ROXAS WELCOMES SC ACTION ON PETITION TO NULLIFY EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE OVER NEDA DOCS ON NBN DEAL

Senator Mar Roxas, chair of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, welcomed the order of the Supreme Court directing Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and NEDA Acting Director-General Augusto Santos to respond to his petition for the nullification of the executive privilege over public documents related to the NBN broadband deal.

"I welcome the action taken by the Supreme Court and am hopeful that once the judicial process is completed, the Senate would be able to obtain these documents in the pursuit of our legislative functions," Roxas said.

Roxas said the Senate trade and commerce committee would like to come up with amendments and measures to tighten the government's procurement and bidding policies to prevent a repeat of the broadband and World Bank road project fiascos.

He also cited the Senate joint committee's decision to allow public access to all annexes submitted by the ZTE Corp. through the Department of Transportation and Communications.

"We voted to reject the request of the DOTC and ZTE Corporation to keep these annexes containing the design and pricing of the NBN project confidential. Now that these documents are in the public domain, I hope that our best IT and telecommunications experts can help us look into the technical and financial aspects of this deal," Roxas added.

Roxas, together with Senator Noynoy Aquino, filed a petition with the Supreme Court last October 26 for certiorari and mandamus to nullify the invocation of executive privilege on the part of NEDA Director General Augusto Santos and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and to compel NEDA to submit all transcripts and documents related to the NBN project to the Senate.

The two senators, through their legal counsels, Dean Pacifico Agabin and Atty. Joel Cadiz, said executive privilege cannot be invoked to stonewall the Senate's request for a copy of the NEDA-ICC board meeting minutes and project evaluation report on the NBN deal since national security is not involved.

"We implore the Supreme Court to assert our people's right to official records on how the broadband project was evaluated and approved by the NEDA and the Joint Investment Coordination Committee (ICC). These two documents are critical to the work of the Senate in aid of legislation and inquiry," Roxas and Aquino said.

In his letter to NEDA's Santos dated September 27, 2007, Ermita informed the NEDA chief that discussions in closed-door Cabinet NEDA meetings are considered executive privilege.

"If internal deliberations, debates and positions of Cabinet members can be compelled to be disclosed, Cabinet officials will be unduly hampered in giving their frank, full, and free exchange of views in the shaping of decisions, policies, and actions affecting the nation. With respect to the Project Evaluation Report dated March 26, 2007, the same cannot likewise be released on the ground that information between inter-government agencies prior to the conclusion of treaties and executive agreements are considered executive privilege," Ermita wrote.

The NEDA Secretary cited the letter of the Executive Secretary in denying the request of the Senate joint committees for the minutes of the NEDA-ICC meeting on the NBN project as well as the Project Evaluation Report.

"The justification put up by the respondents that disclosure of the minutes of the closed-door meetings of the NEDA on the NBN project would strain diplomatic relations with China overlooks the fact that the Senate also plays a crucial role in the conduct of foreign relations," the two solons said in their petition, citing the Senate's role in ratifying international agreements.

The two Liberal Party stalwarts presented four arguments against the NEDA's invocation of executive privilege in relation to the minutes of its board meeting and the NBN project evaluation documents:

1. The invocation of executive privilege by respondents in the case infringes upon the constitutional power of inquiry vested in Congress;

2. The respondents have no valid ground in the invocation of executive privilege and hence, there can be no just recognition of the same.

3. Executive privilege does not extend to criminal activities like the bribery allegations of unprecedented magnitude involved in the NBN project, pursuant to the ruling of the Supreme Court in Almonte VS. Vasquez, GR No. 95367 and United States VS Nixon, 418 U.S. 683(1974).

4. The information and documents subject of the supoena duces tecum are matters of paramount public interest and issues of great national concern and significance, which should not be defeated by the mere unqualified invocation of executive privilege.

The two senators also pointed out that several pending measures would benefit from a review of the two documents since these contain specific information and examples of how the current system of project evaluation and approval has failed the people.

Senator Roxas and Aquino cited Section 7, Article III of the Constitution, which states that the right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. The petition also cited Section 1, Article XI, which states: "Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees, must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives."