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SC could reverse ruling on Neri plea

There is still a chance that the Supreme Court may reverse its decision favoring the petition of former socio-economic development secretary Romulo Neri regarding the use of executive privilege, the high tribunal's spokesman said Friday.

“Puede nating sabihin yun, lalo na yung naging botohan dyan ay 9-6 on that issue tapos yung dalawa pa dun sa siyam ay ‘in the result so puede nating sabihin na me malakas na pag-asa mag-iba pa ang magiging botohan kapag nagfile na motion for consideration,” SC Spokesman Midas Marquez said in an ABS-CBN interview.



Marquez said two of the justices who agreed to the court ruling on Neri's petition did not give their separate opinions on the issue. He said it is only normal for justices to sign ‘in the result when they fail to give a separate opinion on the issues.

“He signs ‘in the result maybe because he does not want to be bound by the entire decision but he agrees with the result opinion,” he said.

He said that of the two SC justices who signed ‘in the result, only Justice Ruben Reyes is appointed by President Arroyo. The other court magistrate is Leonardo Quisumbing, an appointee of former President Fidel Ramos, Marquez added.

Marquez appealed to the public not to put malice on the result of the voting on the Neri petition as the case was thoroughly deliberated on by the high tribunal. “They have studied the issues here and the result of the voting was really reflected their view,” he said.

Last Tuesday, the SC voted 9 to 6 to favor Neris petition that the Senate cannot force him to answer three questions which they ruled were covered by executive privilege.

The three questions are: 1) whether the President followed up the NBN-ZTE project with Neri; 2) whether Neri was dictated by the President to prioritize the NBN-ZTE project; and 3) whether he was told by the President to go ahead with the project after being told of the alleged bribe offer.

The SC decided that the Arroyo-Neri conversations on the national broadband network deal, which the Senate wanted Neri to answer, are covered by the chief executives right to executive privilege.

Earlier, the Free Legal Assistance Group, one of the respected legal assistance groups in the country, criticized the Supreme Court for effectively disallowing Neri from talking about his conversations with President Arroyo. The groups chairman, lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, said the recent ruling may worsen the rift between the executive and the legislative branches of government.

FLAG also questioned the vote of Quisumbing and Reyes stating that the two magistrates simply concurred with the majority position even if they did not agree with the reasons cited in the decision.

"You can come to your own conclusions about how the voting went. They do not agree with the reasons, only in results of the case," said Diokno.

The SC admitted that it is still unclear why the two magistrates agreed with the decision penned by Justice Teresita de Castro.

"They did not necessarily concur with the way how the decision was reasoned out. They didnt say exactly they disagreed with arguments but they agreed with the conclusion," Marquez said in an earlier interview.

Reyes earlier appealed to the public not to give any malicious meaning to his vote because he was time constrained to write his own opinions and explain why he was not in favor with the whole decision.

Reyes was appointed by President Arroyo in 2007 and is set to retire this year.