President Aquino was sworn in today. Notably, the justice conducting the oath of office and inaugural ceremonies was not Chief Justice Corona, but rather Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales (see right – image from PhilStar). This decision stems partly from Aquino’s strident opposition of former president Arroyo’s “midnight appointment” of the new chief justice (see here for a refresher). Aquino’s mother, Cory, was also sworn in by an associate justice, one who had taken a strong anti-Marcos stand. It’s still not clear how much of an impact this move will actually have on relations between the executive and judiciary, but it should be fascinating to watch over the coming months.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Aquino sworn in – by Justice Carpio
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Filed under Aquino, Philippines
Suo Moto Tango in Pakistan
While I was in Asia, one of my articles was posted on Tom Ginsburg’s Comparative Constitutions Blog. The article, “Suo Moto Tango,” discusses the Pakistani Supreme Court’s use of suo moto jurisdiction to remedy environmental problems. It is part of a somewhat longer article I am writing for a book on environmental law (hopefully due out this fall). Enjoy!
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Witness Protection Poorly Programmed
Last week, a key witness to the Maguindanao massacre, Suwaib Upham (a.k.a. “Jesse”) was shot. This is a very worrying development. Human Rights Watch has demanded the government take action to protect other witnesses. Unfortunately, this type of crime is not unique to the Maguindanao prosecution. When I was in the Philippines in 2008 with the Asia Foundation, I had heard horror stories about the sorry state of the Philippine witness protection program. One set of witnesses was essentially “stored” at an extra office in the National Bureau of Investigations (the Philippine FBI) headquarters building. One judge said he had to hire his own bodyguards because the government could (would?) not protect him from death threats. Unfortunately, witness protection programs tend to fall by the wayside in the rule of law programs of both national and international donor. If you’re interested in these issues, I’d recommend a relatively recent book Support for Victims of Crime in Asia as an overview of different country practices.
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Terror Trials to Top
The father-in-law of slain JI terrorist Noordin Top, Baharudin Latif alias Baridi, is going on trial soon for hiding his Noordin. This raises an interesting point. Indonesia has won plaudits for its handling of terrorism cases through police actions and relatively fair and competent trials in the judiciary. In fact, at a CSIS event yesterday, International Crisis Group Southeast Asia Director Jim Della-Giacoma said the judiciary operated better in these types of cases than it usually does and suggested it could be a model for further judicial reforms in the country. (This is the stark opposite from the U.S., where our terror trials have been roundly criticized). Can Indonesia and the rule of law programs there find a way to operationalize the lessons from the terror trials to reform the entire judiciary? Or are the problems simply too different?
Improving relations between the Philippine Judiciary and Executive
According to a Filipino newspaper, the Aquino administration plans to convene the Judicial Executive Legislative Advisory and Coordination Council (Jelacc) fairly early in the new administration. This seems to be an attempt to resolve some of the conflict over Aquino’s criticism of the appointment of the new chief justice, Renato Corona. Then again, this might be difficult given that the Supreme Court is expected to hear a lawsuit against the Aquino family plantation, the Hacienda Lusita, fairly soon.
The news article also mentions a recent World Bank study on Philippine judicial reform. I couldn’t find that study, but I did find one produced by the Asian Development Bank (available here).
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Dominic J. Nardi, Jr. 
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