DOJ chief: President has right to form truth body

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima downplayed the House minority bloc's plan to challenge before courts the creation of a “Truth Commission," saying President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has the prerogative to form this body. "That's their [members of the House minority] right. The President himself said they can bring the matter to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can say if that's really legally and constitutionally proper," De Lima told reporters on Monday. The Truth Commission was formally created through Executive Order (EO) No. 1 issued on Friday. It is tasked to look into unresolved corruption allegations under the nine-year Arroyo administration. Last Sunday, Mr. Aquino dared critics of the newly formed commission to bring the matter to the SC. Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. will head the five-member panel. House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago have questioned the constitutionality of Aquino's EO No. 1, saying Congress must first pass a law creating such a body or allowing the President to order the formation of one. However, De Lima reiterated the President can issue directives without going through the legislative process. Previous commissions De Lima said former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself created independent investigative bodies, whose legalities were not questioned because it was within her powers to form such commissions. "Mayroong Melo Commission, may Feliciano Commission. Bakit ito [Truth Commission] hindi [pwede]?," she asked. The Justice chief was referring to the 2006 commission headed by former Supreme Court Associate Justice and now Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo. Among other findings, the Melo Commission recommended the investigation of retired Army general and former Bantay party-list Rep. Jovito Palparan, who gained notoriety for the human rights abuses he allegedly committed while he was in the military. Palparan ran for senator but lost in the recent elections. The Feliciano Commission, meanwhile, was formed in 2003 look into the circumstances that led into the infamous July 27, 2003 Oakwood Mutiny. Headed by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Florentino Feliciano, the commission recommended the appointment of a Defense secretary who didn’t come from the ranks of the military. Another high-profile independent body was the three-member commission that investigated the celebrated “Alabang Boys" case in 2009, where three scions of affluent families were accused of peddling and using illegal narcotics. Their families allegedly bribed Department of Justice officials, hoping to get the suspects off the hook. The commission, however, recommended the filing of drug charges against the suspects— Joseph Tecson, Richard Brodett, and Jorge Joseph. The three are detained at separate city jails while their drug cases are pending. This year, Arroyo formed the Zeñarosa Commission, headed by Court of Appeals Associate Justice Monina Arevalo-Zeñarosa, to disband private armies. Its creation stemmed from the November 23 massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province in which the Ampatuan clan and their supporters are implicated. The Zeñarosa Commission has yet to come up with its findings. Davide himself once headed a commission formed by the President's mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, to look into the coup attempts that beset her administration. –VVP, GMANews.TV