Notice the word smear and how he has turned the issue towards the political ambitions of Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes. This is another reason to thank Binay he has exposed who Harry Roque is fighting for. None other than Harry Roque, and his Ego!
The on-going Senate smear against Binay though is not new. This is why despite the fact that the Senate’s power to conduct investigations in aid of legislation is plenary in nature, meaning that only the Senate itself can say if when its investigations are indeed pursuant to law making, the Supreme Court has recently ruled that these investigations, bereft of genuine legislative basis, is prone to abuse. This is why plenary or not, the Court has ruled that the Senate cannot investigate without a legislative purpose.
The starting point in this long line of Jurisprudence is Arnault vs Nazareno. In this case, the Supreme Court first ruled that Senate inquiries are plenary in nature and that witnesses may be cited in contempt of the Senate where they fail to appear before the investigation and when they are found to be lying before the body. Said the Court: “The power of inquiry – with process to enforce it – is an essential and appropriate auxiliary to the legislative function. A legislative body cannot legislate wisely or effectively in the absence of information respecting the conditions which the legislation is intended to affect or change; and where the legislative body does not itself possess the requisite information—which is not infrequently true—recourse must be had to others who possess it.”
Much later, during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, the Court ruled in the case of Bengzon vs. Blue Ribbon Committee that despite the plenary nature of legislative inquiries, the Senate could no longer pursue an investigation on a matter which was already pending in Court. This is because parties to the Senate investigation, when they are already charged in Court for the same subject matter being inquired upon, have the right against self-incrimination. In other words, the rationale behind the prohibition is because persons appearing in the legislative hearings may be held criminally responsible for matters, which they may state before Congress.
via Binay and the Senate inquisition « Harry Roque’s Blog.