NERI: A DISHONOR TO THE UNIVERSITY

Statement of Concerned UP Faculty, REPS, Staff and Students 

March 27, 2008

The controversial and narrow decision of the Supreme Court to block
the Senate from arresting and demanding Romulo Neri to disclose details
on the President's involvement in the anomalous National Broadband Network (NBN)
deal is a massive blow against the people's clamor for truth and justice.

This decision is nothing but a blanket license from the Supreme Court itself
to cover up a crime against the people. It is nothing if not a license for
the unscrupulous, corrupt and dishonest to blatantly obstruct
the wheels of justice.

The strong objections of the six justices and the 120-page dissenting opinion
of Chief Justice Reynato Puno himself against the nine who voted to uphold
Neri's right to invoke executive privilege  shows just how contentious
and illegitimate this decision is. All the signs once again show the hand
of Malacanang in ensuring that the majority of justices it had appointed
would produce a decision favorable to it.

This has not been the first time that Malacanang has exerted its utmost
to prevent the truth from seeing the light of day. It sends out its
death squads to assassinate,make disappear and imprison those who speak
the truth while it coddles barefaced liars and accomplices like Neri.

This decision, far from being a vindication of Romulo Neri, is but
a further blot on his miserable and execrable record as one of the nation's
most mistrusted public "disservants." Neri lacks all moral high-ground
and does not possess even the barest minimum of personal integrity
necessary to lead an institution such as
the University of the Philippines.

We support and reiterate the call of the UP Diliman University Council
for Neri to resign as Chair of the Board of Regents (BOR) of
the University of the Philippines .

NERI RESIGN NOW!