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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez is taking the
cudgels for three Supreme Court (SC) justices that some senators
want to inhibit themselves when the SC starts its deliberation
tomorrow on the motion for reconsideration filed by the Senate.
The Senate is calling for the inhibition of
Associate Justice Renato Corona, Presbitero Velasco and Arturo Brion
in today’s hearing as they were appointed by President Gloria
Arroyo or close to Neri. Gonzalez branded these reasons for their
self-inhibition as “unfair.”
The Senate is seeking a reversal on the
court’s March 25 ruling that upheld the petition of former
Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to invoke executive
privilege in refusing to testify anew before the Senate.
Gonzalez also expressed belief that the Senate
decision would be denied as he saw no reason why the High Tribunal
should reverse itself.
“Do you think that it is fair to these
justices to impute something against them just because they voted
not in accordance with the expectations of the Senate?” Gonzalez
stressed. “It’s like the president of Zimbabwe who does not want
to accept defeat.”
Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Benigno
“Noynoy” Aquino” filed the motion for reconsideration last
April 8 on behalf of the three Senate committees jointly
investigating the national broadband deal controversy.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the Senate was also
studying the possibility to file a motion for inhibition against
Corona, Velasco and Brion because of their alleged close ties with
President Arroyo and Neri.
In its March 25 decision on Neri’s petition,
the High Tribunal voted a 9-6 majority to uphold Neri’s petition
that effectively prevented the Senate from compelling him to answer
three specific questions related to his conversation with Mrs.
Arroyo about the ZTE deal bribery issue. The decision also nullified
any Senate threat of ordering his arrest for refusing to testify.
Pangilinan said that Brion should not have cast
his vote as he had not participated in all en banc deliberations on
the Neri petition. Brion, a former labor secretary, was appointed by
Mrs. Arroyo only on March 17 to fill up the last vacancy in the
15-man High Tribunal.
Velasco is said to be a golfing buddy of Neri,
as alleged by ZTE star witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. Velasco had denied
this allegation.
Corona was Mrs. Arroyo’s chief of staff when
she was still vice-president, while his wife is concurrently board
member of John Hay Management Corp., a subsidiary of the Bases
Conversion Development Authority.
Gonzalez stressed though that even if Brion had
not voted, the decision would have still prevailed in Neri’s
favor.
Asked if he sees a reversal, Gonzalez stressed
that he won’t speculate but personally, he said, he saw no reason
why the court should reverse itself.
“In the grave abuse of discretion for
example, Justice (Antonio) Carpio joined against the Senate,
that’s 10-5. It’s very hard to overcome,” the DoJ chief
pointed out.
The nine justices that voted in favor of
Neri’s petition were Renato Corona, Minita Chico-Nazario,
Presbitero Velasco, Antonio Nachura, Dante Tinga, Leonardo
Quisumbing, Ruben Reyes, Teresita de Castro and newly-appointed
Arturo Brion. De Castro penned the majority ruling.
Those who dissented were Chief Justice
Reynato Puno and Associate Justices Consuelo Yñares-Santiago,
Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Adolfo Azcuna, and
Antonio Carpio.
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