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Impending retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Reynato Puno

      One issue that threatens to explode into a full-scale controversy is the appointment of the next Supreme Court chief justice with the impending retirement of incumbent Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

      There are those who oppose the move of Malacañang to make the appointment given that the next president will assume office on July 1. As always, the Palace and its sycophants are hell-bent on doing just that.

      Like most controversies, each side has his own argument going for it. Those who toe Malacañang's line say, among other things, that it is not good for the position to be left vacant.

      The logic seems right at first glance but we cannot resist the temptation to ask what the urgency is for given that there is greater danger in having an appointee of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo securely in place as Chief Justice with the expected torrent of cases against her as soon as she leaves office.

      Those who oppose the move point out that there have been legal precedents of appointing an acting Chief Justice pending the assumption of the new president. The bone of contention is that appointing a Chief Justice just as Pres. Arroyo's term is winding up is tantamount to a midnight appointment.

      Unfortunately for those selling Malacañang's logic, it seems to grow thin with the passing of each day. That's what happens when you have fooled the people far too often.

      The point here is simple: there is no life and death situation so let it hang.

      If indeed Pres. Arroyo is so concerned about urgency, she should have done something concrete to alleviate the lives of the majority of the Filipinos who live lives of wretched existence.

      That she has not only failed to do that in her nine years of tenure but actually made life more miserable for the majority proves that urgency is the last thing on her mind.

      Her supposed fear of justice not taking its full course during the intervening months, this too is nothing more than empty rhetoric. The long list of injustice perpetrated by her administration belies such claims.

      Somehow there were those who were still hoping that Pres. Arroyo would try to beat the deadline by doing the right moves as the clock ticks to midnight. At the rate things are going, those hopes are fading fast.

      If her body language is any indication, there is no sudden conversion for Pres. Arroyo. Until the last gasp, it is still the politics of survival that is at work. - Editorial, Sunday Post

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