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Friday, September 30, 2005
Vidal saddened by Glo gag rule
If President Arroyo hoped for silence after issuing a gag order, she thought wrong.
Opposition legislators are planning to question before the Supreme Court President Arroyo’s order prohibiting government and military officials from testifying in congressional inquiries.
It’s an order that saddens Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
“We are sorry that they are being stopped, but we do not know exactly the intention. I don’t want to be judgmental. I do not know her (Arroyo’s) reasons,” the cardinal said in a television interview.
Cardinal Vidal, who celebrated mass for the feast of St. Michael the Archangel in Argao town yesterday, again urged the people to continue searching for the truth on allegations of electoral fraud against Arroyo.
But in an interview with ABS-CBN TV Patrol, the cardinal said: “Things are being blocked step by step. They are creating problems they are expecting us to solve.”
House Minority Floor Leader Francis Escudero, who was in Cebu yesterday to speak in two forums, and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said they are planning to contest Executive Order 464 before the Supreme Court.
More chaos
Pimentel warned that the gag order will create “more chaos than order” and worsen the rift between the executive and legislative branches.
Senate President Franklin Drilon echoed Pimentel’s view and said that EO 464’s implementation will not do any good to the Senate or to Malacañang.
He expressed concern that the directive will pose problems once the budget hearings begin at the Senate.
“The budget hearings will become problematic, particularly if heads of government departments will not be permitted to attend the hearings,” Drilon said.
Noted constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, said President Arroyo’s signing of EO 464 is an apparent attempt to prevent the truth from coming out.
Calling Arroyo’s order a “gag rule,” Bernas said the EO will only succeed at obstructing the role of the legislature, effectively blocking the check and balance among co-equal branches of the government.
Scared?
“She (Arroyo) is refusing to reveal things, but what she is covering I don’t know. She’s scared,” he said in an interview with reporters at the sidelines of a forum held at the De La Salle University.
At the same time, Bernas also advised Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, who was sacked after testifying in the Senate on alleged cheating in Mindanao in 2004, to file a complaint before the Supreme Court.
However, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. belittled the statement of Bernas.
He said that even former president Corazon Aquino issued a similar directive on Sept. 29, 1987.
He was referring to Aquino’s Memorandum Order 112, signed by former executive secretary Catalino Macaraeg, which also cited Section 22 of Article 6 of the Constitution, the same provisions used as basis in drafting EO 464.
“EO 464 does not say that we will not appear. It only says that the members of the Cabinet should get a clearance from the President when it involves national security or it violates executive privilege,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez, who was also one of the framers of the EO, said the EO will guard the executive from public humiliation, like what happened to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales. Gonzales was invited by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to testify on the alleged anomalous lobby contract with US-based law firm Venable.
Let’s talk
For his part, Sen. Francis Pangilinan called for a ceasefire between the executive and legislative branches.
“I urge Malacañang to consider coming to the table for an informal dialogue with senators to try and diffuse the current standoff,” Pangilinan said.
He said the Senate will “never give up its constitutional duty to act as a check and balance to the executive branch.”
Instead of barring government people and military personnel from appearing in Congressional inquiries, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said Arroyo should allow them to testify in order for the truth to come out as it will also clear her name.
“Truth is above partisan politics. And the search for truth is imperative. It is the obligation of holders of public office to seek the truth. It is the right of the public to know it,” he said. (Sunnex)
(September 30, 2005 issue)
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