SC SHOULD LEAVE ACADEME ALONE - KIKO PANGILINAN

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan urges the Supreme Court to move on from the row involving the Supreme Court and members of the UP Faculty of Law.

"It would be best for the Supreme Court to consider the matter a closed case and refrain from pursuing the contempt case against UP College of Law faculty members," says Pangilinan, himself a graduate of the UP College of Law.

The high court recently issued a "show-cause" order against 37 UP Law professors, asking them to explain why they should not be sanctioned in light of a statement they had issued asking Supreme Court Justice del Castillo to resign on grounds of plagiarism.

"The position taken by the UP faculty members on the issue finds solid support and is buttressed by the dissenting opinion of justice Sereno. This alone should prove that there is no basis to sanction the UP College of Law faculty members," Pangilinan points out.

"Judicial restraint will best serve the interest of the Supreme court. With all due respect, the Supreme Court should learn to choose its battles and to my mind, this isn't one of them."