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Executive Order 464 and the people’s right to know

One interesting issue that caught my attention this week is the Senators’ move questioning the constitutionality of Executive Order 464. EO 464 by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo prohibits her officials from the executive branch from appearing in any congressional hearings unless the official is permitted by the President herself.

It can be recalled that the issuance came out after some members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) attended congressional hearings and shed light as to the 2004 electoral fraud, specially those committed in Mindanao, attributed to the President. The issuance then blocked the appearance of any members of the executive branch to appear in relation with the issues on the Garci tapes, fertilizer scam, among others.

The senators’ move is understandable. The 1987 Constitution grants them power to summon anybody, regardless of position, to appear in a hearing the Senate initiates as long as it is performed under the context “in aid of legislation”. (Of course not necessarily coming out with an output in the form of legislation.)

The EO concretizes the dictatorial tendency of GMA to maintain herself in power. It tries to clip the said congressional power. As a co-equal branch of government, the Executive Department cannot do that. More so that the congressional inquiry is mandated by the Constitution. Under the hierarchy of laws, the constitutional provision on inquiry shall always prevail from an order which has no legal or questionable basis, anyway. That seems to be the flow of thought of the members of Senate, who are mostly lawyers.

Members of the Executive Department claim that the purpose of any congressional hearing is to destabilize the Arroyo administration. A corrupt reason. Unreasonable. They tag the constitutionally granted function of congress as act of destabilization! How about their act defending one person instead of the people?

Another important right of the people being violated by EO 464 is the people’s right to be informed on issues of public concern. This is among the rights contained in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution. This right is being denied through EO 464 as the order prohibits attendance of officials in any congressional hearings which could shed light to issues with public concern. Such concerns include the Garci tapes, the fertilizer scam and the graft and corruption within the AFP. The EO wishes to make the people ignorant on issues that they supposedly know. That is the worst thing that the administration is doing to its citizens.

This is the context that we need to understand why Secretaries Ignacio Bunye, Eduardo Ermita, Mike Defensor are doing all their best to prop up that the congressional hearings are destabilization plot against GMAs.

On the other hand, since the EO is violative of the citizens’ right to information, the people must exercise their sovereign right for the thrashing of this order. That is the essence of sovereignty that resides in the people.#

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