With President Benigno Aquino III on the attack against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, senators fear Aquino may be turning to something similar to or worse than a dictator.
In his speeches, Aquino has repeatedly slammed Corona with allegations of corruption and bias in favor of the former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Senators, who will sit as judges in Corona’s impeachment trial, said the war between the executive and judiciary raises serious questions in Philippine politics.
“I don’t know if you can call it dictatorship but when the judiciary is no longer considered an equal branch, then there is danger that the executive will have super authority which our system tries to avoid,” Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said. “Apparently, Aquino is trying to defeat that concept.”
A super Executive branch
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago also weighed in, saying that if the president succeeds, “he will have in effect introduced the concept of a powerful, a super Executive.”
She added, “Right now, the Supreme Court as an institution is under attack. So if President Aquino is successful, he would have been able to prevail with his theory of a powerful executive that is more powerful than the other two branches.”
When asked if this poses danger to the country, Santiago replied, “If you like conservatism, you will feel threatened by all of these developments.”
Meanwhile, Corona, who has kept his silence amid the president’s accusations, finally defended himself publicly on Wednesday. He said he would oppose Aquino’s “emerging dictatorship.”
source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/aquino--an-%E2%80%98emerging-dictator%E2%80%99-.html
