PCGG can handle job of truth body - Palace

MANILA, Philippines -  President Aquino has the power to “consolidate” the mandate of the Truth Commission, which the Supreme Court (SC) declared as unconstitutional, with that of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), a member of his legal team said yesterday.

Former Court of Appeals justice Magdangal Elma, presidential assistant for special concerns, proposed this in a memorandum he submitted to the Chief Executive, who expressed disappointment over the adverse SC ruling on Executive Order No. 1.

Elma, who chaired the PCGG during the administration of Joseph Estrada, said that EO No. 1 series of 2010, which designated former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. as head of the Truth Commission, could be incorporated into the late President Corazon Aquino’s EO 1 in February 1986 creating the PCGG.

The PCGG’s main objective was to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies while the Davide Commission was tasked to investigate anomalies committed in the previous administration, or that of former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Elma cited Section 2(b) of the PCGG charter that provides the agency is tasked to assist the President in, among others, “the investigation of such cases of graft and corruption as the President may assign to the commission from time to time.”

“Being a law (EO1-1986), the PCGG remains effective up to the present,” he stressed, invoking Article XVIII Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution which provides that “all existing laws… shall remain operative until amended, repealed or revoked.”

The PCGG, for its part, said it was ready to take on the job of investigating the graft and corruption cases that took place during the administration of former President Arroyo if it is given the mandate by Malacañang.

PCGG chairman Andres Bautista said that while they were actually “winding down” the affairs of the commission, it would not step away if given the task originally planned for the Truth Commission.

“While we are already planning the winding down of the commission, we are the President and the Filipino people’s good servants so we will not shirk from additional responsibilities that may be assigned to us,” Bautista told The STAR.

* No legal infirmities

Elma said merging the two panels’ job would no longer raise concerns regarding legal infirmities like that of the Davide Commission because PCGG is a “creation of law” whose existence had been upheld by the SC in a long line of cases involving the Marcoses and their cronies.

“The SC upheld the constitutionality of the PCGG charter by saying ‘it does not violate the equal protection clause and is not a bill of attainder or ex post facto law’,” Elma stated in his brief that Palace reporters obtained.

The PCGG’s existence also cannot be questioned since it has been receiving allocations from the yearly General Appropriations Act, and that the Cory EO1-PCGG has not been repealed, revoked or rescinded.

Besides, the “PCGG is so named to accentuate the ideals of good governance and public accountability.”

In an October 1990 ruling against Cojuangco, the SC held that while the PCGG was tasked to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies, its mandate is not limited to such, as it can also “investigate such cases as the President may assign from time to time.”

Elma likewise recommended to Aquino to “revert” the PCGG – now under the Department of Justice – to the Office of the President, where he can direct the PCGG and order the Truth Commission to “turn over” the cases it investigated to PCGG for “appropriate action.”

The retired magistrate pointed out that “PCGG has more extensive powers” than the Truth Commission, as it had obviously filed cases before the Sandiganbayan against the Marcoses and their cronies, and that its powers had been “recognized and settled” in several SC decisions.

In the unlikely event that the 10-5 ruling of the high tribunal is reversed, Elma explained the Aquino “has the discretion and authority to revert the investigation of the graft and corruption cases from the PCGG to the Philippine Truth Commission.”

GMA had foresight

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said Arroyo made sure that her back was adequately protected after she ended her nine-year presidency.

“The appointments of Chief Justice Renato Corona and Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrrez and her decision to run as congresswoman were part of a carefully laid out plan for self-defense and self-protection,” De Venecia told reporters over the weekend.

“She’s now reaping the benefits of the preparations she made for life after the presidency,” he said, referring to the controversial SC decision declaring Aquino’s creation of the Truth Commission as unconstitutional.

He said he would have testified before the commission on the aborted $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. if asked to.

He added he would still do so if the truth body were legally revived or if Aquino or Congress created a similar fact-finding panel, he said.

Shortly before the May 10, 2010 elections, then President Arroyo appointed Corona after the SC ruled that appointments to the high tribunal were not covered by the constitutional ban on midnight appointments.

Then presidential candidate Benigno Aquino III warned Mrs. Arroyo against naming the next chief justice, saying he would not recognize him if he were elected.

Aquino has since backed down from his stand.

De Venecia and Arroyo were close political allies until the former speaker’s son and namesake Joey III exposed the “overpriced” ZTE-NBN deal in 2007.

Joey de Venecia claims the contract was padded by as much as $200 million in kickbacks and commissions.

He had linked Arroyo’s husband Jose Miguel and Benjamin Abalos, former chairman of the Commission on Elections, to the transactions, but the former first gentleman and Abalos had denied the accusation.

His son’s revelations had put De Venecia in hot water with the Arroyos. In February 2008, Mrs. Arroyo’s allies led by her two congressmen-sons and a brother-in-law ousted him as Speaker.

* Think tank hits De Lima

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima was criticized yesterday for saying the SC ruling declaring as unconstitutional President Aquino’s EO1 that created the truth commission was a “political decision.”

Forensic Law and Policy Strategies Inc. (Forensic Solutions), a private think tank put up by former Justice secretary Alberto Agra, said this statement from De Lima was “unfortunate, distasteful and unethical.”

“It sends the message that members of the judiciary must toe the President’s political line, otherwise, its decision will be labeled principally political and no longer doctrinal,” the group said in a 12-page policy paper.

The think tank also disapproved of De Lima’s allegation that the ruling was a “payment of gratitude” to former President Arroyo from magistrates she had appointed to the High Court.

“Imprudent and cavalier criticism against the courts, particularly the Supreme Court, is a serious threat to the independence of the judiciary. Making statements that bring discredit to the Court is irresponsible and dangerous, and smack of arrogance and disrespect,” it stressed.

Earlier, De Lima said the ruling “readily shows that the lines which now divide decision-making in the Court are principally political and no longer doctrinal.”

“There is basis for the speculation that the investment of the past administration in the Office of the Ombudsman and High Court is now paying off, as present executive actions to correct injustices and abuses of the past regime and to punish the perpetrators are frustrated at every turn, not for lack of effort on the part of the present administration, but because of wise institutional investment of the past regime,” she added.

Forensic Solutions said such comments from the Justice secretary puts into question the independence of the judicial system from partisan politics.

“No discourse can better elucidate the fine distinction between legitimate criticism and political sourgraping,” it pointed out.

It also stressed that De Lima should remember her responsibility as a lawyer to uphold the rule of law, which is “above the Chief Executive himself.”

“Law practitioners, in particular, have an interest in preserving the independence of the judiciary, most especially since a pernicious consequence is in the offing once judicial independence is undermined,” Agra’s group explained.

* Akbayan seeks Corona’s resignation

Meanwhile, militant party-list group Akbayan demanded yesterday for the resignation of Corona and the other nine magistrates who voted to nullify EO 1.

Led by losing senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros, the group sent the justices a letter accusing them of “failing the Filipino people and committing gross and culpable violation of the Constitution as well as betrayal of public trust.”

“As a result of your decision to strike down the Truth Commission tasked to shed light on the colossal anomalies committed under the previous administration, you have failed to meet and maintain these qualifications and the qualities expected of you to possess, and have instead chosen to become instruments of impunity,” they said.

Akbayan likewise alleged that the magistrates failed to meet the constitutionally imposed qualities of “competence, integrity, probity and independence” -With Rainier Allan Ronda, Jess Diaz, Edu Punay