First word IN entering late the row over the Supreme Court July 25 ruling on the constitutionality of the House impeachment and imminent trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, I plead the excuse that I researched first on how different countries or political systems appreciate the power of judicial review of the judicial branch to declare acts of the legislative and executive unconstitutional if they conflict with the Constitution.

The issue of defying court orders is still with us — but it has taken a twist. Now the defiance is coming from inside the judicial branch itself, in the form of a lower-court mutiny against the Supreme Court.