Reliance on legal precedents
As of this writing, it’s all quiet on the local business front with regard to the decision of the Supreme Court declaring the impeachment by the House of Representatives of Vice President Sara Duterte as unconstitutional.
That declaration came with the ruling that the Senate, although it had already received the Articles of Impeachment and earlier constituted itself as an impeachment court, does not have the jurisdiction to conduct an impeachment trial.
The country’s major business organizations are not known for keeping quiet on national interest issues. They issue statements to the media to express their opinion on those matters, especially if they could adversely affect the country’s economic condition.
The apparent silence of the business sector is understandable. The ruling of the high court involves the interpretation of relevant provisions of the Constitution on the removal of impeachable government officials.
Its discussion would be better left to constitutional law experts and members of the House who feel strongly about pursuing the impeachment trial of the Vice President.
It is reasonable to assume, however, that the business community is closely watching the developments in this highly charged political controversy because if it is not amicably settled, it would have adverse effects on the country’s political stability.
For obvious reasons, an unstable or unpredictable political climate is not conducive to business, more so for foreign investors who want consistency in economic and political policies.
A major sticking point in the high court’s decision is its ruling that the mere filing of an impeachment complaint would trigger the application of the one-year ban on impeachment complaints.
The prevailing rule, as earlier declared by the high court, is that the clock would start ticking the moment such a complaint is found to be sufficient in form and substance and endorsed to a House committee tasked to handle that kind of action. That sequence of events is aimed at avoiding the filing of frivolous impeachment complaints.
That is a legal precedent that all Filipinos, regardless of their political persuasion, are obliged to respect and comply with until it’s later modified or set aside by the court itself.
For business people worth their salt, court or administrative rulings that establish precedents or create standards for certain courses of action are taken seriously and scrupulously.
They would make strategic plans with legal implications or consequences based on what a court or administrative body that has regulatory authority over their operation had earlier said they could or could not do.
Predictability or consistency in the application of the rules of the game, so to speak, is essential in making decisions that can make or break a business.
Sudden or unexpected changes in the ways things should be done that sharply differ or deviate from the manner they were done before are a big no-no.
They can make business people awake all night thinking about how to cope with out-of-the-blue policy changes.
Business people are not opposed to changes in policies because they know they are not etched in stone and may have to undergo adjustments when the need arises. But the changes should be applied prospectively, not retroactively, and with reasonable prior notice to the affected parties.
And in case some things may have been done before that are not consistent with or depart from the objective of the changed policies, those acts and their effects should be honored since they were done in good faith.
With the business put on notice ahead of time, it can take the proper steps to ensure that it is compliant with those changes and avoid getting into legal trouble in case they fall short of the requirements of the changed policies.
No doubt, the business community is keeping its fingers crossed that this latest political controversy would run its course without unpleasant consequences.
