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APART from the customary meditative aspect of Holy Week, quality
family time is another key aspect of this Lenten break. And nowhere
was the latter point better exemplified than in the salubrious
climes of Baguio where the posh Baguio Country Club (BCC) is at the
epicenter of familial socializing (as it so wonderfully was this
past long weekend) in the summer capital where the good and great
had gathered.
Politics has always been the staple diet within
the relaxing confines of the BCC. But this Holy Week we discovered
there was an extra item on the fare being chewed over by assorted
(many prominent) members—it being the ongoing Ilusorio family feud
and how it might impact, if at all, the future of the BCC seeing
that the family has the controlling stake at the club.
To recall the well-chronicled legal saga: On one
side is the matriarch, Erlinda K. Ilusorio and some of her children.
On the other side is her daughter Erlinda Ilusorio-Bildner and a
handful of her siblings. The bitter fight between the two factions
within the family has kept the Philippine courts busy for much of
the last decade. There are charges and counter-charges. The probate
proceedings of the estate of the late patriarch Potenciano Ilusorio
have barely begun, almost eight years after they were filed.
Going by what we were hearing at the BCC this
past weekend, the exclusive club has turned out to be one of the
battlefields for the Ilusorio legal feud. And since Filipinos are
suckers for intrigue, one of the favorite topics in some quarters of
the BCC was the matter of judges allegedly enjoying the facilities
of the club where the Ilusorios—who are litigants in scores of
lawsuits—are the undisputed kingpins.
Such is the (some would say over the top)
sensitivity of the issue that certain judges in Baguio are said to
have been probed on the matter. Why, a hapless former chief justice
is even said to have caused mild controversy when he was interviewed
for television while relaxing at the veranda of the club.
Of course, such insinuations against the
judiciary are somewhat unfair considering they are as much in need
of rest and recreation as the rest of us. And besides, their
presence at the club could well be by virtue of membership.
But the consensus at the BCC watering hole
seemed to be that at a time when probity-driven Chief Justice
Ricardo Puno is taking widely applauded steps to clean up the
judiciary in order to protect the integrity of the courts and to
ensure people’s trust in the judicial system, delicadeza would
dictate that any possible public perception to the contrary be best
avoided by members of the judiciary.
While Chief Justice Puno’s efforts are
certainly laudable, there should also be efforts on the part of
justices to maintain the appearance of propriety at all times and
avoid being unwitting attendants at functions sponsored by or
organized by litigants, particularly those with high-profile cases.
A more recent example of how the public
read—rightly or wrongly—into social situations occurred at the
Wack-Wack Golf Club when a Supreme Court justice’s very presence
there was publicized in the media unfavorably merely because the
president of Wack-Wack Golf Club happens to be former Comelec
chairman Ben Abalos who is embroiled in the National Broadband
Network controversy that is now the subject of deliberations by the
Supremes.
The integrity of our courts of law must be
beyond reproach since they are the last resort for the common folk
who seek justice.
In that context the supposed social gatherings
of magistrates in any venue owned or presided over by high-profile
litigants should be strongly discouraged so as to avoid giving the
wrong impression and, in the process, sending Dame Justice wobbling
precariously on her pedestal.
rjottings@yahoo.com
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