Have empathy for Marvic

This essay is a response to a Manila Standard column written by dear friend and colleague Tony La Viña, titled "Inconvenient truth about impeachment" (Aug. 1).

- FILOMENO S. STA. ANA III

Tony's essay is actually a series where he argues that the Supreme Court (SC) decision penned by Justice Marvic Leonen is a significant expansion of judicial power into territory long reserved for politics.

In the same breath, Tony writes: “For the record, I have deep respect for the Justices — many of whom, including the ponente, I know personally. I do not doubt their integrity or independence.”

My piece however does not focus on the correctness or incorrectness of the SC decision. Tony and other great legal minds have discussed the issue thoroughly. My message is about understanding Marvic. I will call the senior associate justice by his first name because like Tony, I know him personally.

Like Tony, I understand where Marvic and the SC are coming from.

To be sure, we can disagree with Marvic. But this must be a healthy debate or disagreement, unlike what’s happening in the public sphere where strident voices are impugning Marvic’s character.

In a healthy debate, we must understand the perspective of Marvic and SC. We must have “empathy” even towards our adversaries. An example is the story of Robert McNamara on how John Kennedy averted a war with the Soviet Union and Cuba by defusing the Cuban missile crisis through empathy. Kennedy’s adviser, Tommy Thompson who knew well the Soviet Union’s head, Nikita Khrushchev, prevailed upon Kennedy to avoid using military force and thus avert a nuclear war in resolving the missile crisis. Reading Khrushchev’s mind, Thompson argued that Khrushchev’s threat was meant to display his toughness to his Soviet constituency but internally, he wanted a graceful exit in resolving the missile crisis.

Here, McNamara defines empathy as understanding the perspective of the enemy. McNamara defines empathy thus:

“We must try to put ourselves inside their skin and look at us through their eyes, just to understand the thoughts that lie behind their decisions and their actions.”