Signs show Malacañang softening on gag rule
08/08/2010 The blooper-prone Palace admitted to have made much ado about nothing in saying earlier that President Aquino is studying the revocation of Executive Order No. 464 or more notoriously known as the “gag rule” which required officials of former President Arroyo to seek her permission before attending Congressional hearings thus giving them the option to snub inquiries in both the Senate and the House of Representatives after saying that it has long been revoked following a Supreme Court (SC) ruling regarding the matter. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the EO was found to have been revoked in response to the lawmakers’ wondering on why Aquino has not acted on EO 464 despite revoking other edicts issued by the former administration but at the same time issued statements showing that the Palace is reconsidering its stand against the gag rule. Aquino’s stand on the gag rule remains vague, however, given the fact that the SC ruling indicates that it is only declaring it as “partially invalid” as Lacierda admitted that there a certain “presidential communications privilege” that remains available to the president..... MORE Source: The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100808hed2.html |
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