At the End of the Day

I BELIEVE IT IS high time that the Constitution-granted balance of power between the branches of government--executive, legislative and judiciary--be made to work as it was meant to be, and let the concerned justices in the present Supreme Court be made to answer for their sins, for their arrogance in the exercise of judicial power. Even the conscientious justices themselves voiced out against the arrogance of the majority ruling the Supreme Court these days. And maybe for the first time in its history, the Supreme Court has abrogated unto itself power that does not belong to it, and in the process interfering with the lawful rights of the legislative and executive branches in exercising their Constitutionally mandated jobs. And these sins of the Supreme Court must be stopped now otherwise the country will end up having a power-hungry High Court that cannot be checked by its co-equal branches in government; a High Court that lords over the executive and the legislative branches as it

AMADO DORONILA of the Philippine Daily Inquirer writes today about the perceived coercion that President Benigno Aquino III made on the press in defense of his "passion for flashy cars," and for  his lifestyle as a "pampered son of a wealthy family living an unfrugal life." I encountered some confusion on how Mr. Doronila reasoned out his understanding on how frugal life is meant to be lived. Does he meant to keep the money on the vault unused simply for the sake of not spending them? That will be a suggestion for a miser's lifestyle. Aquino may have "bought," actually exchanged, a third-hand Porsche for his old BMW for approximately the same valuation of P4.5 million. In effect, there was no significant money spent for the acquisition, except perhaps a sales tax if that applied. And here Mr. Doronila concluded that the new President of the Republic is living an "unfrugal life" (did he expect Mr. Aquino to sell the luxury car he had befor