MILITANTS LAUNCH PROTEST CARAVAN AS SC HEARS NERI C ASE
MANILA, APRIL 14, 2008 (STAR) By Katherine Adraneda - Militants launched yesterday a Manila-to-Baguio “protest caravan” to press for the reversal of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on executive privilege.
The caravan coincides with the start today of the SC’s deliberation on the motion for reconsideration filed by a group of senators. SC justices are in Baguio for their annual summer sessions.
Militants and cause-oriented groups gathered at the University of the Philippines’ Diliman campus for the launching of the “Lakbayan para sa Katotohanan at Katarungan.”
Anti-riot policemen, meanwhile, have set up positions near the SC building in Baguio City in anticipation of the arrival of protesters.
Organizers said the caravan is also intended to convince the SC to “uphold the public’s right to know.” The SC’s controversial ruling upheld the petition of Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri to invoke executive privilege to justify his refusal to attend the Senate hearings on the anomalous national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp. of China.
“The judiciary is not immune from accountability,” Carol Araullo, chair of the militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said.
“Though the movement is a bit belated, we would like to serve notice that the Supreme Court cannot get away with it,” she also said.
In an open letter to the SC justices, caravan participants said “executive privilege is subordinate to the higher values of transparency and accountability in governance.”
They insisted that the three questions from senators that Neri refused to answer “are significant in unraveling the truth” behind the allegedly anomalous transaction.
They said Neri “conveniently cited” executive privilege to shield President Arroyo from any accountability for anomalous deals or to obstruct inquiries intended to prevent questionable executive agreements in the future.
At the Senate, a lawyer involved in the filing of the motion for reconsideration said the senators would just wait for the SC to issue its decision but expressed confidence of getting a favorable ruling.
“Until the SC has spoken, the Senate cannot do anything but wait for their decision. There are many possibilities that may happen and we can only guess. They can either junk the petition, or maybe ask Sec. Neri to comment or discuss the three questions with Neri in an executive session,” lawyer Carlos Medina said. The Senate filed its motion last April 8.
“The inquiry on the NBN-ZTE deal was being conducted in aid of legislation as shown by the resolutions, privilege speeches and pending bills related thereto,” a manuscript containing the salient points of the Senate’s motion read.
“It is not for the Supreme Court to second guess the purposes or motives of the Senate when conducting such inquiry in deference,” it said.
Senate lawyers, based on the manuscript, defended their right to investigate, citing several provisions in the 1987 Constitution on government transparency, accountability and disclosure of information.
“There is no showing that the matters for which executive privilege is claimed constitute state secrets,” the Senate motion read.
The Senate also pointed out that there is “no absolute factual basis for the belated claim that the disclosure sought involves military secrets.”
“The claim was only made by the counsel of Neri and not by the President or the executive secretary. The NBN contract was not referred to the Department of National Defense,” the Senate motion for reconsideration said.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan renewed his call for three Supreme Court justices to inhibit themselves from the case.
“The need for impartiality is paramount and perceived lack of it is ground to inhibit,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
“At this point, as an officer of the Senate I am caught between my primary duty to push for an institutional response and pursuing the inhibition motion based on my personal stand,” he said.
“It cannot simply be a setting aside of the sentiments of the majority of the senators in order to pursue my own position. There are institutional considerations. Whether or not I subordinate my personal position to that of the Senate as an institution, is a dilemma that needs to be resolved,” he said.
“Faced with this, we are in the thick of last minute consultations before a decision is made. If a compromise position amongst the senators can be made, well and good. It appears however that the hour is getting late as a decision must be made by Friday,” Pangilinan pointed out.
“Still I appeal to the three SC justices concerned to seriously consider voluntarily inhibiting themselves, even without a formal motion for inhibition so as to spare the SC from the allegations of bias and partiality that have been repeatedly articulated in the media through news reports and commentaries by columnists,” he said.
In Baguio, SC information officer Anni Laborte said “there is no schedule for oral argumentation” today.
But NBN whistle blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. is expected to speak before the “Interfaith Gathering for Truth and Accountability” at around 9 a.m. today outside the SC.
The low-profile arrival of former President Joseph Estrada in Baguio City last Sunday has fueled speculations that a big anti-government rally is being planned in the country’s summer capital.
But United Opposition (UNO) regional chairman Raul Mencio Molintas, Benguet’s former governor, said Estrada is on a low-key family vacation. – With Tina Mendez and Artemio Dumlao
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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