Going toward the crooked path EDITORIAL 08/07/2010

Going toward the crooked path

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 08/07/2010 Senators are reportedly bent on lifting former President Gloria Arroyo’s gag rule, also known as Executive Order 464 (EO 464). From reports, this is to be done through the issuance of the new Senate rules, which was one of the “infirmities” cited by the Supreme Court (SC) in the failure of the Senate to demand for then National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Romulo Neri to appear before the Senate panel and testify — even behind closed doors, on his conversation with Arroyo regarding the ZTE-NBN contract that carried with it a bribe to get it approved. But this gag rule lifting may not be as easy as it is being made to sound, because it wasn’t just that new Senate rule infirmity that was brought up, but the fact that the ponente in that Neri case did overturn the ruling on EO 464 by the SC then headed by Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, as ponente Justice Teresita de Castro did uphold the right of the President not to permit her executives to attend congressional hearings and respond to questions posed by the senators.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100807com1.html

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