Just New Warrior

Press Release

Last 31 July 2006, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and other executive officials snubbed a Senate inquiry on the repatriation efforts of the government for Filipino workers trapped in war-torn Lebanon. In a letter dated 29 July 2006, Secretary Ermita told Senator Jinggoy Estrada, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development, that he and other government officials will be “unable to attend” the hearing until information on the “possible needed statute” that prompted the inquiry and the questions “relative to and in furtherance of the subject of the inquiry” are provided them. In his letter, Secretary Ermita also said that he must be provided with sufficient time to prepare for the hearing.

Malacañang officials likewise did not attend today’s Senate hearing on the Lebanon repatriation. In his letter, dated today, to Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Secretary Ermita said that even though Senator Estrada had furnished them with a list of bills related to Senator Richard Gordon’s Resolution No. 515, the invited executive officials will still be unable to attend today’s hearing in the absence of information on the questions that will be asked them.

Secretary Ermita said that the advance questions will enable the officials to prepare the answers needed by the Senate. The advance questions will also aid the Executive in determining whether certain information sought to be obtained in the inquiry may fall within the scope of executive privilege.

Santiago, a noted Constitutional Law expert, said that under the Senate Rules of Procedure, inquiries in aid of legislation may refer to (1) implementation or re-examination of any law or appropriation; (2) any proposed legislation; (3) the formulation of, or in connection with future legislation; or (4) the review or formulation of a new legislative policy or enactment. Such inquiries may also extend to any and all matters vested by the Constitution in Congress and/or in the Senate alone.

According to Santiago, since the power of Congress to hold inquiries in aid of legislation covers the formulation of or in connection with future legislation or a new legislative policy, the Senate is not mandated to provide invited Malacañang officials with detailed information on the proposed legislative measure. As long as the subject of the inquiry is within the power of the Senate to legislate, it is enough that the invited officials are given information on the subject of the hearing.

The senator also said that Malacañang may not compel the Senate to submit beforehand the questions that will be asked government officials during the hearing. In his letter to Senator Estrada today, Secretary Ermita cited the decision of the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Executive Order 464, which in turn cited the 1991 case of Bengzon v. Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, to support his position that the Senate must furnish government officials with an advance copy of the questions to be asked during the hearing.

According to Santiago, the Bengzon case is different, since the aim of the investigation in that case was to find out whether the relatives of the President had violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, a matter that must be determined by the courts and not the legislature. In contrast, the aim of the investigation by the Senate committee on labor was to inquire into the repatriation efforts of the government for the OFWs in Lebanon, which is within the power of the Senate to legislate on.
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