EO creating Truth Commission signed | The Philippine Star >> News >> Headlines

EO creating Truth Commission signed The Philippine Star >> News >> Headlines


EO creating Truth Commission signed By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated July 31, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (21)
MANILA, Philippines - As he had promised, President Aquino signed yesterday an executive order – his first – creating the Truth Commission.
To be headed by former chief justice Hilario Davide Jr., the five-member commission will “investigate allegations of anomalies during the last nine years” of the Arroyo administration. Mrs. Arroyo is now a Pampanga congresswoman representing her home province’s second district.
She took over from President Joseph Estrada in 2001 following his ouster in a people power revolt triggered by outrage over massive corruption under his administration.
One of the members of the Truth Commission is reportedly retired Supreme Court (SC) justice Romeo Calleja.
“The process of bringing a necessary closure to the allegations of official wrongdoing and impunity has begun,” Mr. Aquino said after signing the EO.
He said it was his promise to create such a body within his first 100 days in office.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the panel would get its funds from the Office of the President, although the commission itself would determine how much it would need for its two-year lifespan.
“Two years is deemed sufficient to investigate graft and corruption. This is a fact-finding body solely dedicated to investigate particularly high-profile ones,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Ed de Mesa told Palace reporters in a briefing.
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The commission would “tentatively” hold office in what used to be the Office of the Vice President in Pasay City, which is at the Philippine International Convention Center.
De Mesa said he believes the SC would eventually uphold the mandate of the panel. Some lawmakers have argued that the creation of the panel needs legislation, otherwise it cannot compel witnesses or respondents to attend its proceedings.
“The legality and validity of the EO will be upheld by the SC justices,” he said.
The findings of the Davide panel would be submitted to the President, Congress and later to the Office of the Ombudsman.
De Mesa stressed the President “will not overturn the findings” and that what he really desires is “closure to issues.”
The commission will be designating a general counsel, a deputy general counsel, a special counsel and a clerk.
It will also have the “power to engage the services of experts as consultants or advisers as it may deem necessary.”
As outlined in the six-page EO, the committee is tasked to “primarily seek and find truth on, and toward this end, investigate reports of graft and corruption of such scale and magnitude that shock and offend the moral and ethical sensitivities of the people.”
De Lima explained that the committee would even tackle irregularities involving more than P50 million, which are already covered by the plunder law.
She also raised the likelihood of overlapping of functions with concerned agencies like the Department of Justice, the Sandiganbayan, and the Ombudsman “but we want to keep it at the minimum.”
The other members of the panel will have to be chosen by the President. De Mesa and De Lima said they are not at liberty to reveal their names because the names of eight to 10 former justices have already been submitted, and that it is up to Mr. Aquino to make the choices.
De Lima said the commission would have subpoena powers, and may submit a “special or interim report and recommendation” against officials and their cohorts, even in the private sector.
Like any other quasi-judicial body, the commission can subpoena witnesses, take testimonies, administer oaths and the like. It would also be authorized to coordinate with the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan and Office of the Court Administrator to obtain any relevant information.
The commission may also “call upon any government investigative or prosecutorial agency such as the DOJ or any agencies under it, and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, for such assistance and cooperation as it may require in the discharge of its functions and duties.”
Under the EO, the President may order the scope of the commission’s investigation expanded to include other administrations, including that of his mother, the late President Corazon Aquino.
“If and when in the judgment of the President there is a need to expand the mandate of the commission, such mandate may be so extended accordingly by way of a supplemental executive order,” the EO read.
Iggy ready to face probe
Like his sister-in-law and now House colleague former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo is willing to face the planned Truth Commission.
“I am willing to cooperate with the commission, if asked to. I am not afraid to tell the truth because the truth and nothing but the truth will set you free,” he told reporters. However, he said the proposed investigation body should not confine itself to alleged scandals that took place during the Arroyo government but should look as well into controversies that hounded previous administrations.
“They should also look into the Hacienda Luisita case,” he said, referring to the large sugar plantation owned by the family of President Aquino.
Mrs. Arroyo earlier said she was willing to face the Truth Commission.
In 2003, Iggy Arroyo claimed he was the real Jose Pidal and not his brother, former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, as claimed by opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson in his two-part “Jose Pidal-The Incredible Hulk” exposé.
Exactly eight days after the exposé, Iggy came out in the open and owned up to the bank accounts holding millions in supposedly illegal funds which Lacson attributed to Mrs. Arroyo’s husband.
But when investigated by the Senate, Iggy refused to sign in his supposed alias or to talk about the accounts. He claimed his right to privacy more than 25 times.
In 2005, when Malacañang tried to cover up the “Hello, Garci” scandal, Iggy’s chief of staff, who introduced himself as “Gary,” claimed he was the “Garci” that Mrs. Arroyo was talking to in the tape recordings.
On national television, then press secretary Ignacio Bunye held two compact discs – the genuine one that supposedly contained the conversation of “Gary,” then working as part of Mrs. Arroyo’s campaign staff, with the then president, and the other one that Bunye claimed was the bogus tape.
The CD that Bunye said was spurious turned out to be the genuine recording. The House inquired into it and played it in public several times during its hearings. With Jess Diaz