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Press Statements

          

              The Supreme Court’s declaration of nullity of the Truth Commission does not make former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo “untouchable” and does not set back a genuine campaign against graft and corruption.

              Despite the scuttling of the Truth Commission as an unconstitutional executive creation, this does not insulate officials of the previous administration from the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice which are the long-existing agencies authorized to investigate and prosecute officials who are alleged to have committed venalities in government.

             What the Supreme Court decision stops is partisan hostility and political vengeance disguised as crusade against corruption, search for truth and quest for closure.

             What is set back and prohibited are discriminatory shortcuts which deny equal protection to targeted respondents like singling out officials of the previous administration as if corrupt practices were exclusive to them.

             All persons belonging to the same class, like the sector of public functionaries of all administrations, must be equally protected by law and must be safeguarded from discrimination by government.

             Equal protection demands that all must be exposed to the same processes and rigors irrespective of administrations and periods of incumbency.

             While the Aquino administration has the right to file a motion for reconsideration to reverse the Supreme Court ruling, its success is farfetched because of the lopsided voting of 10 to 5 in favor of the decision to declare the Truth Commission unconstitutional.

             Supreme Court justices are independent jurists who are not accountable to whoever appointed them, but only to the majesty of the law, the ascendency of conscience and the merits of a case.

Press Release

 

LAGMAN HAILS HIGH COURT

AS BASTION OF RULE OF LAW

  

          The decision of the Supreme Court which declared unconstitutional the creation of the Truth Commission is a signal triumph of the rule of law.

          It struck down incursions of the President into the realm of legislative authority and protected the sanctity of civil liberties against governmental derogation.

          The Supreme Court apparently ruled in favor of the petitioners led by Minority Leader and Albay Representative Rep. Edcel C. Lagman on all the principal grounds which they raised, namely:

          1.    Executive Order No. 1 which created the Truth Commission is unconstitutional for arrogating the power of the Congress to create and fund a public office;

          2. The Truth Commission unlawfully duplicates and supplants the constitutional and statutory jurisdiction of the Ombudsman over cases of graft and corruption involving public officials; and

          3. The Truth Commission illegally targets solely officials of the Arroyo  administration in violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

          It must be reiterated that the petition was filed not to protect the officials of the Arroyo administration but to preserve the separation of powers between the executive and legislative departments and protect the people from unequal treatment of the government.

         Partisan hostility and discrimination under the pretense of search for truth and closure cannot be legitimized.

         The Supreme Court remains to be the sanctuary of civil liberties.