ONE OF the most prominent features of modern republican states is the separation of powers, an idea that traces itself back to the Anglo legal and political traditions.
Republican governments practice separation of powers because it prevents any single group or entity from monopolizing state power.
But separation of powers can only exist in a coherent society that respects or at least tolerates rival areas of power. It can only exist in a society where statesmen recognize their opponents as equals, and that no matter how much they disagree on certain matters, they are ultimately serving the same ends.
When that respect disappears, when society develops irreconcilable differences, separation of powers becomes conflict of powers. A good example of this phenomenon is the recent political drama involving one Lourdes Sereno.
Sereno’s ouster as Chief Justice was allegedly due to her failure in filing her taxes, but for those who have been following this dumpster fire, it was more than that. Sereno was seen by many as President Rodrigo Duterte’s political enemy and her ouster due to corruption charges a pretext to remove one of Duterte’s political opponents from power.
Human Rights Watch offers the most succinct explanation on the implications behind Sereno’s fall from power:
“Sereno’s ouster also kicks open the door for wanton removals of members of other constitutional bodies, such as the Commission on Human Right” and that “the rejection of constitutional checks and balances concentrates power in the hands of Duterte and his allies, posing the greatest danger to democracy in the Philippines since the Marcos dictatorship.”
Wew.
But don’t think this sort of thing is unique in the Philippines. In the United States, the Judicial System and the US Department of Justice, both of which were seen as bastions of the left – are now at war with Trump and American nationalists for allegedly usurping powers that belong to the President and the Legislature.
Liberals and pro-democracy types will scream that such trends will lead to tyranny. Yes, that may very well happen. But what they fail to understand is that the resulting tyranny is just a symptom of a different issue: A divided society.
Pro-Duterte groups are cheering Sereno’s ouster as the fall of a corrupt official from a hated and bygone age, while Sereno’s supporters are trying to portray her as a martyr, oppressed by a vicious tyrant. Likewise, in the United States, the battle between the nationalist Trump Administration and the relatively liberal US justice system reflects the fissures in contemporary American society. For such groups, there can be no reconciliation, and the separate branches of government have become battle grounds for different societal factions.
Separation of powers can only exist in a society or a state that sees a common interest. When that common interest goes away, state power becomes a cudgel to smash open the enemy’s head. And that – boys and girls – is how separation of powers dies./PN
