He summarizes his view by offering six interconnected arguments, a layered approach to the issue that measures the leap in logic the majority decision had to make. Then he responds to every major argument of the ruling, proving without a doubt that the eight justices who used the case to “re-write the Constitution” (Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio), “supplanting the [Judicial and Bar] Council’s determination” (Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe) and birthing “a legal abomination” (Associate Justice Marvic Leonen), committed institutional suicide. “Without honor,” Caguioa adds.
Years from now, as we sift through the jurisprudential debris of the Duterte era, we will find the charred remains of the Peralta ruling on the Marcos burial and the rotting timber of Tijam’s lengthy justification for ousting a chief justice without benefit of an impeachment proceeding—and then we will see, still standing, the true guideposts. We will be reminded, with the full force of regret, of the legal acuity of Carpio’s opinions, the eloquence and superior understanding of Leonen’s dissents, and the compelling clarity of Caguioa’s alternate — that is to say, true — accounting.
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