NERI VS SENATE COMMITTEE...

FACTS
Neri, the head of NEDA, was invited by the Senate Blue Ribbin to appear in a
hearing for the alleged bribery in high executive officials. He narrated that he
informed Pres Arroyo about the bribery and she instructed him not to accept the
bribe. However, when asked what they have discussed about the NBN Project, he
refused to answer, invoking executive privilege.

ISSUE
W/N Neri can invoke executive privilege in the case

RULING
YES.

Executive privilege is not meant to personally protect the President, but is

inherent in her position to serve, ultimately, the public interest. When the
President does invoke executive privilege as regards certain information, the same
must be deemed presumptively privileged. Necessarily, it is the President who can
make the initial determination of what information is covered by the executive
privilege because only she and the executive officials involved are privy to the
information. Although the President and/or her authorized executive official are
obliged to clearly state the grounds for invoking executive privilege, they are not
required to state the reasons for the claim with such particularity as to compel
the disclosure of the information which the privilege is meant to protect.
The President, through petitioner Neri, claims that the conversation between the
two of them as regards the NBN Project is privileged for it involves matters that
may affect diplomatic and economic relations of the country with China. These are
valid grounds rendered even more credible in light of the fact that the NBN Project
is funded by a loan extended by the Chinese Government to our Government and
awarded to ZTE, a Chinese firm.