Senate minority won’t end probes

The Senate minority has rejected President Arroyo’s calls to end the chamber’s inquiry into alleged anomalies involving her administration.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the investigations will end if "there is no more looting of the public treasury, if there is no more violation of human rights and if there is no more attempt to conceal the truth behind the outcome of the 2004 presidential election."

Pimentel said Mrs. Arroyo’s statements against the Senate inquiry show her arrogance and myopia.

"There are many anomalies that are happening in this administration and she is at the center of them," he said.

"And when we criticize the anomalies, she gets angry. As senators, we could not just close our eyes to these anomalies at the risk of being accused of abdicating our constitutional duty."

Pimentel defended the Senate investigations as legitimate and not a witch-hunt or part of destabilization moves as alleged by Malacañang.

Pimentel said senators have crossed party lines and agreed to conduct the inquiry into the North Rail project due to alleged overpricing and other infirmities. Other alleged anomalies raised by the opposition include: the alleged diversion of P728 million fertilizer fund to the President’s election campaign in 2004; the alleged involvement of military officers in the 2004 Mindanao electoral fraud; the missing ballot boxes containing allegedly tampered election documents; and the government’s P50-million US lobbying contract with the United States-based firm Venable LLP.

Executive Order No. 464, which bans civilian and military officials from attending congressional hearings without prior clearance from Mrs. Arroyo, is "patently unconstitutional as its dubious intention is to emasculate the investigative powers of Congress in violation of the constitutional principles of checks and balance and of transparency," he added.

Pimentel said criticisms against Mrs. Arroyo from the senators and the inquiry on the alleged anomalies are all legitimate exercises of congressional power.

"If there is so much stealing in government, that calls for intense criticism," he said.

"Because if you do it in a tame manner and without force, nobody will listen. And there will be no end to venalities in the government," Pimentel said.

Last Thursday, Senate President Franklin Drilon rebuked Mrs. Arroyo for calling the inquiries part of continued moves to remove her from office.

The investigations will continue as long as the Senate committee chairmen see the need for more hearings, he added.

Instead, Malacañang should use the hearings to disprove the alleged anomalies, Drilon said. — Marvin Sy