3-0
By Conrado de Quiros

THE problem is not with the Supreme Court decisions, the problem is with the way Malacañang is spinning them. They've got more spin doctors per square inch there now than anywhere in the world-paid for by our taxes, of course-whose only job, done round the clock, is to give truth a lot of exercise: to stretch it to the limit, bend it out of shape and snap it like a fragile bone from overexertion.

What did they say about the Supreme Court decision scrapping EO 464? It was a triumph for them because it upheld the right of public officials not to appear in the congressional Question Hour. Who the hell cares about dragging officials to the Question Hour? The point was that the Court found iniquitous the idea of a (non-)President preventing public officials from telling the world what they knew of her cheating in the last elections. The point was that the Court upheld the right of the Senate to summon the witnesses to aid legislation-no, to make legislation possible at all-by making truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the hallowed ground for the Temple of Laws to be built on.

What did they say about the Supreme Court decision scrapping calibrated preemptive response? They said it was a triumph for them because it limited the rallies to certain public places and demanded sobriety in them. Who the hell was complaining about that? The point was that the Court found oppressive the idea of GMA herself and not the mayors, as the law demands, decreeing who may rally, where they may rally and how long they may rally. The point was that the Court found as an assault on democracy the idea that the police had a right to bludgeon the heads of demonstrators wherever they are, whenever they are and however they are, particularly with the gleefulness Vidal Querol and his un-merry men have shown.

But, of course, Malacañang will spin everything in its favor. This is a government that has added new dimensions to Orwellian newspeak, something Querol has raised to sublime levels. Remember when he justified the manhandling of Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel as a solicitous effort by the goons who broke up their rally to prevent her from coming to harm? Fast learner, that one: He might yet get Ignacio Bunye's job.

Comes now the Supreme Court decision on 1017. If Malacañang can say the scrapping of EO 464 and CPR was a victory for them, can anyone seriously expect it not to claim so about a Court decision that upholds government's right to defend itself?

Frankly, I can't understand why anyone should be dismayed by it. It's right there in the Constitution. I've never had a problem with the idea. My first column (Feb. 27) after GMA declared 1017 began this way: "A government has the right to protect itself from a threat. But a government has no right to tyrannize the world to protect itself from that threat. GMA is not doing the first, she is doing the second. Her response to an attempt to unseat her by force is to become a dictator."

The Court clearly had the same perspective. It upheld her right to protect herself from a threat but it condemned her move to tyrannize the world to protect herself from that threat. It upheld her right to stop an attempt to unseat her by force but it condemned her bid to become a dictator using it as an excuse. The Court even called the onerous 1017 provisions a throwback to martial law. What more do you want? It is the perfect answer to a perfect idiocy.

Finding victory where there is none and gloating about it is yet another one of Malacañang's ruses to divide the ranks of its legions of enemies. Why fall into that trap? In fact, the Supreme Court has just handed GMA and cohorts a 3-0 defeat. Its rulings on 464, CPR and 1017 have pulled the legal rug out from under an attempted dictatorship. More than that, they have opened the door for the examination of the real problem, which is that GMA rigged the last elections, a door she has kept shut by preventing witnesses from witnessing, protesters from protesting and democracy from democratizing this country, or at least defending itself.

Let us praise where praise is due, and it is due Artemio Panganiban and colleagues who have continued to surprise us with a show of independence over and beyond the call of duty-maybe, the Chief Justice is eyeing a niche in history? Good for him!-and injected a country grown jaded and despairing a dose of hope. Friends have been saying enthusiastically that once the Supreme Court finds the people's initiative on Cha-cha unconstitutional as well, its rebuke would be total.

But I don't know why we have to wait for that. I don't know why we even have to wait for another impeachment bid to do something about a clear and present danger. What the three Supreme Court rulings have shown beyond a shadow of doubt is that the problem is first and last GMA. The problem is that we have a ruler who violated the Constitution by stealing the vote and by issuing EO 464, CPR and 1017; and who violates the Constitution even now by still being there. Hell, never mind the Constitution; mind who violated, is violating and will violate Common Sense. Can anything be more insulting than Charter change? What is it saying but that if GMA cannot follow the Constitution, we might as well change the Constitution?

I don't know why we have to wait for more legal remedies to remedy a bane that's ravaging the minds and bodies of our children. My solution remains snap elections to be forced by civil disobedience. Why should I be an authentic citizen to a fake President? Why should I obey ordinary laws when the (non-)President cannot obey the highest law of the land? Change the Charter? Change the Usurper.

Stop Cha-cha? Snap Gloria! The Snap there still means, "Say No to A Phony."

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