(Update) SC to define parameters of executive privilege

Chief Justice Reynato Puno on Wednesday said the Supreme Court is set to define the parameters of the executive privilege when it hears the petition filed by Romulo Neri, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, against the Senate. Puno said the high court will resolve whether Neri can invoke "executive privilege" in refusing to attend Senate inquiries on the controversial $329 million broadband deal awarded by the government to China's ZTE Corporation. The high court has set the case for oral arguments on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. "In this particular case, we shall decide what communications of the President are included in the executive privilege....The problem is how to delineate the parameters of the executive privilege," Puno said. He said the doctrine of executive privilege is firmly entrenched in the Constitution and even the President cannot abolish it. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on Tuesday urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to revoke Executive Order 464 to allow members of her Cabinet officials to testify before congressional inquiries. Malacañang issued EO 464 to prohibit executive department officials from appearing before any inquiry without the prior consent of the President. Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, however, said it is not anymore significant if Mrs Arroyo decides to revoke the controversial EO because members of the Cabinet have resorted to using the executive privilege. The executive privilege may be invoked by the President when a matter of national security she wants kept confidential is involved. Panganiban said that since the high court ruled against certain provisions of EO 464 in April 2006, the government has been invoking the executive privilege instead of defying congressional inquiries. Panganiban said that after certain provisions of EO 464 were struck down for being unconstitutional, it has become toothless. He said the high court can revisit the Senate vs Ermita case, which thoroughly discussed the methods by which executive privilege may be invoked. "There are certain parameters in that decision that have to be observed both by Congress and by the executive department. The rule, however, is transparency and disclosure. The exception is secrecy. In other words, the burden of proof to show why secrecy should be upheld lies with the executive department," Panganiban said. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, meanwhile, said Malacañang cannot just scrap EO 464 because there are existing laws and jurisprudence that must be considered. "[The bishops] should understand that there are parameters to be considered," Gonzalez said, noting that there are information that would require confidentiality, such as trade secrets and matters of national security. Gonzalez said disclosure of state secrets by a public officer is punishable under the Revised Penal Code. Article 229 of the Penal Code provides that "any public officer who shall reveal any secret known to him by reason of his official capacity, or shall wrongfully deliver papers or copies of papers of which he may have charge and which should not be published, shall suffer the penalties of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods, perpetual special disqualification, and a fine not exceeding 2,000 pesos if the revelation of such secrets or the delivery of such papers shall have caused serious damage to the public interest; otherwise, the penalties of prision correccional in its minimum period, temporary special disqualification and a fine not exceeding 50 pesos shall be imposed." - GMANews.TV