EDITORIAL - Against truth and accountability

There were three questions that Romulo Neri refused to answer when he was grilled by the Senate on the national broadband network deal: Did President Arroyo give the green light for the $329-million NBN deal even after he had informed her of a P200-million bribery attempt by Benjamin Abalos, at the time the Commission on Elections chairman? Did the President order Neri, at the time the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, to prioritize the project? And did she follow up on her directive?

All three questions are critical in putting together a complete picture of the corruption scandal. Even the Catholic bishops, most of them supportive of the President but divided on many raging controversies, are united in calling for the whole truth, which has not yet emerged on the NBN deal. A pastoral statement issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines after a daylong emergency meeting specifically called on the President to order everyone in her government to tell the whole truth on the scandals hounding her administration, including the ZTE deal.

Now the administration has found a way out of committing to the bishops: the nation’s highest court has spoken, and no one is above the law. Neri need not answer the three questions.

If enough public officials truly believe that no one is exempt from the law, the nation would not be confronting a lengthening string of large-scale corruption scandals. There was a key issue in Neri’s case: in the light of his disclosure that he had informed the President about a bribery attempt and she had done nothing about it, can executive privilege be invoked to cover up a possible criminal act? This is the impression that comes out of the SC ruling, though the court skirted this issue.

The ruling noted that lacking clear-cut rules on Senate hearings, Neri could not be ordered arrested or cited in contempt for refusing to answer the three questions, although he could be summoned again by the Senate for further grilling.

The tribunal has once again struck a delicate balance between the executive and legislative, moderating the Senate’s contempt and arrest powers. But the ruling also struck a blow against the search for truth and accountability, with the feeble argument that the search can be trumped by diplomatic relations.