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Arturo M. Tolentino vs. Secretary of Finance, et al. [DISSENTING OPINION, J. CRUZ]

ARTURO M. TOLENTINO, petitioner, vs. THE SECRETARY OF FINANCE and THE COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, respondents. [DISSENTING OPINION, J. CRUZ]

G.R. No. 115455 | 1994-08-25

CRUZ, J., dissenting:

It is curious and almost incredible fact that at the hearing of these cases on July 7, 1994, the lawyers who argued for the petitioners - two of them former presidents of the Senate and the third also a member of that body - all asked this Court to look into the internal operations of their Chamber and correct the irregularities they claimed had been committed there as well as in the House of Representatives and in the bicameral conference committee.

While a member of the legislature would normally resist such intervention and invoke the doctrine of separation of powers to protect Congress from what he would call...