Bishops urge respect for SC decision on Neri
By Margaux Ortiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:24:00 03/26/2008
Filed Under: NBN deal, Churches (organisations), Judiciary (system of justice)
MANILA, Philippines -- Catholic bishops on Wednesday called for respect for the Supreme Court decision preventing the Senate from compelling former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri from testifying on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s role in the canceled $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal.
They said the high court’s 9-6 decision should be respected “even if it seemed an impasse on the search for truth on the corruption scandal.”
In an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas, Bishop Buenaventura Famadico of Gumaca, Quezon, said the Roman Catholic Church has always upheld the rule of law.
“In this case, respect for our constitutional institutions like the Supreme Court is primary,” said Famadico, a member of the permanent council of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
“We need to abide by the Supreme Court to achieve inner stability in our country,” he said.
Famadico said the bishops did not view the high court’s decision as a major obstacle to efforts at finding the truth about the corruption scandal.
“When we said the truth must be exposed, we wanted it to be done the right way, the legal way. We should abide by due process and the law,” he said.
Bishop Leonardo Medroso of Tagbilaran, Bohol, aired a similar perspective in a separate interview.
“In our system, the Supreme Court has always been the avenue where sensitive issues achieve closure,” said Medroso, who chairs the CBCP Commission on Canon Law.
Even Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a vocal critic of the administration, said the tribunal remained a credible institution despite its ruling on Neri’s case.
“I think the integrity of the Supreme Court is still believable because of the difference in the votes,” he said, adding: “I believe the Supreme Court did not want to risk national security by exposing to the public what Neri could have disclosed.”
Cruz said he also believed that Neri’s remaining testimony could be insignificant because he has already revealed “95 percent of the facts about the NBN deal.”
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