Excerpts from Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago’s interview after the “Hello Garci” hearing
17 September 2007On Doble as witness
As far as I am concerned, so far, Doble is an impeached witness. Ibig sabihin, wala siyang kredibilidad. The rule under the Rules of Court is he who alleges must prove. Kung meron kang iniistorya, ikaw ang dapat magpruweba, hindi ang kalaban. Kailangan niyang i-pruweba lahat ng sinasabi niya. Dahil wala ng ibang testigo, una maghanap na ng iba, baka si Arlene Doble, kung makikita. Pangalawa, ay ang to impeach him (Doble) by showing that he is generally a person who is untrustworthy or dishonest.
On the absence of the invited members of the executive branch in the hearing
Maling mali naman iyon. Nag-privilege speech na ako kung ano ang procedure. Una, sinabi ng Korte Suprema sa Senate v. Ermita, na hindi pwedeng i-invoke ang E.O. No. 464 dahil invalid iyan. Ini-invoke nila ngayon; bakit naman? Pangalawa, sabi, kung gusto ninyo, talagang may doktrina tayo ng executive privilege pero dapat i-invoke iyan ng Presidente sa pamamagitan ng Execuitive Secretary. The invocation if the doctrine of executive privilege should be expressed, not implicit. Ang mga excuse letters nila are not expressed invocations of executive privilege. At best they are only implied. That is not valid according to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court very categorically said that only the President through her Executive Secretary can invoke it. And she cannot just make a blanket invocation; she has to specify why is this classified as a state military secret. Pangalawa, they have to give certain facts or data to justify to justify the invocation. They cannot just make a vague, overbroad invocation.
Dapat i-contempt sila dahil nag-privilege speech na ako. Nagkasundo naman kaming mga senador na tama ang aking interpretasyon ng ating batas at ng desisyon ng ating Korte Suprema. Binigyan pa sila ng kopya. Pinapaliwanag na, ayaw pang tanggapin. Wala na kaming option. Dapat i-cite sila for contempt. Kung hindi, mawawalan ng respeto ang publiko para sa Senado.
I am very irritated about the excuses, which to me are very, very flimsy. Still I realize that as much as possible, we must avoid a direct confrontation between the Office of the President and the Senate.
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