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Senators scored Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita
Monday for saying that all the measures passed by the Senate could
be null and void because the chamber still had to publish its rules
as required by the Supreme Court in its decision on the Neri case.
Ermita also cited the decision as
the reason why Cabinet members could not be compelled to attend
Senate hearings.
“If we follow his position,
then we come to the ridiculous and absurd conclusion that all laws
passed in the 14th Congress are void for lack of valid hearings,”
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said.
The 14th Congress has already
produced three laws – the Civil Aeronautics Administration Act,
the extension of the Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Fund
and the General Appropriations Act of 2008.
In addition, the Senate had
already transmitted to the House 16 bills that it had approved on
third and final reading. Among these are the Quality Affordable
Medicines Act, the Cell Phone Theft Act and the Personal Equity
Retirement Act.
“If we allow Ermita’s
arguments to remain uncontested, then any person whose rights may
have been curtailed or adversely affected by any of the laws passed
in the 14th Congress can now go to court,” Pangilinan said in a
statement.
Sen. Loren Legarda said that if
the rules used by the Senate are “infirmed” as claimed by Ermita
just because they had not been published, then President Gloria
Arroyo had been signing into law the fruits of the allegedly
infirmed Senate rules.
“Malacañang cannot be
selective in using arguments only when they suit its purpose,” she
said.
Legarda also chided Malacañang
for using “legal technicalities” so its officials may evade
Senate summons to attend public hearings and investigations.
Pangilinan, Legarda and Sen.
Francis Escudero denied the assertion of the Supreme Court and
Ermita that the Senate has not published its rules yet. They all
said that the Senate is a continuing body, and therefore, the rules
it had published in the UP Gazette in December 2006 still remain
valid since they have not been amended or repealed.
They said that the continuity of
the Senate and the publication of the Senate rules in December 2006
are grounds for the reconsideration of the Supreme Court decision.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, meanwhile,
said that Malacañang’s comments after its victory in the Neri
case showcased the “weakness of small minds” in the Palace.
--EFREN L. DANAO
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