|
By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
The Supreme Court decided correctly that a
detailed information on the negotiations of the Japan-Philippine
Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) constituted executive
privilege, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said Thursday.
“When you are dealing with a foreign
government, you should be cautious in giving data, especially when
it concerns national security,” he said at the weekly Kapihan sa
Senado.
Some party-list representatives and their allied
organizations filed the petition that was rebuffed by the High
Court.
“I don’t know what the congressmen were
quibbling about. They never attended any JPEPA hearing,” he said.
He added that no senator would have gone to the
Supreme Court on the same issue because the executive department had
given the Senate all the information needed on the JPEPA.
“Nobody was stopped from asking questions,
brilliant or otherwise and as far as I know, no information has been
withheld from us,” he stressed.
Senate in favor of JPEPA
Enrile also contended that had Sen. Miriam
Defensor Santiago, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, submitted the JPEPA on the floor, the Senate would have
concurred with it.
“Based on my conversations with my colleagues,
we have the votes,” he said.
An affirmative vote of two-thirds or 16 of the
senators is needed to concur in a treaty.
Santiago had deferred her sponsorship of JPEPA
because of the refusal of some senators to pass a conditional
agreement. She had earlier believed that this could be done, and
that a supplemental agreement with Japan after the Senate
concurrence would clarify constitutional questions. Many senators
want Japan’s agreement to the side agreement to be in black and
white first before concurring with JPEPA.
The JPEPA is now in the hands of the Department
of Foreign Affairs, which is coordinating with the Japanese
ambassador on the signing of the side agreement or exchange of
diplomatic notes.
Sen. Mar Roxas said that Japanese officials had
assured him that Japan respects the Philippine Constitution in
relation to JPEPA.
In a press statement, Roxas who is in Tokyo,
said he had met with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Masahiko
Komura, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, Member of
Parliament Yasuhisa Siozaki, and parliament member and former
Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Aso.
“I’m glad to report that they assured us
that they will certainly respect our Constitution,” he said.
The report on JPEPA was jointly prepared by
Santiago and Roxas as chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and
Industry. Santiago focused on the constitutional issues and Roxas,
on the trade issue.
At the House of Representatives, administration
lawmakers on Thursday expressed elation over the decision of the
Supreme Court, which upheld the executive branch’s executive
privilege on its negotiations for the JPEPA.
Rep. Judy Syjuco of Iloilo, chairperson of the
House Committee on Globalization, said the High Court’s decision
also upheld the authority of President Gloria Arroyo to hold secret
diplomatic negotiations with the country’s trading partners.
“The SC [Supreme Court] ruling will send
strong signals to our trading partners that our country complies
with the protocols observed in negotiating treaties, of which
reasonable confidentiality is one of them,” said Syjuco.
-- With Sammy Martin
|
