Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday revoked a controversial Executive Order barring top government officials from testifying in Congress hearings as a gesture to sincerely tackle government irregularities that has sparked strong public outcry.
"Effective immediately, I am revoking E.O. 464. Executive officials may no longer invoke E.O. 464 to excuse non-attendance from legislative inquiries," the president said in a terse statement released by the presidential office late Wednesday afternoon.
She said executive officials are therefore instructed to abide by the constitution, existing laws and jurisprudence when invited to legislative inquiries.
Opposition senators told local television ABS-CBN News that the president abolished the controversial order for her "political survival".
Issued by the Presidential Office in 2005, the E.O. 464 was designed to protect officials from perceived abuse of the congressional inquiries. However, the order has frequently been used by key witnesses to snub Congress hearings on controversial issues which might seriously weaken the administration.
Arroyo made the decision after a closed-door meeting with several Cabinet officials and representatives of an "influential religious group" including some senior Catholic bishops in Metro Manila, local television network GMA News said.
"The decision of the President was 'welcomed warmly' by those who attended the meeting," said Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye who declined to name the religious figures attending the meeting.
Arroyo has been under fire in recent weeks as her husband and several of her Cabinet ministers were implicated in an alleged bribe scandal of a government telecommunications project.
Romulo Neri, a former economic planning chief who now chairs the country's education committee, refused to talk on Senate hearings for the sake of E.O. 464. Many politicians and common residents believed Neri's testimony would be instrumental to bringing the true picture of this telecommunications controversy to the general public.
The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines last week issued a statement calling for the abolition of E.O. 464,among other recommendations to solve the political crisis sparked by the bribe scandal.
"We strongly condemn the continuing culture of corruption from the top to the bottom of our social and political ladder," the statement said, calling President Arroyo to lead the fight againstcorruption as a condition in exchange for the Church's backing.
Source: Xinhua
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