Leslie Ann G. Aquino
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said yesterday he still believes in the integrity of the Supreme Court despite its decision to grant the petition of former socio-economic planning chief Romulo Neri who invoked executive privilege on his communication with President Arroyo about the botched $ 329.48-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp.
"The judgment of the SC to me is still tenable with that 9-6 vote. That’s quite a big difference and that means that there was a big hurdle or discussion on how it should go," Cruz told reporters in an interview.
The former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said he is convinced the Supreme Court made the decision so as not to compromise national security.
"Personally, I would think that the SC would not take the risk that the national security would be exposed to the public. There could be a national security issue here in this NBN-ZTE deal. I think that is also the reason for the 9-6 vote. That’s why I still admire the SC for this," said Cruz.
Gumaca, Quezon Bishop Buenaventura Famadico, for his part, urged the people to respect the Supreme Court decision.
"Let’s respect the country’s constitutional institutions, and one of them is the Supreme Court, so whatever it says we should follow because we are a law-abiding country," Famadico said in an interview with Catholic-run Radio Veritas 846.
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