MANILA, Philippines — Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon and Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon slammed on Saturday the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to bar Cabinet members from attending the Senate’s inquiry on the allegedly overpriced medical supplies for the country’s pandemic response.
In a statement, Gordon said that the only one reason why the President wants to ban appearances of Cabinet officials in the inquiry being led by the blue ribbon committee is “to prevent the truth from coming out.”
Gordon also noted that one of Duterte’s promises was to eradicate corruption.
“To the contrary, his current actuations reveal that he will move heaven and earth to prevent the revelation of the truth, he acts as the lead attorney of those who are being investigated and those who are responsible for the pillaging of our coffers, and even those who have blood in their hands for exacerbating the illnesses and increasing death toll due to the pandemic,” he added.
Gordon likewise wondered why Duterte does not bother to stop a “supposed” parallel investigation being done by the House of Representatives.
“But the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Senate of the Philippines will be resolute in its efforts to uncover the facts of this horrendous misconduct, hoping to bring justice to those who involved themselves in this shameless plunder,” the senator said.
Gordon also cited the Neri vs Blue Ribbon case where the Supreme Court said the Constitution expressly grants to the Senate and the House of Representatives the power to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.
“The Legislature can conduct inquiries not specifically to enact laws, but specifically to oversee the implementation of laws,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Drilon stressed that Duterte’s order prohibiting Cabinet members and executive officials from attending the Senate investigation on the transactions made by the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) with Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp. is “unconstitutional.”
“The move is clearly unconstitutional. The President cannot prevent members of the executive branch from testifying in the PS-DBM and Pharmally hearings in aid of legislation. The Supreme Court ruled as such in a similar case in 2006,” Drilon said, referring to the Senate vs Ermita case.
It was Drilon, as Senate President in 2005, who brought the case to the Supreme Court after former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order 464 to prevent executive officials, Cabinet members, and military officers from appearing before the upper chamber’s inquiry into the North Rail Project.
Drilon noted that the only exception that allows for the barring of Cabinet members in inquiries is the executive privilege, which can only be asserted if the inquiry has implication to national security or diplomatic secrets.
“Ang pagnanakaw ay hindi national security issue, hindi ito military secret at lalong hindi ito diplomatic secret (Stealing is not a national security issue, or a military or diplomatic secret),” said Drilon.