Aquino to sign EO creating Truth Commission this week

President Benigno Aquino III will sign the executive order creating the Truth Commission — the independent body that will investigate alleged corruption under the Arroyo administration — this week. Aquino said this Monday during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City. “Hahanapin natin ang katotohanan sa mga nangyari diumanong katiwalian noong nakaraang siyam na taon. Sa loob ng linggong ito, pipirmahan ko ang kauna-unahang executive order na nagtatalaga sa pagbuo nitong Truth Commission," he said. (We will look for the truth behind the anomalies that happened in the last nine years. This week, I will sign my first executive order, which will formalize the formation of the Truth Commission.) Retired Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. will head the panel. In his inaugural address last June 30, Aquino vowed to put a closure on the scandals that hounded the nine-year rule of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, saying “there can be no reconciliation without justice." Controversies that hounded the Arroyo administration include: