MANILA, Philippines - The House minority is considering challenging in court the legality of the Aquino administration's "Truth Commission."

Minority leader Edcel Lagman of Lakas-KAMPI-CMD said on Saturday the commission suffers from what he calls "constitutional infirmities" since only Congress can create such bodies and allocate funds for it.

On Friday, President Benigno Aquino III signed Executive Order 1 creating the Truth Commission. It will investigate various anomalies, linked to the past administration like the "Hello, Garci" election scandal, the botched US$329-million NBN-ZTE telecommunications deal, and the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

But Lagman clarified the minority's planned legal challenge is not meant to protect officials of the previous government but simply to uphold the Constitution.

He said “the projected court action is not to shield officials of the previous administration who can be indicted and tried before existing prosecutorial and judicial bodies.”
 
“The sole purpose of the judicial recourse is to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution on separation of powers and maintain the rule of law,” he said.
 
Lagman enumarated the following reasons:

The creation and funding of offices and commissions is a legislative power of Congress and consequently, the Truth Commission cannot be constituted by mere executive fiat;

The equal protection clause of the Constitution may be violated by targeting a specific group of officials for investigation; and,

The Truth Commission duplicates the constitutional mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman as well as the statutory jurisdiction of the Department of Justice.

Lagman said "all previous commissions of consequence like the Agrava Board or Commission under the late President Ferdinand Marcos as well as the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Committee (Commission) on Human Rights under the late President Corazon Aquino were created by legislative authorization."

He noted that both Presidents Marcos and Cory Aquino "exercised legislative power under martial law and the revolutionary government, respectively, while President Aquino III exercises only executive powers."
 
Lagman also said President Aquino "does not have the funding authority which is reserved to the Congress, the appropriation language of Section 11 of EO No. 1 lacks particularity and transparency because no specific amount is appropriated, except by a nebulous statement that the 'Office of the President shall provide the necessary funds for the Commission' without identifying a definitive funding source."
 
He also noted that while President Aquino has said that he wants speedy “closure” on the misdeeds of the previous administration, he "authorized the Truth Commission to consume virtually 29 months from its creation or up to 31 December 2012 to accomplish its mission."
 
“This inordinately long duration granted to the Commission to terminate its investigation gives rise to apprehensions that the Truth Commission will be used as a launching pad for trial and conviction by publicity of expected respondents,” Lagman said.

Let Congress enact it: Joker

Senator Joker Arroyo earlier urged the Aquino government to ask Congress to pass a law creating a Truth Commission for it to be effective. (Click here for story)

"Anything the President does via Executive Order does not have [the] force of [the] law. It does not have subpoena power," Arroyo said.

The senator said that anyone summoned by the Truth Commission may go to court and question its power to subpoena.

He said that the only thing the commission can do is investigate.

Arroyo added that the Truth Commission will be powerless just like the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which has to go through the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ), before a case can be filed.

"Best way to do it, form a commission that is enacted by Congress," he said.

Arroyo said Congress can arm the commission with its much needed power to investigate and prosecute government officials in the past administration who have been accused of corruption. -- with a report from ANC