Considering that a Motion for Reconsideration has been filed, we respectfully urge the Supreme Court to seriously consider the earlier proposal of Retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban:
- To issue a status quo ante order, and
- To call for oral arguments.
By doing so, all parties—the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and the wider legal community—can take pause, step back, and prevent the nation from sliding into a spiraling abyss of a constitutional war of attrition, both in words and in deeds. Such a conflict will only further erode the people’s trust in our democratic institutions and inflict lasting harm upon them.
We respectfully appeal to the Supreme Court, as the final arbiter of all constitutional disputes, to navigate through the Motion for Reconsideration towards the path enunciated in its own ruling in the case Civil Liberties Union v. Executive Secretary of harmonising and giving legal validity and binding effect to the Constitutional prerogatives, powers and duties of the Supreme Court, the HoR and the Senate.