DETAINED Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has filed a resolution seeking to initiate legislative action against Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita’s participation in a recent Senate meeting on bills on the country’s archipelagic baseline.
Trillanes and senators Edgardo Angara, Rodolfo Biazon, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Aquilino Pimentel have authored five separate baseline bills.
Ermita presided over the Technical Working Group meeting of the Senate committees on foreign relations, finance, and national defense and security on Aug. 14 in Malacañang.
At the meeting, the executive secretary directed
the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to adopt and draft the preferred option of the Executive Branch.
“Secretary Ermita’s actions effectively undermined the independence of the Senate as an institution,” Trillanes said. “(These are) a clear violation of the constitutionally enshrined principle of separation of powers of the three branches of government.”
A Technical Working Group of a standing Senate Committee normally prepares the committee report and recommendation to the committee chairman. The Committee on Foreign Relations chair is Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.