Taxpayer Danilo Lihaylihay has previously requested the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to stop its courtroom proceedings with regards to the opening up of applications and nominations for the position of Chief Justice after the removal from office of ex-Chief Justice Renato Corona.
In the four-page letter submitted to the JBC today, Lihaylihay remarked that Corona might not be taken out from the post considering that he had been charged based on a law which has not been taken effective and valid.
Lihaylihay stated that Republic Act (RA) No. 6713, An Act Establishing a Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, the law that Renato Corona purportedly violated for non-inclusion of money deposits on his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), is invalid or unacceptable because its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) wasn't published.
Lihaylihay, who actually questioned the constitutionality of the particular Impeachment Complaint towards Corona before the high court in December, attached an official certification in the National Printing Office (NPO) on May 30, 2012 signed by Evelyn R. Perlado, Asst. Superintendent of Printing, that says:
"This is to certify that this Office (NPO) has no record of receipt, estimate, payment and publication of Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 6713... in the Official Gazette."
Lihaylihay informed the JBC that in Tanada vs. Tuvera, et al., the Supreme Court held that "all statutes, including those of local application and private laws, shall be published as a condition for their effectivity, which shall begin fifteen days after publication unless a different effectivity date is fixed by the legislature... Administrative rules and regulations must also be published if their purpose is to enforce or implement existing law..."
Lihaylihay further stated that under Article 2 of the Civil Code, "the publication of laws must be made in the Official Gazette" and that only publication in the Official Gazette is "the one required or authorized by existing law."
"Ours is a government of laws and not of men or politicians. If the majesty of justice could not be accorded to the highest and/or chief magistrate of this land, then how could the... Filipino people expect justice from our courts of laws in the Philippines?" Lihaylihay's letter read.
"It is in this direction that I am most respectfully asking that Your Honors (JBC members) stop and/or hold in abbeyance the deliberations on the replacement of the Chief Justice Renato Corona...", according to the letter.
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