Lawyer Romulo Macalintal said in a statement that, as a Cabinet official, De Lima has to seek Aquino’s permission before revealing the names of supposed conspirators in the pork barrel scam contained in the so-called “Napoles list.”
“Since De Lima is the alter ego or ‘the other self’ of the President, compelling her to attend the hearing without the consent of the President is equivalent to requiring the President himself to appear before Congress in violation of the constitutionally-mandated principle of separation of powers,” he said.
Senate President Franklin Drilon said last week that the Senate blue ribbon committee, which conducted an inquiry on the P10-billion fund scam involving several lawmakers’ shares of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, can force the Justice secretary to reveal Napoles’ list of all the individuals involved in the anomaly.
De Lima said last week that, “by law and the Constitution,” the Senate can compel her to divulge the list but added she will ask the committee to hold off on doing so.
“I will appeal to them to wait for the proper time and [to] give me enough space to discharge my mandated tasks with utmost responsibility,” she said then.
She has also appealed to the public not to force her to reveal the contents of Napoles’ testimony, which the alleged pork scam mastermind gave the Justice chief before undergoing a major operation to remove her uterus and ovaries, despite growing clamor from several groups and individuals.
The Palace has already said the decision to make the Napoles list public is up to De Lima.
According to Macalintal, Aquino or Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa can invoke executive privilege should De Lima ask permission from the President to appear at the Senate probe.
“If the president or the executive secretary invokes the privilege and states the reasons therefor and why such privilege must be respected, then the Senate, following the Supreme Court decision in EO (Executive Order) 464, cannot compel De Lima to appear in its hearing to disclose the contents of the alleged Napoles list,” he said.
In 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued EO 464, which requires “all heads of departments of the Executive Branch of the government” to “secure the consent of the President prior to appearing before either House of Congress.”
The EO covers ranking officials of the executive departments, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, and the National Security Council.
While the Supreme Court voided certain provisions of EO 464 the following year, it said the order is constitutional insofar as it bans executive officials from appearing during the “question hour”, the time when Congress requests an official to appear at the chamber to answer questions about his or her department.
Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, issued Memorandum 151 in March 2008 to formally junk EO 464.
But, under Article VI, Sec.22 of the 1987 Constitution, “heads of departments may, upon their own initiative, with the consent of the President, or upon the request of either House” appear at congressional inquiries.
“When the security of the State or the public interest so requires and the President states so in writing, the apperance shall be conducted in executive session,” the Constitution also states.
Executive sessions are held behind closed doors and the matters discussed in them are confidential.
But Macalintal pointed out that while it is within the President’s right to bar De Lima from appearing before the Senate, it will also not be “politically correct” for Aquino to block the public release of the list.
“It was [Aquino’s] alter ego, De Lima, who revealed the existence of the Napoles list, hence, the public could not be placed into a state of suspended animation while the administration is figuring out how to treat this latest Napoles revelation,” he said. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News
