Naturalism and Positivism: The Turmoil of the South on the Unconstitutionality of Sara’s Impeachment

 

By Givheart Carmelo Dano 

Politics as usual. The phrase says it all about what is happening in the country today. The South is in turmoil over the Supreme Court’s decision surrounding Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment case. The final arbiter unanimously decided on the unconstitutionality of the charges in favor of VP Sara. Indeed  her critics are not happy. 

However, Mr. Richard Heydarian, a fierce critic, again fell short in his analysis. UP people and retired justices argued that the SC is wrong in its unanimous decision. Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña labeled the SC as the “Supreme Coddler.” Coddler, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means a person who protects someone too much or treats them too kindly.

But the decision of the SC is none of the descriptions of what some critics are barking about. What the SC did was founded on the principles of natural and positive law. First, natural law emphasizes that law is grounded in universal principles of morality. The danger sometimes is that if the law always relies on a set of rules, justice is blurred. 

For Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, it is the spirit and not the form of the law that keeps justice alive. The argument of the SC on the claim of due process is founded on the principle that all under the sun must be afforded due process, and not just on the mouth of a man who intends to poison the spirit of justice.

Second, on positive law, grounded on the idea that legal orders are imposed on individuals or entities to perform or refrain from certain actions. With the undeniable reality at play—the influence of power—politics as usual. The SC, as what Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, who penned the case, opined:

“We understand our history. We have learned that in the past, momentary desires to do what is convenient and concede means to ends have inadvertently created precedents that weaken the succor of law for those who dissent, or those at our society’s margins, or those who may have fallen out of grace from the powers that be. 

"We have learned that the clash of political interests in the past, often disguised by noble intentions, has obscured the need to address the real problems of corruption, inequality, poverty, and disempowerment faced by our people. We will not allow that to happen again. We will not hesitate to declare what is legal, just, and right for our people.”