If final and executory decisions of the Supreme Court can be reopened in perpetuity, then litigations would be interminable or endless and the hallowed doctrine of res judicata is abandoned with impunity.

Res judicata means conclusiveness of judgment or “a matter that has been adjudicated (with finality) by a competent court may not be pursued further by the same parties.”

The decision of the High Court in the estate tax liability of the Marcoses, which has ballooned from P23-B to P203-B due to interests and surcharges, became final and executory way back on March 9, 1999 or more than two decades ago.

Before 1999, the Marcoses were allowed starting 1991 to return to the Philippines to face corruption charges, and Imelda Marcos even ran for President in 1992, seven years before the finality of the tax case. 

Verily, the Marcoses were in the Philippines to contest their estate tax liability.

The lapse of time has made the final decision immutable.

Jurisprudential doctrines can be reversed in a subsequent similar case, but not in the same prior case where the verdict has already become final and executory. 

If the finality of a decision depends on the changing composition of the Supreme Court, then cases could not be put to rest and differing temperaments and outlooks of justices could rule the day. 

EDCEL C. LAGMAN