Office of Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman
15 August 2010
0918-9120137 / 0916-6406737

            Whether legislators are for or against the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the compelling response is to accord bipartisan courtesy to the status quo ante order of the Supreme Court.

            A constitutional crisis will only ensue if the leadership of the House Committee on Justice will be bullheaded in defying the order of the High Court.

            The power of the House to impeach is not absolute because it is subject to the constitutional power of the Supreme Court to exercise judicial review over acts of the Congress which transgress the Constitution and smack of grave abuse of discretion.

           Members of the Congress should exercise caution and restraint in assailing the Supreme Court as an “Arroyo Court” because justices are beholden only to the tenets of justice and the rule of law.

           It must be recalled that in many instances the Supreme Court has ruled against the Arroyo administration and even struck down as unconstitutional executive issuances and undertakings of the immediate past administration.