SC: No TRO needed yet vs Aquino's three EOs

The Supreme Court saw no pressing need to restrain the implementation of President Benigno Aquino III's first three executive orders, whose legality are being challenged by aggrieved parties. On Tuesday, SC Public Information Office assistant chief Gleoresty Guerra said "the court did not see a necessity" to issue the temporary restraining orders being requested by the parties assailing the three executive orders. Last week, allies of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of Representatives asked the Supreme Court to nullify Mr. Aquino's Executive Order No. 1, which created the Truth Commission that will probe alleged anomalies during the Arroyo administration. In their petition, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman and Representatives Rodolfo Albano Jr., Simeon Datumanong and Orlando Fua Jr. said Aquino usurped congressional powers in creating such body. They likewise said the commission, whose composition is yet to be finalized, should be struck down because it duplicates the powers of the Ombudsman and the Justice Department. Guerra on Tuesday said the court has yet to raffle the Lagman, et al., petition to an associate justice who will handle the case. Also last week, Justice assistant secretary Jose Arturo de Castro and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) director Eddie Tamondong also asked the SC to void Executive No. 2, which revoked Mrs. Arroyo's so-called midnight appointments. De Castro and Tamondong both argued that their date of appointments, March 1, did not fall within the constitutional ban before the elections last May 10. De Castro also went to the Supreme Court to challenge the President's Executive Order No. 3, which overturned Mrs. Arroyo's EO No. 883. The latter automatically conferred the Career Executive Service Officer (CESO) Rank III on government lawyers in the executive department. However, the Palace said EO No. 883 was illegal because only the Career Executive Service Board can confer CESO ranks. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima later revealed that De Castro was among those who helped the drafting of Mrs. Arroyo's EO No. 883 that is why he is asking the court to nullify Mr. Aquino's EO No. 3. The Office of the President, through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., has yet to give the court its comments on De Castro and Tamondong's petitions. — Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMANews.TV