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THE Senate rejection of the Supreme Court proposal on
the reappearance of Chairman Romulo Neri in its hearings is the only
correct thing to do. It has to make sure that its right to interview
witnesses remains a part of its oversight functions.
Senate President Manny Villar and
the senators believe that they have the right to ask Neri three
questions, namely, did the President follow up the NBN-ZTE project,
was Neri dictated by the President to give priority to the NBN-ZTE
project, and did she tell him to go ahead with the project after
being told of the alleged bribe offer?
The Senate believes that the
people’s right to be informed—this case championed by the Senate
meeting in open hearings—is supreme than a President’s
“right” to executive privilege. Of course, it goes without
saying that the President has the right to executive privilege—but
this has still to be spelled out by the Supreme Court.
Could you imagine what would
happen to the oversight functions of the Senate if the Senate
accepts the SC proposal? That would be tantamount to surrendering
its power temporarily and would establish a bad precedent.
During the discussions on the SC
proposal, some senators initially favored welcoming back Neri to the
hearings, but without having to ask him the questions. But Senate
President Manny Villar and Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. stood their
ground during the debate. “Nobody should tell us what to do. We
are in effect asserting our power,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel said that had they
agreed to the SC proposal, “theoretically, there could arise a
thousand Neris who will invoke the present case to block future
investigations by the Senate.” Fortunately, the debate took a
bipartisan direction, with Senators Richard Gordon and, Juan Ponce
Enrile supporting the Villar proposal. Sen. Loren Legarda also took
the side of the majority.
They all believe that the SC
proposal has gone beyond the issue of Neri. The situation has become
an issue for the Senate as an institution.
The Senate position has obtained
support from former jurists. For instance, former Chief Justice
Artemio Panganiban wrote that “Executive privilege is not bad per
se. But like other (presidential) prerogatives, executive privilege
can be abused or misused to cover crimes, wrongdoings or
irregularities.
“On the basis of these
parameters, I cannot see how the petition of Neri for secrecy can be
granted. I do not see any crucial military or diplomatic secrets in
the NBN-ZTE deal. Neither are closed-door Cabinet meetings involved.
Verily, no superior public interest can be served by suppressing his
testimony.”
Former SC Justice Isagani Cruz
says: “The action taken by the Supreme Court last Tuesday was a
big disappointment. It was not a decision but an evasion.”
Cruz said the SC’s proposal
“might have come from an arbitration panel co-chaired by a
department secretary and a member of Congress but not from the
highest tribunal of the land.
Cruz further argued: “The
Supreme Court is not a political institution. It is an apolitical
body empowered to make judicial decisions that are binding and can
be enforced against the political departments of the government and
even the President of the Philippines.” Former SC Justice Vicente
Mendoza said: “The Senate had nothing to gain over the Supreme
Court-brokered compromise on the investigation of the National
Broadband Network (NBN) contract, and it may have even hurt its
institutional independence had it been implemented.”
Onward to the 2010 polls
It looks like the administration
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is going to survive this recent
political crisis. As of Tuesday evening, the critics of the
President seemed to have thrown in the towel with the failure of the
opposition parties to come up with a hostile witness in the NBN
hearings that could trigger her ouster.
The parliament of the streets
will be silent up to June at least, with the coming of Lent and the
summer vacation. The students will not be expected to be in Makati
rally this coming Friday. As for the Senate investigations, the
solons will be on recess for about a month, before they can even
come up with provocative hearings on the South China Sea.
The bishops have spoken. They
don’t want President GMA to resign. This could only mean that the
Catholic students who can only be moved by CBCP collegial resolution
could not be mobilized for any mass action. At most, Sunday sermons
by politicized priests would probably talk only about the search for
truth.
jules42na@yahoo.com
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