Gonzales asks SC to allow him to post bail

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, facing contempt charges before the Senate, asked yesterday the Supreme Court (SC) to allow him to post bail.

In a three-page urgent motion for bail filed through lawyer Antonio Bautista, Gonzales told the High Tribunal that his client’s physician, Dr. Lutgerio Torres, had advised him that heart surgery for the patient is "urgent" at this point.

"Dr. Lutgerio Torres, said there is an urgent need for Secretary Gonzales to undergo heart surgery, a life-threatening procedure which will incapacitate me from my regular work," he said.

Bautista said that Gonzales would like to seek a second opinion on the need for him to undergo heart surgery.

"(Gonzales) cannot freely and adequately seek out other and further medical opinion if he is confined under the custody of the Senate sergeant-at-arms" at the Philippine Heart Center, he said.

"Secretary Gonzales is definitely not a high risk because he is sitting as a member of the Cabinet. For the foregoing reasons, we pray to this Honorable Court to allow his (Gonzales) temporary release from the custody of the Senate on such conditions as to bail or other ways as this court may impose."

Taking a cue from Sen. Joker Arroyo, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman, Justice Artemio Panganiban had advised Bautista to ask

Gonzales to consider taking a leave of absence instead of waiting for the SC to resolve his motion to be released from Senate custody.

Gonzales was ordered detained last Sept. 21 by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for contempt due to his refusal to reveal information regarding the controversial contract with Venable LLP, which was hired by the government to seek funding from the US Congress for, among other things, amending the Constitution.

During the hearing of his motion for a writ of habeas corpus last Oct. 11, Gonzales told the Supreme Court that he has a standing order from President Arroyo not to reveal the identity of the private individual who funded the controversial contract that he signed with the US-based lobby group Venable LLP to protect Philippine-US ties.

Speaking on behalf of Gonzales at the Supreme Court hearing, Bautista said the administration, which has been battling off destabilization moves by some opposition leaders, cannot afford to imperil the security of the private donors of the Venable contract.

"Secretary Gonzales asked the President to reveal the names of the donors, but the President did not allow him," he said.

"I think Gonzales knows who referred (the Venable contract) to him and who funded it. But the President did not allow him to reveal who referred it to him."

Panganiban said "Senator Arroyo realized the gravity of detaining a Cabinet official, an alter ego of the President, and any institutional confrontation between the legislative and the executive, that is why he suggested a way out for Gonzales to take a leave of absence."

Senator Arroyo told the High Tribunal there was no pressure on Gonzales to drag the President into the Senate inquiry.

"We need the Executive to provide us with facts, because they have all the information," he said.

"If the Executive does not give it to us, what legislation can we make? None," he said.

In a 10-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed through Bautista, Gonzales said he has no other recourse but to ask the SC to intervene following Sen. Arroyo’s dismissal of his motion asking for a reconsideration of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s ruling placing him under detention.

Gonzales said Senator Arroyo dismissed his plea, dated Sept. 24, 2005, to excuse him from further questioning and order his release citing his "delicate health condition."