Former Senate President Vicente "Tito Sotto III on Monday, October 23 welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision denying a petition filed by the Senate that challenged the constitutionality of a memorandum issued by then President Rodrigo Duterte ordering government officials to stop attending the Upper Chamber’s investigations, saying it still bolstered the Senate's independence as a co-equal body of the Executive Department.
“I have yet to read the complete decision of the Supreme Court. But while the SC denied the Senate’s petition, its decision only buttressed the independence of the Senate as a co-equal branch of the Executive by declaring that the Senate rules should be followed in resolving matters within its Committee’s jurisdiction,” Sotto said in a statement.
“Also as already pronounced by the SC in the case of Senate vs Ermita in 2006, the Congress has the right to compel the appearance of officials to hearings in aid of legislation, which the Senate used as basis in its petition and still the case law on the matter,” the former Senate leader added.
In denying the petition, the SC en banc, in its 22-page decision promulgated in July, said the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee already has a remedy within its office to resolve the jurisdictional challenge that Duterte raised.
The SC cited Section 3 of the Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation, which says that “if the jurisdiction of the committee is challenged on any ground, the said issue must first be resolved by the committee before proceeding with the inquiry.”
Sotto was then head of the Senate when the Blue Ribbon panel investigated the Department of Health’s (DOH) questionable transfer of P42-billion COVID-19 funds to the Department of Budget and Management-Procurement Service.
Duterte had then directed all Cabinet officials from attending the Senate probe into the government’s alleged anomalous procurement of COVID-19 supplies claiming it has affected that the investigation has affected the state’s ability to fulfill its duties amid the pandemic. This drove the Senate to file the petition before the SC.
The SC said the Court is constrained to dismiss the petition “for having been prematurely filed.”
“The Court deems it no longer necessary to resolve the other issues raised by the parties,” it said.