Lapses 01/15/2007

JOVITO Salonga is kind. He allows for Court of Appeals Justice Apolinario Bruselas having made an unwitting mistake in misquoting eminent American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. “We would like to think that Justice Bruselas, highly regarded by his peers, did not deliberately misquote Holmes…. A researcher or another associate for this particular case might be the source of the doctored or falsified quotation…. But Justice Bruselas, an expert in criminal law, (could still) be held responsible for the offense of falsification.”

The quote in question is this. Holmes had said: “Great constitutional provisions must be administered with caution…. (I)t must be remembered that legislatures are the ultimate guardians of the liberties and welfare of the people in quite as great a degree as the courts.” Bruselas quoted the second sentence as: “It must be remembered that the other branches of the government are ultimate guardians of the liberties and welfare of the people….”

A trifling matter? Well, it was on the head of that pin that Bruselas stood his justification for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo having the authority to spring Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith from jail and deliver him to the Americans. If the executive, which is one of the branches of government, is also as much a guardian and arbiter of the liberties and welfare of the people as the courts, then Arroyo is well within her right to exercise judgment -- however she is prone to lapses there -- in the disposition of Smith.

But Holmes in fact said nothing of the kind. He said the exact opposite: The executive has no business meddling in the administration of great constitutional provisions. As Salonga points out, in the particular instance where Holmes uttered those comments, he expressly forbade the state governor and his aides from having anything to do with the case.

Could Bruselas have made an honest mistake? Well, he is dealing with a government that is universally known to have none of the honesty and all of the mistakes. He was under pressure to find a justification, however flimsy, to take the sting out of public protest, not least Nicole’s, over the favorable treatment of a convicted rapist. The kind that Arroyo used to put to death, along with kidnappers, to score points with the local anti-crime groups, until she changed her tack, scrapping the death penalty, to score points with the international community in turn.

How is it possible to change “legislatures” into “the other branches of government” unwittingly? An underpaid, overworked and sleepy clerk of court might change legislatures into “armatures,” or “nomenclatures” or some not-fit-to-print word to register his feelings for his plight, but he is not likely to confuse “legislatures” with “other branches of the government.” And in any case, it’s the easiest thing in the world in this digital age to cut and paste, which is what you do to quotes to assure you do not quote wrongly.

Could it have been a researcher or associate who fed him the wrong quote? Well, to begin with, there is such a thing as command responsibility, a doctrine that says you are responsible for the actions of your people. Though that is a concept that seems to elude us: Journalists and political activists are being slaughtered all over the place, a scale of mayhem comparable only to Marcos’ time, and the "tongressmen" say they can find nothing to connect the Chief Executive to the not very cheap executions. But that is another story. More than that, you are going to base your justification for a matter of epic national importance on that quote and you won’t bother to check its veracity? You wonder how Bruselas got to be highly regarded by his peers, as Salonga says. If true, it doesn’t reflect well on the quality of mind of his peers.

Salonga says that for the crime, Bruselas stands to reap “'aresto mayor,' or up to six years’ imprisonment.” The Latin sounds formidable and almost inexorable. But I myself think that Bruselas will be punished most severely only in the same way that Virgilio Garcillano was punished most severely. For engaging in a long-drawn conversation with the President (she was still so at the time) in a voice as distinctive as hers, for denying it afterward with the resoluteness of a husband caught by his wife in bed with another woman (“This is not what you think…”), and for calling the whole world a liar for insisting he had fled the country to avoid arrest when he was here all the time, Garci has been severely punished by having Malacañang’s blessings to run for congressman in his hometown. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruselas is severely punished by being shoved near the head of the line for Supreme Court justice, and his assistants given promotions.

Frankly, I don’t know what we’re doing congregating with other countries, or even hosting events like the Asean conference with its subtle presumptions of leadership and guidance. It’s not just the blind leading the blind, it’s the blind leading the seeing -- or, at least, the one-eyed. The deterioration -- no, the disappearance -- of moral scruple in this country is astounding. Other countries aspire to become the best, we aspire to become the worst. Other countries aspire to reach greater heights, we don’t mind hitting even the lowest depths. It used to be we were content only with mediocrity: It was enough that we got by with the least effort. While others made love and war, we just made do. Today, we’re not just content with mediocrity, we’ve made our peace with perfidy.

Other countries call deliberate efforts to mislead the public treason, we call it governance. Other countries call stealing the vote a crime, we call it a lapse in judgment. Other countries call people who do those things names, we call them president of a republic and justice of the court of appeals.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view_article.php?article_id=43402