SENATOR Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday lashed back at Solicitor General Jose Calida, calling him arrogant and high-handed and reminding him that only the Supreme Court could stop Senate investigations.
He recalled that on Sept. 6, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the Senate and Congress could not be stopped from conducting investigations in aid of legislation and summoning resource persons except during Question Hour.
Question Hour needs the consent of the President, and the Executive may reject a summons if national security concerns were involved.
Outgoing Senate President Franklin Drilon said Calida’s remarks “undermine the independence of the Senate and our very own democracy.” He said his remarks were “uncalled for and reek of arrogance—unbecoming of a solicitor general.”
He also considered Calida’s remarks “an affront to the power of the Senate,” and that those undermine “the effort of the President to foster transparency and accountability.”
He said the Senate was mandated by the Constitution to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.
“We will not hesitate to invoke the power of the Senate to compel the attendance of witnesses and resource persons if such attendance is necessary,” Drilon said.
But Lacson warned that the Senate might be accused on embarking on a “fishing expedition” with the plan of Senator Leila De Lima to conduct an inquiry on the drug killings.
He described as “baseless” the Senate inquiry that De Lima wanted to conduct to determine if the drug killings were the result of legitimate police operations or were merely being done to silence police assets who knew which policemen were corrupt.
