At the outset, I would like to make it clear that I have the highest respects for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Honorable Reynato Puno.

Not only is he the brother of a very good friend and associate; he is also personally known to us as a man of exceptional intellect and integrity. I can only agree with those who say they hold him in high esteem and that he can speak with credibility on the subject matter of morality in government and society.

There is also no doubt that he is well qualified to run for the presidency.

But I am compelled to join the voices of some concerned citizens and groups who are worried that his apparent sally into politics could dent that treasured credibility and tarnish what could otherwise be a sterling personal history of service in the Philippine judiciary.

Not that I?and the people and groups who share my sentiment?do not want him to run.

What I merely wish to point out is that the current talk about his gunning for the presidency in the 2010 polls? and the goading that he is getting from traditional politicians and Catholic Church leaders?is fraught with risks and downsides that are disadvantageous to his potential legacy.

It would seem the unfolding of events leading to the call for him to run is rather suspicious or, at best, eyebrow-raising.

All this talk about his potential candidacy began with rumors of an impeachment move against him brewing in the House of Representatives.

The alleged impeachment move, if I recall correctly, was made public by the Chief Justice?s own spokesman who said he got his information from his ?sources? in Congress.

We also recall that those ?sources? were never identified nor did they ever surface to bolster the credibility of the story. In fairness, that story?from a purely journalistic viewpoint?never graduated from rumor to fact. No corroboration. No credible attribution.

With all due respect, the chorus of ?warnings? against the real-or-imagined impeachment plot did not suffice to prove that such plot existed. Nor did insinuations that the Palace had anything to do with that reported plot. Making Malaca?ang the ?primary suspect? did not automatically turn fiction into fact.

Unfortunately, that unconfirmed tale of an impeachment plot was the backdrop of a subsequent call by the Chief Justice for ?moral forces? to step forward and ?redirect the destiny of the country.?

Surely the Chief Justice was speaking with sincere conviction when he sounded that call. But the context of the call may have been colored by the backdrop of that impeachment ruse. Again, with all due respect to the SC chief, given the sequence of events, people cannot help asking whether or not he was summoning the ?moral forces? in order to prevent his ouster from his SC post.

It should be stressed that it appears that such was not the intention of the Chief Justice. But his handlers should have been more circumspect. Calling on ?moral forces? amid the rumored plan to unseat him smacked of a People Power trigger.

And then came the goading for him to run for president in the 2010 polls. That?s the killer.

Ideally, in order to keep the moral high ground, the Chief Justice should have rejected the call fast and straightforward.

But his statement that he would consult his ?advisers? conveyed signals that he is playing into the political courtship, even if the ?advisers? happened to be his grandchildren.

The ?cute? response has signalled the start of a waiting game that has been made even more interesting by a signature campaign initiated by former activist and now Iglesia Filipina Independiente Bishop Nilo Tayag. What if Tayag gets his two million signatures? Would the SC chief?s ?advisers? finally acquiesce?

Our point is that the sequence of events has started to make all these look scripted. So very, very scripted.

In public relations parlance, this is called the cut-and-dried bandwagon strategy. Time-tested.

And very, very obvious.

Out of respect for the SC chief, we hasten to say we believe that he is not part, nor will he countenance, this kind of emotional manipulation of the public for political purposes. His stature is much too big for this kind of game.  

But whoever is fuelling this is definitely doing the SC chief much damage.

If this ?bandwagon? persists, all his actions, decisions and statements will begin to suffer a very serious infirmity?they will be viewed as political and colored by a 2010 political agenda. His objectivity concerning legal questions brought before the high court would be put under a cloud of doubt.

After goading him to run in the 2010 polls, his ?supporters? would pit him against the incumbent President.

And since those goading him are cut-and-dried nemeses of the President, it would be obvious that they would be capitalizing on the Chief Justice?s stature and credibility to pummel the Chief Executive. That would reduce the Chief Justice to a mere pawn in the political chess game that the President?s nemeses play.

In fairness to the Chief Justice, he can launch a bid for the presidency minus this scenario.

The late former Chief Justice, former Senate president and Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Marcelo ?Celing? Fernan, did so without resorting to controversies. True, he lost in a subsequent vice presidential contest, having been pitted against the then-immensely popular Joseph Estrada.

But he lost honorably sans a contrived script. And he never lost the nation?s esteem.

Chief Justice Puno is cut from the same noble fabric.

Great men never have to be goaded to meet up with destiny.