Corruption law meets legal challenge

Just when the fledgling government of Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was about to fire its opening salvo in investigating the high-profile corruption cases allegedly committed by his predecessor, a Senator tagged his “anti-graft weapon” as unconstitutional.

The President signed Executive Order (EO) Number 1 on July 30, which created the so-called Truth Commission, tasked to investigate the anomalies supposedly committed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her government.

Three days later, the Chief Executive’s former Senate colleague, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, a known constitutional expert, noted that the creation of the Commission is a usurpation of Congress’ powers.

This, she said, is because only Congress was vested with the power to create a government office and to appropriate funds for its use.

“We cannot allow legislative functions to be delegated to other officials without our consent. That is the principle known as the doctrine of non-delegation. In 2001, the Supreme Court said, “the power to create an agency is peculiarly legislative in nature,” she said in a press conference.

Santiago suggested that President Aquino withdraw his EO or face a constitutional challenge at the Supreme Court which she herself will file.

She stressed she is only doing this to bolster the President’s desire to pin down the corrupt officials in the former government, without encountering constitutional challenges from, say, witnesses to the cases.

Santiago stressed that Malacanang (the President’s seat of power) should not use an administrative order which was used during the term of her mother, former President Corazon Aquino, in creating the new investigative agency.

“It is claiming that its power is drawn from the Administrative Code of 1997 passed by Pres. Corazon Aquino whose provision says 'The President shall have power at any time to reorganize his office.'”

"Is the President merely reorganizing his office when he creates the Truth Commission? Come on! You reorganize when something already existed and you change something in that existing office. Here, they are creating something out of nothing. They are not reorganizing, they are creating. They fall squarely under the statement of the SC 'The power to create an agency belongs exclusively to the Congress',” the Senator said.

Santiago went on to say that the best thing President Aquino should do is to “be humble” and ask Congress to pass a measure that will put up the said Commission instead of risk the vision of putting behind bars former government officials who erred.

She cited a recent Supreme Court ruling determining that a "statute or the law must be complete", which Santiago says should encourage incumbent officials to heed her call. That ruling means there must be a statute passed by Congress. The essential element of "completion" means there is a policy stated by the Congress in that particular law.

Second, there should be a sufficiency of standards, meaning that Congress must give the limitations or the guidelines so that the person enacting a delegated legislative power will not take undue liberties in his role.

"In any event, you will see from the jurisprudence of our Supreme Court, that one doctrine has remained the same for the years, and that is legislative function cannot be exercised unless it is duly delegated by Congress.