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PHNO-HL: PALACE APPEALS SC RULING ON EO 1 (TRUTH COMMISSION)


PALACE APPEALS SC RULING ON EO 1 (TRUTH COMMISSION)

MANILA, DECEMBER 24, 2010 (STAR) By Edu Punay - The Palace appealed yesterday the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) nullifying President Aquino's first executive order creating the Truth Commission to investigate anomalies during the administration of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In a motion for reconsideration, Solicitor General Joel Cadiz asked the SC to reverse its decision that Executive Order 1 is unconstitutional simply because it violates the equal protection clause.
"The plain language of the executive order shows that there is no intent to unfairly discriminate against the previous administration," Cadiz argued.
The Court, in establishing the violation of equal protection clause, explained that the government failed to justify why it singled out Arroyo's administration for the Truth Commission to probe.
"Not to include past administrations similarly situated constitutes arbitrariness, which the equal protection clause cannot sanction. Such discriminating differentiation clearly reverberates to label the commission as a vehicle for vindictiveness and selective retribution," the High Court said in its ruling issued last Dec. 7.
The President vowed yesterday to pursue all means to make those who committed crimes under the Arroyo administration accountable under the law.
"There is evidence already being collated or has been collated. We want closure since it's in there. There were issues left hanging. There were those accused who might be innocent but are still under suspicion. There are those guilty but are still free. We want to find all these people," Aquino told The STAR in an interview in Malacañang.
"Merong may kasalanan, kailangang may magbayad (If there is wrongdoing, someone must pay) and the first is collating evidence," the President said, adding that if EO 1 is not workable, "we will do it another way, we will do it several ways, we will do simultaneous ways."
"Different venues, different agencies, different people," Aquino said.
The Palace, through the solicitor general, had argued that it limited the scope of EO 1 so as to prevent overload that would lead to loss of effectiveness of the commission.
But the SC ruled: "The reason given is specious. It is without doubt irrelevant to the legitimate and noble objective of the PTC to stamp out or end corruption and the evil it breeds."
It explained that the commission must have the authority to investigate all past administrations: "While reasonable prioritization is permitted, it should not be arbitrary lest it be struck down for being unconstitutional."
Still, the Palace insisted on the validity of EO 1 and argued that the order "does not single out specific individuals but refers to questionable transactions in the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo" and "there is no invidious classification of the transactions during the previous administration since such classification is based on substantial distinctions that make for real differences."
Cadiz explained that to rule that the Arroyo administration "cannot be subject of a fact-finding inquiry as a class, while other administrations, (which) had already been subjected to a similar inquiry, will result in the conferment to that particular administration a privilege not enjoyed by the past administration – the privilege of immunity from any inquiry, fact-finding or otherwise, into its transactions."
He also told the Court that the President has the "inherent power to investigate and the honorable court cannot prescribe the subject, purpose and manner of his investigation."
"After a declaration that the executive has the power to create the Truth Commission, and that indeed, such power is one which emanates from the President's fundamental constitutional duty to see to it that laws are faithfully executed, a power which has aptly been described as executive altogether… the majority (ruling) has unnecessarily negated its own conclusion by ruling that this power may not be validly exercised as the executive fittingly formulated or that it may be exercised only upon the directions set forth by the majority," he argued.
He claimed that the SC is not allowed to adjudge the wisdom of the executive department's actions and that the vastness of the Court's power to determine what the law is ends where the issue is no longer legal but dwells into the wisdom of such acts.
The filing of the appeal in the SC means that the Palace has opted to stand firm on the legality of EO 1 instead of revising the order as suggested by the Court.
The High Court had clarified in the 49-page decision approved by nine magistrates: "Lest it be misunderstood, this is not the death knell for a Truth Commission as nobly envisioned by the present administration. Perhaps a revision of the executive issuance so as to include the earlier past administrations would allow it to pass the test of reasonableness." With Aurea Calica


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