Daily Tribune Editorial

The first “political baggage” of retired Supreme Court (SC) Justice and ex-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales is her alliance with ex-President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III.

Their close ties surfaced when PNoy personally chose Carpio-Morales, who was then preparing to retire from the SC, to administer his oath of office in June 2010.

The Chief Justice of the SC traditionally administers the president’s oath of office. If tradition was followed, that task belonged to Chief Justice Renato Corona.

PNoy’s move was his way of politicizing the SC. That notwithstanding, Carpio-Morales went on to administer PNoy’s oath.
Right after Carpio-Morales retired from the SC, PNoy rewarded her by appointing her Ombudsman.

Her stint as Ombudsman was politicized, too. Endless news reports revealed that cases against officials of the Aquino regime slumbered in her office during her watch.

Another of Carpio-Morales’ “political baggage” is her lack of delicadeza. She must have known that by administering the oath of office to PNoy, she will be embarrassing Corona, and that she will be politicizing the SC.

Instead of turning down PNoy’s request, Carpio-Morales went on to embarrass Corona, and spoke against him during the latter’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

Another of Carpio-Morales’ “political baggage” is her reckless behavior regarding the issue between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea.

In March 2019, Carpio-Morales and ex-Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario sued Chinese President Xi Jinping in the International Criminal Court (ICC). They accused Xi of crimes against humanity because of Beijing’s expansionist activities in the West Philippine Sea. Ex-SC Justice Antonio Carpio was their legal counsel.

The ICC dismissed their case in December 2019 for lack of jurisdiction because China is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC.

That’s embarrassing because, as every law student knows, a state which is not a signatory to the ICC treaty cannot be sued in the ICC.

Carpio and Carpio-Morales are ex-justices of the SC who ought to know International Law. As an ex-Foreign Affairs secretary, Del Rosario also understands International Law. Therefore, all three must have been aware that the case they filed against Xi Jinping in the ICC was surely going to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Why then did they still pursue it?

That was either sheer recklessness on their part, or they were seeking publicity for their anticipated run for the Senate. Whatever it is, what they did is enough reason not to elect them as senators.

In May 2019, Carpio-Morales tried to go to Hong Kong but she was barred entry. She made a big issue about the whole thing.

After calling Xi Jinping a crook before the whole world, did Carpio-Morales really think Beijing will allow her to enter Chinese territory? Come on, Madame Justice, you know that under International Law, a state has the prerogative to decide who may and who may not enter its territory. Were you just seeking free publicity for your anticipated senatorial campaign?

Del Rosario’s “political baggage” is not just his reckless role in the ICC. It includes the many international corporations he has as clients. Those powerful and influential corporate clients may have interests that do not sit well with Philippine interests.

Assuming that Del Rosario wins a seat in the Senate, will he not be compromised whenever the Senate takes up proposed laws that may adversely affect any of his corporate clients?

By the way, Del Rosario speaks English very well, but nobody has heard him speak in Pilipino. Is he able to speak in Pilipino?

Armin’s heaviest “political baggage” consists of the “sick books” published by his Department of Education and distributed to the public schools. Those books, which cost millions and millions of pesos in public funds, have so many clerical, grammatical and factual errors such that they are now useless to public school pupils. Worse, those books will plunge the Filipino youth into a quagmire of disinformation they cannot escape from.

The other “political baggage” of this member of the religious clergy and die-hard dilawan is his utter disrespect for the constitutionally mandated separation of Church and State.

Why should this Padre Damaso be entrusted with a seat in the Senate?

Source： Daily Tribune 21-03-2021