In a span of two weeks, the Supreme Court has handed down a series of decisions that struck a ringing blow for political liberties and against a threatening authoritarianism. The Court sharply rebuked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration with a train of three decisions that sought to curb abuse of executive power as it declared as illegal, in a May 3 decision, a clause in Presidential Proclamation 1017 (which declared a national emergency on Feb. 24) giving her authority to issue decrees. For the first time since it slammed the brakes on the administration’s seemingly irresistible lurch toward authoritarian rule, the Court did not mince words in warning the nation that the administration was retracing the introduction of the Marcos dictatorship when the President issued the

There has been no breakthrough in the investigations into the brutal assassination of IP Douglas Nimal together with his wife in a Colombo suburb last week. Douglas was no ordinary police officer. He served in the elite STF in the conflict zone for ten years. After his return to Colombo, he was instrumental in seizing a large quantity of heroin and arresting many underworld kingpins. He was one of the only two police officers who had the intrepidity to take on the much-dreaded PSD under President Kumaratunga. Not only did he confront those Oprichniks but opened fire on them during an election in Colombo. The other officer who had the courage to do so was IP Samudrajeeva, who is responsible for a number of successful