Ducky Paredes

“If Raul is again suspended as a lawyer, it would be “déjà vu all over again” (as Yogi Berra would say).”

by Ducky Paredes

Wow! What an inaugural! Like so many around the world, I watched the whole four hour show, amazed at the significance that the United States of America attaches to the minutiae of its inaugural ceremony. I like the way that their main players – the new President and Vice President – come on to the stage with congressional leaders and other officials. That underlines the fact that they work together not as superior and underlings but as almost co-equals in making the system work.
That everyone of importance – former presidents and others – are introduced as they come on also indicative of the fact that a president and not some dictatorial monarch is being sworn into office. In fact, senators and congressmen have a few hundred thousand invitations to the ceremony for their constituents or lobbyist-friends. This makes them as much a part of everything as those being sworn in.
Everything about the ceremony was convincing proof of the greatness of the lone superpower left in the world. The gentility of it all, however, gave one a great feeling about what America is all about – Democracy!
The one event that did not go of so well was the swearing in of the President itself. Chief Justice John Roberts committed the errors in swearing in the new President. What follows is from the Huffington Post, among my favorite Internet places:
“Are you prepared to take the oath, senator?” Roberts asked Obama, who was holding the Bible that Abraham Lincoln used the day he became president in 1861. (Since, it was past noon, Obama was already President as prescribed tby their Constitution – oath or no oath)
The swearing in began simply enough as Roberts started reciting the oath Obama was to repeat, a few words at a time.
“I, Barack Hussein Obama …,” began Roberts.
“I, Barack …,” said Obama, and before he could continue, Roberts said, ” … do solemnly swear …”
Obama: “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear …”
Roberts: “… that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully …”
Obama: “… that I will execute …”
Roberts: “… faithfully execute the office of president of the United States …”
Obama: “… the office of president of the United States faithfully …”
At that point, Roberts got back on course, leading as Obama followed with “and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
“So help you God?” asked Roberts.
“So help me God.”
(That their Chief Justice would flub the first time that he administered the Oath to an incoming President is probably due to nervousness and a bit of stage fright and is, of course, forgivable.)
* * *
It was the height of hubris for the Justice Secretary when on the eve of elections in 2007, he announced on nationwide television that he would give P10,000 to any barangay in his home town – Iloilo City – that would give his and the President’s ticket a 12-0 result.
Now, that hubris is working on schedule. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) has recommended to the Supreme Court the one-year suspension of  Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez. be suspended as a lawyer for one year for offering P10,000 to barangay captains in Iloilo City who ensured a sweep for the administration’s senatorial slate in the 2007 elections.
The notice of resolution by the IBP Commission on Bar Discipline confirmed the reversal of the earlier recommendation of its investigation commissioner and approved “the suspension from the practice of law for one year of Attorney Raul M. Gonzalez Sr. for obstruction of the electoral process for his reprehensible conduct of openly and publicly offering P10,000 to any barrio captain in his area of political influence who can give 12-0 votes in favor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s senatorial candidates and taking into consideration his previous professional misconduct.”
Typically, the Justice Secretary takes the  lowest possible argument as answer – ad hominem!
Gonzales had this to say about the person who filed the case against him – Ely Pamatong: “I am not worried about his case. The complainant is a nut; that’s what I think he is.
“I would even think that the IBP has no jurisdiction over this case because this is a Comelec case. Besides, I never even ended up giving P10,000.
“You cannot recommend my suspension without me having found guilty.” he said, pointing out that the Comelec should have been the one to conduct the investigation because it is an election related case.
According to Gonzales, Pamatong had earlier come to him asking that cases against Pamatong be dropped:  “I told him I cannot help him. It is up to the court to decide if there is a case against him or not.”
If Raul is again suspended as a lawyer, it would be “déjà vu all over again” (as Yogi Berra would say). He was first suspended from the practice of law for an indefinite period by the Supreme Court was ion October 1988 when he was still the country’s Tanodbayan
On January 1993, after four and a half years of suspension, his suspension was  lifted by the high court, which noted that the sanction it imposed on Gonzalez had “the effect of giving (Gonzalez) the chance to purge himself in his own good time of his contempt and misconduct by acknowledging such misconduct, exhibiting appropriate repentance and demonstrating his willingness and capacity to live up to the exacting standards of conduct rightly demanded from every member of the bar and the officer of the courts.”
Gonzalez then  won the lone congressional post in Iloilo City. In 1998, he took again the national limelight when he served as prosecutor in the impeachment of then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada.
Gonzales also co-presided over the congressional canvassing of the results of the 2004 presidential elections where every objection by the opposition to particular precincts being canvassed were overruled by Gonzales.
As his reward for having assured Gloria Arroyo a win despite proof of chicanery in the counting and the conduct of the balloting, Gonzales was appointed Secretary of Justice. Our Department of Justice has never been the same again. Was the SC wrong about Gonzales’ actually taking the “chance to purge himself in his own good time of his contempt and misconduct by acknowledging such misconduct, exhibiting appropriate repentance and demonstrating his willingness and capacity to live up to the exacting standards of conduct rightly demanded from every member of the bar and the officer of the courts”?
* * *
Hubris, though not specifically defined, was a legal term and was considered a crime in classical Athens. It was also considered the greatest sin of the ancient Greek world. That was so because it was not only proof of excessive pride, but also resulted in violent acts by or to those involved. — Wikipedia
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hvp 01.21.09)