AMID A leadership row that saw senators pitted against each other, a law expert from a state university called on the Supreme Court to refrain from intervening in politics-induced fiasco.
University of the Philippines College of Law associate dean Paolo Tamase cited the need to allow the distinguished members of the Senate to resolve their leadership issue among themselves.
According to Tamase, the SC should only get itself entangled “when there is a ripe dispute,” adding that premature involvement could adversely affect the judiciary.
“It’s tempting to go immediately through the judicial route, since the Supreme Court can definitively interpret the constitutional provisions and rules involved,” the constitutional law expert noted.
“But in past disputes like this, the Court has been careful to function as a safety valve only when all options have been exhausted, since premature intervention will risk being seen by the public as partisan—regardless of what lawyers or even the Court insists—and thus its legitimacy as a politically neutral body,” he added.
Despite recurring powergrabs, Tamase said there exists a “functional majority” in the chamber, with Senate President pro tempore Sherwin Gatchalian, serving as acting Senate president, with a majority 12 members. On the other hand, the new minority bloc led by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano has 10 members.
Reacting to the controversy, the UP dean cited that “there doesn’t seem to be a grave urgency yet for the Court to intervene, unless critical developments emerge in the next few days.”