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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Neri, gov't told to answer plea vs executive privilege ruling
BAGUIO -- The Supreme Court (SC) ordered government lawyers on senators' motion seeking another oral argument in a bid to reverse the high court's March 25 decision, which sustained President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's invocation of executive privilege on questions pertaining to the controversial US$329 million national broadband network (NBN) deal.
In a resolution following an en banc session held in Baguio City last Tuesday, SC magistrates also required petitioner Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chairman Romulo Neri to comment on respondent Senate committees' motion for the court to require his presence during said hearing.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
"This Court resolved to require the petitioner and the Office of the Solicitor General to comment within 10 days and the respondents to make a reply to the comment within 10 days after the receipt of comment," the court ruled.
The SC likewise resolved to deny a separate motion for leave to intervene and to admit the motion for the voluntary inhibition of Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Antonio Carpio, Adolfo Azcuna and Conchita Carpio-Morales filed by certain Alexander Villacorta and Antonio Ballena on April 10.
Majority
These justices were among the six who dissented from the majority decision penned by Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro. However, Carpio joined the majority in ruling that the Senate gravely abused its discretion in citing Neri for contempt and in issuing the warrant for his arrest.
Three questions
Last March 25, the high court voted 9-6 in ruling that the executive department through Neri correctly invoked executive privilege in refusing to answer three questions asked by the Senate in connection with its inquiry into the award of the NBN project to the Chinese firm, ZTE Corp.
The three assailed questions were: whether the President followed up the NBN-ZTE project with Neri; whether Neri was dictated to prioritize the NBN-ZTE project; and whether the President told him to go ahead and approve the project after being told about the alleged bribe.
The tribunal, dominated by appointees of Arroyo, granted the petition of Neri seeking to enjoin senators from compelling him to testify on confidential matters. It said doing so would be detrimental to the country's diplomatic relations with China.
The decision gave weight on the argument of Neri's lawyer Antonio Bautista that Neri's conversations with the President "dealt with delicate and sensitive national security and diplomatic matters relating to the impact of the bribery scandal involving high government officials and the possible loss of confidence of foreign investors and lenders in the country."
It is also anchored on technicalities ensuing from the failure of the Senate to publish its rules at the opening of the 14th Congress.
Executive privilege is a recognized right of the President to withhold from Congress, the courts and the public any information regarded as vital to the national interest. The information could include conversations and correspondence between the President and her officials pertaining to the military, diplomatic, and other national security issues.
But Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who led the dissent in the Neri case, said in his opinion that the presidential communications privilege cannot be used to personally benefit the Office of the President.
Neri questioned before the SC the order for his arrest following his failure to heed their subpoenas for him to appear during the inquiry. (Sun.Star Baguio/ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (April 16, 2008 issue)
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