Ipinagtanggol ng Office of the Solicitor General ang desisyon ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na ipagbawal ang mga miyembro ng kanyang Gabinete na dumalo sa pagdinig sa Senado kaugnay ng umano'y overprice na medical supplies na ginagamit sa paglaban sa pandemya ng coronavirus disease 2019.
Paliwanag ng OSG, ang isinagawang pagdinig Senate Blue Ribbon Committee ay hindi "in aid of legislation."
“For one, there is no reference to a clear and specific piece of legislation that the investigation seeks to aid. For another, the questions propounded during the hearings do not appear to be relative to and in furtherance of any piece of legislation.On the contrary, during the hearings, the Senators grill and treat the resource persons worse than criminals. Their obvious intent is to identify persons accountable for alleged irregularities which existing laws already penalize," ayon sa OSG.
“But there are laws that provide for the manner of their prosecution and conviction which, pursuant to the Constitution and doctrine of separation of powers, are within the domain of the Executive and Judiciary, not province of the Senate," sabi ng OSG.
PBBM namahagi ng P100M ayuda; umaasang makabangon agad ang Bicol
Inilabas ng OSG ang pahayag bilang tugon sa inilabas na column ni retired Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio na pumupuna sa direktiba ng Pangulo.
Gayunman, ipinaliwanag ng OSG na "pinigilan lamang ng Pangulo ang Senado sa panghihimasok sa usaping dapat ay tinatalakay lamang sa hukuman o mga prosecuting agencies ng executivedepartment upang hindi magkaroon ng Constitutional crisis."
Jeffrey Damicog
