Philippines: Supreme Court decision on executive privilege fodder for more protests

We are greatly disappointed with the Supreme Court decision upholding executive privilege in the testimony of ChEd chair Romulo Neri.

The sheer number of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s appointees in the High Court has no doubt influenced this troubling decision. From attempting to kidnap witness Jun Lozada to packing the High Court with appointees based on loyalty and not on integrity, this government has once more laid down a stumbling block in the people’s clamor for truth.

A corroborating witness is crucial to determining the facts and the truth in the ZTE-NBN scandal. This Supreme Court’s decision effectively concealing President Arroyo’s instructions to Neri on the ZTE-NBN deal only means the legal truth has become more untenable. However, it also adds to the moral burden that bear down more and more heavily on Neri and Mrs. Arroyo.

The Ombudsman, meanwhile, has exposed itself as an instrumentality of government that cowers in fear of the President by refusing to summon her as respondent in the case of Guingona vs. Macapagal-Arroyo. What can the people expect when the Ombudsman herself sits there out of a political appointment from the First Family?

The englightened segments of the legal profession that has taken a stand for truth and accountability, and for Mrs. Arroyo’s removal from office, must now therefore strengthen its unity with the rest of the Filipino people in clamoring for the moral truth to prevail, as Malacanang tries to seal off more legal venues to keep it afloat in the corridors of power.

We salute Chief Justice Reynato Puno for his sharp and resolute dissenting opinion in this legal debate that has far-reaching implications to institutional checks-and-balances, transparency and good governance, and presidential immunity. This majority decision does not augur well for CJ Puno’s efforts to call for more proactive judicial measures to curb corruption, beginning with his ‘summit on corruption.’

While the Supreme Court decision and the put on proceedings in the Ombudsman favors President Arroyo, the political tempest that seeks her ouster will only continue to grow.

The decision will not acquit GMA from the ZTE anomaly hounding her, her family and her Cabinet. The more people are denied of the truth, the stronger and varied the people’s anger will be.

Atty. Frederico Gapuz
Chairperson
Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao
Mobile #: 0906-347-5709

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