Garcillano vs.
HRET
G.R. No. 170338 and G.R. No. 179275
December 23, 2008
FACTS:
SC resolved to consolidate in this case two petitions involving the "Hello Garci" recordings. The
1st petition filed by Virgilio O. Garcillano, himself, is poised at preventing the playing of the
tapes in the House of Representatives (for congressional investigation a.k.a. legislative
inquiry) and their subsequent inclusion in the committee reports and for any other purpose.
Whilst the 2nd petition, filed by Santiago Ranada and Oswaldo Agcaoili, retired justices of the
CA, seeks to prohibit and stop the conduct of the Senate inquiry on the wiretapped
conversation. Also, one of the resource persons summoned by the Senate to appear and testify
at its hearings, Maj. Lindsay Rex Sagge, moved to intervene as petitioner. Intervenor Sagge
asserts his constitutional right to due process alleging that it is violated considering that he is
summoned to attend the Senate hearings without being apprised of his rights therein through
the publication of the Senate Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation.
ISSUE: WON the Petitions should be granted.
HELD:
1st Petition Dismissed for being moot and academic. The Court noted that the recordings
were already played in the House and heard by its members. There is also the widely publicized
fact that the committee reports on the "Hello Garci" inquiry were completed and submitted to the
House in plenary by the respondent committees. Having been overtaken by these events, the
Garcillano petition has to be dismissed for being moot and academic. After all, prohibition is a
preventive remedy to restrain the doing of an act about to be done, and not intended to provide
a remedy for an act already accomplished.
2nd Petition Granted. The Senate cannot be allowed to continue with the conduct of the
questioned legislative inquiry without duly published rules of procedure, in clear derogation of
the constitutional requirement.
Section 21, Article 6 of the 1987 Constitution explicitly provides that "[t]he Senate
or the House of Representatives, or any of its respective committees may
conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules
of procedure."
Respondent Senators admit in their pleadings and even on oral argument that the Senate Rules
of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation had been published in newspapers of
general circulation only in 1995 and in 2006. With respect to the present Senate of the 14th
Congress, however, of which the term of half of its members commenced on June 30, 2007, no
effort was undertaken for the publication of these rules when they first opened their session.
Respondents justify their non-observance of the constitutionally mandated publication by
arguing that the rules have never been amended since 1995 and, despite that, they are
published in booklet form available to anyone for free, and accessible to the public at the
Senate's internet web page. However, the Court debugged this argument stating that the
absence of any amendment to the rules cannot justify the Senate's defiance of the clear and
unambiguous language of Section 21, Article 6 of the Constitution. The constitutional mandate
to publish the said rules prevails over any custom, practice or tradition followed by the Senate.
(Note: The next paragraph is the only part which is related to Evidence.)
The Respondents also invoked the provisions of R.A. No. 8792, otherwise known as the
Electronic Commerce Act of 2000, to support their claim of valid publication through the internet.
Again, SC said that it is all the more incorrect. R.A. 8792 considers an electronic data
message or an electronic document as the functional equivalent of a written document
only for evidentiary purposes. In other words, the law merely recognizes the admissibility
in evidence (for their being the original) of electronic data messages and/or electronic
documents. It does not make the internet a medium for publishing laws, rules and regulations.
Therefore, the Senate Committee could not, in violation of the Constitution, use its unpublished
rules in the legislative inquiry. Although after the Petitions were filed but before the decision is
released, the Senate published their rules in 2 newspapers of general circulation. However,
while the Court takes judicial notice of such fact, such publication does not cure the infirmity of
the inquiry sought to be prohibited by the instant petitions. Insofar as the consolidated cases are
concerned, the legislative investigation subject thereof still could not be undertaken by the
respondent Senate Committees, because no published rules governed it, in clear contravention
of the Constitution.
