Friday, February 29, 2008 EO 464 abolition is futile: lawyer
ELECTION lawyer Romulo Macalintal said scrapping Executive Order (EO) 464 would be futile as the executive privilege of a president is embedded in the 1987 Constitution.
Macalintal said executive privilege, as defined by the Supreme Court (SC) in its ruling in the "Senate versus Ermita" case, is "the power of the government and the right of a president to withhold information form Congress, the courts and ultimately the public."
He added that it is also, based on the said ruling, similar to the exemption enjoyed by the high court's justices from legislative inquiries.
"In other words, the abolition of EO 464 will not diminish a president's right to exercise his executive privilege which exempts him or his Cabinet members from testifying in Congress without his consent," he said.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) last Tuesday urged the scraping of EO 464, or "Ensuring observance of the principle of separation of powers, adherence to the rule on executive privilege and respect for the rights of public officials appearing in legislative inquiries in aid of legislation under the Constitution, and for other purposes" as it called for the truth.
EO 464 was issued by Malacañang on September 26, 2005 following the appearance of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales in a Senate inquiry that ended in his being detained and held in contempt after refusing to answer some of the queries of the senators.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in response to the CBCP formed a legal team that would be supervised by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to review the EO.
Ermita said the team would submit its recommendations to the President next week as they have yet to reach a consensus on the EO.
He added that should they recommend the scraping of the EO, they want to ensure that there would be "safeguards" for executive officials that would appear in future inquiries.
Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo said all the recommendationsof the CBCP should be seriously studied and considered.
"But let us remember that the CBCP also appealed to the senators and the ombudsman to use their power and their influence and their functions to search for the truth and not solely for their personal interest, at the same time, they also appealed to the media to be objective in telling their stories," he said. (JMR/Sunnex)
