Opposition quizzes legality of Noy’s EO on truth body By Charlie V. Manalo 08/01/2010

Opposition quizzes legality of Noy’s EO on truth body

By Charlie V. Manalo 08/01/2010 The minority bloc in the House of Representatives is seriously considering challenging before the judicial forum the constitutionality of Executive Order (EO) 1 of President Aquino creating the Truth Commission of 2010. At the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo, Minority Floor Leader Edcel Lagman said “the projected court action is not to shield officials of the previous administration who can be indicted and tried before existing prosecutorial and judicial bodies.” He stressed that “the sole purpose of the judicial recourse is to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution on separation of powers and maintain the rule of law.” The Albay lawmaker said the establishment of the Truth Commission may be constitutionally infirm for the following reasons — the creation and funding of offices and commissions is a legislative power of Congress and, consequently, the Truth Commission cannot be constituted by mere executive fiat; the equal protection clause of the Constitution may be violated by targeting a specific group of officials for investigation; and the Truth Commission duplicates the constitutional mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman as well as the statutory jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100801hed2.html

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