‘GMA did not violate Charter’

President Arroyo did not violate the Constitution even if the Supreme Court has struck down her recent issuances as unconstitutional, her staunch allies in the House of Representatives declared yesterday.

Majority Leader Prospero Nograles and Representatives Antonio Cuenco of Cebu City and Edwin Uy of Isabela made the declaration in a joint statement in reaction to the plan of opposition congressmen to use the Supreme Court rulings as additional grounds to launch a new impeachment process against the President.

The High Tribunal struck down Executive Order 464, in which Mrs. Arroyo prohibited Cabinet members and other executive personnel, including low-ranking soldiers and policemen, from attending Senate investigations, and the administration’s calibrated preemptive response (CPR) policy against street protests.

While the court upheld the constitutionality of Proclamation 1017, it ruled that the warrantless arrests and threats on media organizations the authorities made pursuant to the proclamation were illegal and unconstitutional.

In 1017, the President, faced with what she described as a conspiracy between rightist and leftist elements to topple the government, declared a state of national emergency on Feb. 24. She lifted the proclamation one week later.

"These (Supreme Court rulings) will not stand as bases (for impeachment) because there was no culpable violation of the Constitution or betrayal of public trust. The government implemented these policies to protect itself and national interest, not the President," Nograles, Cuenco and Uy said.

They said the new impeachment petition that the opposition plans to file against Mrs. Arroyo would just be a "recycled complaint."

Other Arroyo loyalists led by Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr. earlier announced the majority’s intention to thwart any new move to impeach the President.

According to Minority Leader Francis Escudero, EO 464, CPR and Proclamation 1017 show a propensity on the part of Mrs. Arroyo to violate the Constitution.

In the case of EO 464, he said he could not believe that the President, who is a former senator, did not know she was in violation of the Charter by prohibiting all executive officials and personnel from appearing at Senate investigations.

Quoting Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a respected authority on law and the Constitution, he said even a first-year law student would know that such prohibition is against the Constitution.