution to Cebu City’s mass transport needs while maintaining that the LRT is the long term answer.
Again looking over the consortium’s proposal for the LRT project in Cebu, it didn’t mention anything about having railways within Cebu City property.
Probably in the outskirts but not in the city proper whose streets and roads will be serviced by the BRT.
Having said all that however, the BRT’s eventual fate will be known on April 25 when the NEDA’s Investment Coordination Committee will decide and confirm whether or not the project is a go. Who knows whether or not another reversal of decision would occur?