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Re: Letter of the UP Law Faculty re Allegations of Plagiarism and Misrepresentation in the Supreme Court [DISSENTING OPINION, SERENO, J.]

RE: LETTER OF THE UP LAW FACULTY ENTITLED "RESTORING INTEGRITY: A STATEMENT BY THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES COLLEGE OF LAW ON THE ALLEGATIONS OF PLAGIARISM AND MISREPRESENTATION IN THE SUPREME COURT"

A.M. No. 10-10-4-SC | 2011-03-08

DISSENTING OPINION
 
SERENO, J.:
 
The history of the Supreme Court shows that the times when it emerged with strength from tempests of public criticism were those times when it valued constitutional democracy and its own institutional integrity. Indeed, dangers from pressure and threat presented by what is usually constitutionally deemed as free speech can arise only when the Court allows itself to be so threatened. It is unfortunate when a tribunal admits that its core of independence can be shaken by a twelve-paragraph, two-page commentary from academia. By issuing the Show Cause Order, and affirming it in the current Decision,...