MANILA, Philippines - Malacañan asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to appoint amici curiae or “friends of the court” and to allow the conduct of oral arguments in support of a motion for reconsideration filed by the Palace to the high court's junking of Executive Order (EO) No. 1, the first issuance of President Benigno Aquino III creating the Philippine Truth Commission.
Through these motions, the executive reiterated its position in the motion for reconsideration: "the Philippine Truth Commission is vital to President Aquino's fight against corruption and a fulfillment of his campaign promise to the Filipino people."
"Respondents therefore importune this honorable court to provide the president with every possible avenue to defend the constitutionality of his very first issuance," the motions read.
"An oral argument with the assistance of amici curiae will ensure that the parties' positions are fully elucidated and would allow all questions to be answered and issues clarified before the MR [motion for reconsideration] is resolved," the motions further stated.
The Court junked EO No. 1 on December 7, 2010 on grounds that it violated the equal protection of laws.
In the motion for reconsideration filed on December 23, the Palace insisted that "the high court cannot prescribe the subject, purposes and manner" of the president's investigations even as it held that the Arroyo administration was not singled out in said issuance.
"That this honorable court struck down the EO that creates this primary mechanism to check on official abuse and betrayals of the public trust during past administrations raises fundamental constitutional questions which would require a learned, exhaustive and full blown deliberation on the bases of the decision and the motion urging this honorable court to take a thorough reevaluation of the merits of the said decision," the motions filed on Tuesday read.
