Press Release
July 28, 2008

PIMENTEL EXPLAINS WHY JELAC SHOULD BE PHASED OUT

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today asked the Senate leadership to review the creation of the Judicial, Executive, Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council (JELAC) and to consider a move to seek its phaseout.

Pimentel said the constitutional intent of making the judiciary an independent and non-partisan body could be undermined by the existence of the JELAC where the leaders of the three branches of government interact or fraternize with each other.

"To avoid embarrassment, the Senate leadership should move for the scuttling of JELAC. First, it undermines judicial independence, and second, its real nature as an instrument of majoritarian policy manipulation has emerged," he said.

The minority leader warned of attempts by unscrupulous power holders to influence or manipulate this newly-created body along the partisan agenda of the majority.

Saying that the composition of JELAC is flawed, Pimentel said the minority or opposition does not have any representation in the Council, which he said goes against a basic rule in democracy.

"The opposition has no role to play in JELAC. And even if it did, the constitutional intent of ensuring the non-partisan nature of the judicial system could be eroded by the fraternization of the heads of the Supreme Court with the heads of the executive and legislative branches," he said.

Pimentel said that while the JELAC was created to enhance coordination among the three co-equal branch of government, this can give rise to dangerous consequences in terms of exposing the officials of the judiciary to the influence of the leaders of the two political branches (executive and legislative). He said this would compromise the role of the judiciary's role in the dispensation of justice and in the resolution of legal conflicts.

"Justices and judges of our courts are supposed to be insulated from partisanship. Of course, the JELAC was intended to have better coordination among the judicial, executive and legislative branches. But the judiciary is not supposed to coordinate its activities with the political institutions of government. That should not be the case. Otherwise, you will compromise the independence of the judiciary," he said.

Pimentel said the creation of JELAC did not have the benefit of a debate in Congress because it was done by a memorandum of agreement among the heads of the three branches of government.

JELAC is composed of nine members, namely the President of the Republic, the Vice President, the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as members.

The other members of JELAC are a Cabinet member to be designated by the President, one senator and one congressman to be designated by the respective leaders of the Senate and House, and an associate justice of the Supreme Court to be designated by the Chief Justice.

The JELAC was created on May 13, 2008 "to serve as a forum and venue for representatives of the three branches of government to undertake measures on matters affecting the primacy of law, to identify the problems and issues, to formulate solutions and to implement the same."

It was established on the assumption that "the judiciary needs fiscal support and legislation for judicial reforms in order to strengthen and implement the same."

Pimentel said it is significant to note that explanation of the proponents of JELAC that this only a temporary or ad hoc body "that was created not by law but by a mere memorandum of agreement among the heads of the judicial, executive and legislative branches so that at any given time, any party to the agreement may send notice to the other parties if it desires to withdraw its participation from the Council."

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