Palace seeking recommendation from legal team after voiding of truth body

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is seeking recommendations from his legal team regarding its next step after the Supreme Court’s (SC) voiding of the executive order creating the Truth Commission.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of the Solicitor General, the five members of the Truth Commission led by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and former justice Magdangal Elma to “submit their recommendations in the form of a memorandum.”

The officials aside from Davide and Elma are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Solicitor General Joel Cadiz, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Eduardo de Mesa, and Truth Commission members retired SC justices Flerida Ruth Romero and Romeo Calleja and law deans Menardo Guevarra and Carlos Medina.

“So, it will be discussed by the executive secretary, and then the decision will be forthcoming,” Lacierda said.

Earlier, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said turning over the task of the Truth Commission to prosecutors of the DOJ might only exacerbate the heavy burden of government lawyers to the detriment of efforts to ferret out the truth regarding irregularities during the Arroyo administration.

“I think the ratio of one prosecutor now is to 656 cases. So, the volume of their work is really heavy. But that being said, options are being explored,” she said.

It was Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who had suggested that the DOJ assume the task of the Truth Commission.

There are around 1,800 prosecutors all over the country.

“We are studying all options carefully,” Valte said.

The options include appealing the SC ruling through a motion for reconsideration, amending EO 1 to include transferring the Truth Commission’s job to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, or delegating the task to the DOJ.

In limbo

As the Palace contemplates its next move, the Truth Commission remains “in limbo,” according to Medina.

“We’re in limbo. Any development will give clarity to the situation of unclearness and uncertainty,” Medina, an Ateneo Law professor, told The STAR.

“We are leaving the decision of appropriateness to the President. He is considering all options to deal with the decision and advance his goals of addressing the problems of corruption,” he said. “The government is in the process of finalizing how it will respond but while it is still unclear what the government’s next step will be, the Truth Commission temporarily stopped all official work.”

Medina emphasized that the chairman and members of the commission are prepared to help and be part of the President’s campaign to address corruption.

“We really rely and respect the judgment of the President if he will say this is the way to go forward,” he added.

Medina said the commission decided on Dec. 10 to suspend its work a day after receiving a copy of the high tribunal’s decision.

“There is a cease and desist order in the ruling as prayed for by petitioner from implementing EO 1. Although we do not agree with the SC decision that EO 1 is in violation of the equal protection clause, however, in respect to the rule of law the Truth Commission temporarily stopped all official work,” he said.

He said the commission has refrained from physically accepting documents and information on corruption in government except for documents that cannot be returned for security considerations.

In its decision, Medina said “the court appeared to be giving space to massive cases of graft and corruption not to be known and investigated through the mechanism of the Truth Commission by nullifying EO No. 1.”

He clarified that the focus of the commission’s work is not on the alleged wrongdoing of the Arroyo administration, but to focus on the specific period during which alleged irregularities were committed. – With Pia Lee-Brago