Uphold the Constitution, uphold the people’s will.

The Supreme Court — whose members were merely appointed — as the final arbiter or the Senate sitting as impeachment court whose members are directly elected by the people?

The issue is not which of the two equal but separate branches has the higher authority; it is whether an official act squares with the sovereign will of the people as expressed in the basic law of the land which they ratified.

And so with this thought we agree with and support a 50-year-old group of jurists, lawyers, academicians, and prominent businessmen who marked the annual celebration of Constitution Day yesterday has and expressed concern over what they call an assault on the Constitution by politicians to promote “personal and vested interests”.

The incoming officers of the Philippine Constitution Association, a widely-respected organization known for its strong stand against attacks on civil liberties, said the impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona threatens the constitutionally enshrined balance of power among the Executive, Judiciary, and Legislature.

“Our Constitution and the guarantee of the co-equality of the three branches of government are in danger of being desecrated,” d PHILCONA president Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, a lawyer and legislator representing the 1st District of Leyte in the House of Representatives wasd quoted by a broadsheet as saying

PHILCONSA, which counts among its members former SC justices and noted constitutionalists, expressed the group’s concern over the impeachment trial as it celebrates Constitution Day, which is meant to promote awareness and relevance of the Constitution to the nation and the people.

Its new set of officers led by Alfonso Yuchengco, chairman emeritus; Reynato Puno, president emeritus; Manuel Lazaro, chairman and chief executive; and  Romualdez, president, were inducted into office during an early evening program at the Manila Hotel yesterday.

Lazaro said the occasion was timely because of the impeachment trial and the “Constitution occupies center stage in our national life”.

“As the supreme and fundamental law of the land, the Constitution truly deserves the highest respect and obedience of the citizenry,” Lazaro said. “When we honor the Constitution, we obey the Filipino people; but when we dishonor or desecrate it, we become traitors to the Filipino people.”

The group said in a statement it hoped the Senate would be more circumspect in the exercise of its powers compared with their counterparts in the House of Representatives.

“The Constitution never intended to lay the Judiciary prostrate at the feet of the House of Representatives, the slaves of their will, the victims of their caprice. The fate and destiny of the Filipino people are at the doorstep of the Senate,” the statement said.

In the past several years, PHILCONSA has been involved in cases that require interpretation of the Constitution and the outcome have become part of Philippine jurisprudence.

The group has opposed moves to amend the Constitution by the so-called “people’s initiative” and some of its landmark cases include denial by the SC of legislated salary increases that benefit incumbent members of Congress.