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NERI TOLD NOT TO IMPOSE ANY CONDITION FOR HIS TESTIMONY Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said former National Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri cannot impose any condition on the Senate for resuming his testimony on the ZTE-National Broadband Network project. Pimentel was reacting to the reported statement of Neri, through his lawyer Antonio Bautista, that he is willing to come back to the Senate to complete his testimony but he should be allowed to do so in an executive session. Neri expressed his willingness to resume his testimony following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to revoke Executive Order 464 and, despite the Senate’s rejection of a compromise drawn up by the Supreme Court, to resolve the issue over his non-appearance at the hearings on the NBN-ZTE controversy. “We refuse to acknowledge that any person being summoned by the Senate has any right to put up conditions for his appearance. We cannot agree to that,” the minority leader told the weekly Kapihan sa Senado media forum. The only conditions that should bind the Senate are those ordained by the Constitution, he added. “An executive session will be a decision of the Senate, not of the person who is being called to testify.” Pimentel said if a witness requests for an executive session with respect to any particular question raised during the Senate hearing, the senators will have to evaluate and decide whether the request qualifies for such privilege. “Otherwise, it would look like we are giving blanket authority to anyone being summoned by the Senate to impose conditions for his testimony. That should not be the case.” Pimentel admitted that the Senate cannot enforce its order to arrest Neri if he continues to ignore its summons because the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court is deemed to be still in force and effect due to the Senate’s rejection of the proposed compromise. The minority leader was one of the senators who strongly opposed the compromise because it would have the effect of diluting the investigative powers of the Senate. The senators decided in a caucus to just wait for the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue. Date: March 6, 2008 |
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