FILE

The ongoing legal clashes involving the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte is very much like a championship basketball game. There's a lot on the line, and both teams want to win badly.

And just like in a basketball game, both sides are crying foul. One side wants to expedite the impeachment trial, while the other wants to have it dismissed outright.

So now our country is like a jam-packed gym with passions boiling over. The teams' fans, the VP's supporters and her detractors, are shouting and are at each other's throats. The players, the VP's legal team and the House prosecutors, are arguing. The coaches, the legal experts arguing for and against impeachment, are yelling from both benches. Everyone has an opinion.

As in any dispute, a referee is needed to decide which side is right. And no matter how loud anyone gets, the only decision that counts is the referee’s.

In this case, the referee is our Supreme Court. When there’s a big argument about the rules, especially the most important rules of all, the ones in the Constitution, it’s the Supreme Court that gets to blow the whistle and make the call.

Not the so-called constitutional experts from the best law schools in the country, or netizens who have asked ChatGPT to interpret the Constitution. Not the media, some of whom are so obviously biased they sound like partisan mouthpieces. Just the Supreme Court.

And it is the SC that now must make a crucial call: can the Senate proceed with the trial? The VP's critics say it should proceed "forthwith." Her supporters are saying the process was wrong from the very beginning. Each side has its own interests, which is why it is up to the SC to judge which side is legally in the right.

This is the role of the SC as referee. Referees enforce the rules and they make sure the game is played fair. The justices on the Court will do the same, which is why they have asked the House to provide a list of information to help them decide the cases at bar. This is the legal equivalent of instant replay.

Like referees under the spotlight, our SC justices have made plenty of tough calls before, even if it has meant upsetting powerful people. And in a case like this, there will inevitably be a large group of unhappy people.

So if the SC says the impeachment should go on, then it goes on. If the High Court says the process was flawed, then the impeachment grinds to a halt. That’s the rule of law. It means everybody follows the rules, even when it’s inconvenient, even when it’s not what we personally want.

Because if we only follow the rules when they benefit us, we’re not following rules, we’re just doing what we like.

This is why we wait for the refs to make the call. Because waiting for the referee isn’t a sign of weakness. It is respect, for the game, for the rules, and for each other. So let’s all take a step back and just let the Court decide. And whatever their decision is, let’s be mature enough, as a country, to accept it.

Danilo R. dela Cruz, Jr.

The author earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and now spends his days "keenly observing the ways of the world."