Senate to challenge Duterte memo’s legal validity before SC

Screenshot of the Supreme Court main building

MANILA , Philippines — The Senate is “soon” to file a petition to the Supreme Court objecting to Duterte’s memorandum barring Cabinet and executive officials from attending the ongoing investigation into government purchases related to the pandemic.

Panfilo Lacson said senators had no choice but to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which is the “final arbiter.”

“Magpa-file kami ng petition sa Korte Suprema…Pupunta kamı sa Supreme Court as an institution, as the Senate para kuwestyunin ito, para maliwanagan natin at para mapaalam natin sa mga kababayan natin na mali talaga itonh memo na in-issue ng Pangulo,” Lacson told reporters after his dialogue with local leaders and residents of Pampanga on Friday.

(We will file a petition to the Supreme Court…We will go to the Supreme Court as an institution, as the Senate to question this memorandum so we can clarify and inform the public that the memo issued by the President is wrong.)

“Yung pagpa-file, soon [We will file this soon],” he added.

According to Lacson, he and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, discussed the planned filing of the petition “more than a week ago.”

“Pinagusapan namin ano yung dapat naming gawin. Wala kaming choice kung hindi dumulog sa Korte Suprema, na siyang final arbiter. Sila’y nagi-interpret ng mga batas at sila lang ang pwede nating dulugan sa mga bagay na ganyan,” Lacson said.

(We talked about how to address this. We have no choice but to bring this to the Supreme Court, the final arbiter. They interpret the law and it is where we can resort to when it comes to these things.)

The Senate, particularly Gordon, has come under fire from President Rodrigo Duterte as the blue ribbon panel continues its review of the costly purchases made by the government last year for its pandemic response.

Earlier this month, Duterte formally prohibited his Cabinet secretaries and other executive officials from attending the Senate hearing through a memorandum.

READ: Duterte issues memo forbidding Cabinet execs from attending Pharmally probe

Duterte said he was not opposed to the investigation, but his officials should no longer be involved, especially those tasked with the government’s pandemic response.

According to Lacson, the petition the Senate is planning to file before the Supreme Court isn’t the first.

He was referring to a petition filed questioning Executive Order 464, which was issued by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005 banning executive officials, Cabinet members, and military officials from heeding the Senate’s then inquiry on anomalies in the North Rail project.

In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled on EO 464 and stressed that “when the inquiry in which Congress requires their appearance is ‘in aid of legislation,’ the appearance is mandatory.”

Recently, Duterte said he welcomes any move by the Senate to question the legality of his memorandum before the Supreme Court.

abc