Both ABSCBN and GMA-TV News are reporting in Manila that the Supreme Court has ruled 9-6 in favor of Romulo Neri's petition to PROHIBIT the Senate of the Philippines from arresting him for contempt for refusing to answer three questions involving testimonial evidence he could give on President Arroyo's complicity in the scandalous ZTE NBN deal with China.Philippine Commentary on February 6 was (modesty aside)--Supreme Court Will Rule That Executive Privilege Covers What Neri and Lozada Know
Okay, here are all fourteen of my Philippine Commentaries on Executive Privilege
since the first one reacting to Senate v. Ermita
King Solomon Just Cut the Baby in Half (April, 2006)
and the latest one just this morning before the announcement:
Judicial Review is the Wrong Fulcrum to Balance Executive Privilege and Congress Oversight of Administration (March, 2008)
The Philippine Congress should immediately pass comprehensive whistle-blower protection laws for all persons in the Civil Service in order to obsolete the Supreme Court's gag rules in Senate v. Ermita and Neri v. Senate which are brazen subjugations to Judicial Review and Executive Privilege of the Power of Inquiry of Congress in aid of legislation and the legislatures integral duty of oversight of administration. I cannot imagine a more compleat and disastrous demolition of the Separtion of Powers and a curtailment of the Public’s Very Right to Know what their government is doing than this 9-6 decision of the Supreme Court. We are now under an effective Dictatorship of Judicial and Executive Privilege in which the principle of Checks and Balances is no more. The cuckolding of the Congress which begun in 2001 has once again been affirmed and practiced by Unelected Judges appointed by an illegitimate chief executive. Forget not: the Executive has only two impeachable officials, whilst the Supreme Court has fifteen. That's a lot of Privilege!
4 comments:
Mother of pearl. Did you call it or did you call it?
So our dear SC justices werent convinced that there was a crime being covered?
hehe haven't read the decision itself, but i can guess they did not think USA v. Nixon applies at all since that was a case of Executive Privilege vs Judicial Privilege in a criminal trial. This is Executive Privilege v. Congress which the SCOTUS has not ever ruled on! SCORP however wants to be the power that decides on EVERY question Congress wants to ask. It's Judicial Privilege UBER ALLES!
What a letdown... But as you say, this is not the first time that the SC ruled in favour of the powers that be, it won't be the last time.
I wonder if Brion's 'last minute' appointment had something to do with "influencing" our honourable justices.
There IS a justice system in the Philippines but it's more of a semblance of justice system if anything at all.
Two cases I'm somehow familiar with involving people I know:
1. a Chinese Fil girl friend whose husband wanted to have the bulk of their wealth (but which of which she singlehandedly managed to accumulate while hubby was galivanting and making illegitimate babies around) twarted hubby's attempt to run away with the bulk by paying off judge with tens of millions of pesos in bribe
2. a well known politician/member of powerful political family, recently shot dead one of his friends/confidence man is still free (out on bail) because he paid judges something like 70 million pesos
And as a friend of mine who was on a visit here very recently said if you've got the money, you can buy judges in the Philippines...
As you have said :
The Philippine Congress should immediately pass comprehensive whistle-blower protection laws for all persons in the Civil Service in order to obsolete the Supreme Court's gag rules in Senate v. Ermita and Neri v. Senate which are brazen subjugations to Judicial Review and Executive Privilege of the Power of Inquiry of Congress in aid of legislation and the legislatures integral duty of oversight of administration.
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