PARTIAL transcript of the press briefing by House Prosecution Panel Spokespersons Lorenzo “Erin” Tanada III, Romero “Miro” Quimbo and Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara.
M. Quimbo: Thank You, magandang gabi po sa ating lahat. Well, gusto lang naming sabihin of course na we are elated that the Senate has actually allowed the disclosure or the bringing out of the SALN of the Chief Justice from the year 2002 up to 2010. Despite of repetitive objection which lasted for almost two hours on the part of the defense nagbibigay-pugay kami sa Senado at ang mga kasama namin sa paniniwala na mas importante ang katotohanan. Kahit napakaraming objections ang kanilang ni-raise ay nailabas na rin po natin. Importante na ang SALN na ito pag dating sa Ground No. 2 for essentially two purposes. First is for the noncompliance in so far as the SALN law is concerned at pangalawa para patunayan na ill-gotten at unexplained wealth ‘yung properties of the Chief Justice. While we don’t have the actual copies today this evidence as we will show later will clearly prove that as far as the Chief Justice is concerned marami pang sinasabing properties na na-acquire from 2002 up to 2010 ay maaaring hindi masuportahan pag dating ditto sa SALN na ito. That’s part of the allegations, that’s in Gound No. 2. Let it be said the despite the fact that the defense has said that they never actually objected to it in fact there’s an agreement they actually marked it also which is ironic because if they really wanted to have it accepted they should have released it months ago and they should have not objected for an hour and a half or almost two hours today para lamang po mailabas yung SALN nay un. We will take the questions po.
Media: Sa pag-amin ni Atty. Vidal na hindi pumayag na i-disclose ‘yung SALN nila aasahan ba natin na ito’y violation of the laws under the Constitution?
E. Tanada: Well ako, not going on the merits of the case but violation po ng Constitution ito dahil hindi natin puwedeng sabihin na ang isang Circular ay mas mataas kaysa sa Saligang Batas. So kasi kung sasabihin po natin ‘yan wala pong makakahinto sa bawat ahensya n gating pamahalaan na maglabas ng kanya kanyang Circular para lang sabihing hindi puwedeng i-disclose. Klarong klaro yung probisyon ng RA 6730 na talagang lahat, lahat ng public official may obligasyon para mag-file at mag disclose ng kanilang SALN.
M. Quimbo: Siguro panghuli doon, remember that there’s a constitutional requirement of this clause. It is supported by an enacting law of RA 6730 that specifically requires them, that’s an enabling law of the Constitutional provision despite that the Supreme Court is the only institution of the Philippines that issued a resolution preventing disclosure to the public. So tingin ko malinaw yung tinimbangan kanina, yung pinag-usapan kanina na there’s no conflict between the separation of powers dahil myung kautusan ng subpoena ay kautusan ng constitutional body hindi ng Senado lamang so hindi puwedeng tanggihan ‘yun lalo na kung ang ginagamit na panangga ay isang illegal at unconstitutional at contrary sa usapin ng transparency pag dating ditto sa ating Constitutional provision.
Media: (Inaudible).
E. Tanada: Ako puwede kong sabihin ‘yun. Sasabihin po natin, they have been violating the Constitution, again hindi puwedeng mangibabaw ang isang circular sa ating Saligang Batas. Tapos kung babasahin natin ang Article 11 Section 17 ito’y nagsasaad na kung saan kailangan may enabling law, so binanggit nga po may enabling law ngayon ang tanong puwede ban a ang isang circular na mas mataas pa kaysa sa isang enabling law, hindi rin. So walang dapat i-resolve ang ating Korte Suprema na ipanatili itong circular na ‘to.
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