On Monday, President Aquino attended a justice cooperation summit with many of the serving Supreme Court justices. Usually, these are rather formal and stiff affairs. However, Aquino gave a speech lambasting Chief Justice Corona for ruling against the administration and being beholden to Arroyo.
Of course Aquino had criticized the justice before, but this particular speech was shocking for its directness and confrontation with the justices in the same room. Several constitutional law experts have attacked Aquino for his "tirade," one going so far as to compare him to Fidel Castro.
For his part, Corona confirmed that he is not resigning. He has rarely participated in the "debate" directly, but rather spoken through Supreme Court Spokesman Midas Marquez. On Tuesday, Marquez stated that, “It is just unfortunate that the Chief Justice was appointed by someone that many do not like. Now they are attacking him. It’s not his fault."
It'll be interesting to see what polls say about Aquino's attacks on the judiciary. I haven't been in the country in a while so I unfortunately don't have a sense on the ground.
Critics agree that much of Southeast Asia desperately needs judicial reform and rule of law. Yet, there is remarkably little comparative scholarship on law and legal institutions in the region. In this blog, I'll follow constitutional developments in Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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