Petition before Supreme Court cites illegal creation of inquiry panel
A WRONG cannot be corrected by another wrong.
Or so Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo argued before the Supreme Court [SC] in his petition for certiorari seeking dissolution of a joint team from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on
Elections (Comelec) that was created to investigate him and his wife and former President Gloria Arroyo for alleged poll frauds.
In his 67-page petition for certiorari, Mr. Arroyo asked the High Tribunal for issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the “Creating and Constituting [of] a Joint DOJ-Comelec Preliminary Investigation Committee and Fact-Finding Team” that would look into the alleged frauds in the 2004 and 2007 elections.
Impleaded in the petition were Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. and members of the fact-finding and preliminary investigation arms of the joint panel.
Mr. Arroyo, through his lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, stated that the creation of the joint panel violated the law.
“The creation of the joint committee via [a] joint order is at war with the due process and equal-protection clause of the Constitution, having been created with the sole end in view of investigating
and prosecuting certain persons and incidents only,” his petition read.
“No rule or law authorizes the creation of [a] joint committee to conduct a preliminary investigation,” Mr. Arroyo said.
Topacio said that the Justice department teaming up with the Comelec was a demolition of the independence of the poll body.
The joint committee was officially created on August 15 this year.
Through its fact-finding arm, the committee found enough grounds to subject Mrs. Arroyo, now a lawmaker representing her native Pampanga province, and 40 others to preliminary investigation for alleged electoral sabotage.
But, according to the panel, there was no evidence linking Mr. Arroyo, a lawyer, to the alleged election frauds.
It, however, recommended that he be investigated further.
The Arroyo camp accused President Benigno Aquino 3rd and his allies of trying the former leader and her husband by publicity.
Topacio said that President Aquino and his supporters are “acting suspiciously [and] synchronously” to start a “massive trial by publicity . . . and making pronouncements as to the veracity of the Arroyo couple’s involvement in the supposed election frauds.”
He criticized the government for making a barrage of public pronouncements against the Arroyos even before the joint DOJ-Comelec team was created.
Mr. Arroyo’s right to fair proceedings by an independent and impartial tribunal was being trampled upon, according to Topacio.
In his petition, Mrs. Arroyo’s husband urged the High Court to “determine whether 1) the order was “valid, lawful and constitutional; 2) respondents committed grave abuse of discretion since they allegedly do not have jurisdiction in issuing the order; and 3) respondents should be prohibited and enjoined from performing tasks under the order.”
He also asked the High Tribunal to hold oral arguments on the issue “to fully ventilate all issues of constitutional dimension.”
The petition noted that “after hearing, and the submission of all required pleadings and memoranda, judgment be rendered for petitioner and against respondents, declaring Joint Order 001-2011 and all proceedings thereof NULL AND VOID for being unconstitutional and illegal.”
Mr. Arroyo’s lawyer told to the High Court to issue a TRO to prevent members of the joint panel from discharging duties and acts under Joint Order 001-2011.
