Roxas optimistic that SC will rule in favor of truth, accountability

Senator Mar Roxas expressed optimism that the Supreme Court, which is set to hear tomorrow oral arguments on the executive privilege claim of former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, will decide in favor of truth and accountability.

This, as the co-chairman of the Senate panel investigating the botched National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. continues to call on to the President to “save the Republic,” to “come clean” and stop stonewalling the truth behind alleged anomalies in the ZTE-NBN deal.

“Sa Senado man, sa Korte Suprema o sa anumang larangan, patuloy tayong mananawagan sa administrasyon na tigilan na ang pagiging balakid sa katotohanan,” he said, while stressing that the people would not settle for anything less than a more truthful and transparent government.

“Clearly, the administration could have saved the Supreme Court this undue burden to decide on this case had it simply allowed the truth to come out in the open. But it instead decided to stonewall the people’s righteous demand for the truth,” he stressed.

“Nananawagan ako sa Pangulo: kagyat nang kanselahin ang E.O. 464. Kung wala namang kinatatakutan ang pamahalaan at handa naman itong harapin ang panawagan ng taumbayan para sa katotohanan, bakit kinailangan pang magtatag ng isang komite para ito’y pag-aralan?” he said.

Roxas—together with Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Rodolfo Biazon, his co-chairmen in the ZTE probe—has filed comments to the petition filed by Neri, and is preparing for oral arguments tomorrow. In their comments, they prayed to the court to nullify Neri’s claim of executive privilege and compel him to testify before the Senate.

“We believe that Secretary Neri erroneously invoked executive privilege, and by doing so, has compromised the independence and powers of the Senate in line with its duty to the people to craft laws to ensure that none of these anomalies will ever take place again,” he said.

Roxas said that the administration has, in many instances already, tested the extent and limits of its powers instead of exercising prudence, compromising the people’s rights in the end. These include the application of Calibrated Preemptive Response to mass protests and the issuance of Presidential Proclamation 1017, which limited the people’s right to expression and the freedom of the press.