Congress has the authority to clip the powers of the Department of Justice to ‘insulate’ it from politics amid Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s opposition to calls to curb his authority, according to Senator Francis Escudero.
There is nothing unconstitutional in this move because the Senate and the House of Representatives have the power to reorganize the government and to create offices or departments based on what it wants to accomplish, Escudero said.
Senate justice committee chairperson Richard Gordon raised the possibility of enacting a law that would remove from the justice secretary the power to review cases and transfer that authority to a retired justice of the Supreme Court.
This came after the Department of Justice downgraded the criminal charges against policemen led by Philippine National Police- Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 chief, Supt. Marvin Marcos, involved in the killing of Rolando Espinosa inside his jail, despite the allegation that it was premeditated murder.
Aguirre assailed Gordon’s proposal as “unconstitutional,” saying executive powers could not be diminished.
“I believe that it is unconstitutional. You could not diminish the power of the President as the Chief Executive. One must remember that as the alter ego of the President, I am merely acting for and in his behalf,” Aguirre said.
As this developed, Escudero said he will refile the measure that would “insulate” the country’s justice system from politics.
But instead of transferring the duty to a retired SC justice, he wants the creation of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Escudero said a bill was filed in the previous Congress, to the effect that the review or filing of cases should be transferred to the Office of the Prosecutor General, who will sit for a fixed term to be insulated from politics.
He said the intention of that bill is to remove politics from the justice system so it does not depend on the sitting DoJ secretary or president.
“Like what we witnessed in the past administrations when the enemies are being charged,” he said.
Escudero recalled during the time of former presidents Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III, their justice chiefs – the late DOJ secretary Raul Gonzalez and now Senator Leila Lima – echoed the voices of their principals.