DOJ claims 1st round victory in SC talks on exec privilege

MANILA, Philippines - The government claimed victory, at least in the initial round, in Tuesday's oral arguments before the Supreme Court involving Cabinet officials' right to invoke executive privilege in congressional investigations. Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez said that with the Senate and the camp of former Socio-Economic Sec. Romulo Neri failing to reach a middle ground, the executive officials' right to invoke executive privilege stays. "In the meantime in the case of Senate vs Ermita, upheld ang executive privilege (In the meantime that the case is still pending, executive privilege is upheld)," Gonzalez said in an interview on dwIZ radio. In his testimony before the Senate last year, Neri had cited executive privilege in refusing to answer key questions on the government's controversial $329.48-million national broadband network deal with China's ZTE Corp. Neri also cited executive privilege in skipping further Senate hearings, and in contesting the warrant of arrest the Senate issued against him. Gonzalez said that after Tuesday's oral arguments, no middle ground was reached despite Chief Justice Reynato Puno's efforts for both sides to reach a middle ground, and that a resolution is yet to be seen. "We will see, di pa tapos ang oral arguments (the oral arguments are not yet finished)," he said. - GMANews.TV