[In the Public Square] Unclean hands: Senator Bato’s TRO

The latest circus act in the Cayetano Senate is the attempt to allow members to vote in absentia — an obvious ploy to allow Senator Bato dela Rosa to take full part as a majority senator even while hiding from the law. The lengths this new majority would go through, just to protect Bato. Are there no limits? Have they no shame?

But there are, in fact, limits. The Supreme Court, in denying Bato’s petition for a TRO, and the Solicitor General, in her comment on Bato’s petition, made vitally important distinctions.

In this new episode of In the Public Square, Rappler columnist John Nery is joined Dean Mel Sta. Maria, a lawyer and a public intellectual who brings a welcome clarity to legal issues.

Aside from his distinguished legal practice, Dean Mel Sta. Maria has also served as dean of the Far Eastern University Institute of Law for a decade and as a law professor at the Ateneo de Manila School of  Law since 1986.

Watch the episode on Wednesday, May 27, at 8 pm. -Rappler.com