Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide said the High Tribunal’s decision on the case of Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri must stand and be respected unless the Supreme Court reverses itself on a motion for reconsideration seasonably filed by an aggrieved party to the case, , a Malacañang press release said.

Davide, now the Philippine Ambassador to the United Nations, was asked about his reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Neri case in an interview with the Filipino Reporter, the biggest US-based Filipino newspaper.

In its March 25 decision, the high court stopped the Senate from arresting former National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Romulo Neri to compel him to testify on the controversial national broadband network NBN-ZTE deal.

Davide said he had read both the majority and the dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court justices on the Neri case, as well as the defense of and the criticism against the 9-6 decision coming from the various sources, the press release said.

“These exchanges of views on the decision are a healthy sign of the vibrant democracy we have in our country,” Davide said in the story from the Office of the Press Secretary.*

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