AUXILIARY Bishop Pablo David of Pampanga yesterday rejected a proposed dialogue between the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and a legal team created by President Arroyo on the scrapping of Executive Order 464.

"I don’t see what is there to sit down for. Sa amin talagang malinaw naman na mahalaga na talagang i-scrap ang EO 464 totally kasi ginagamit din yun na parang camouflage para sa pagpapalabas ng totoo," said David, who is a member of the permanent council of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

He clarified his stand is not necessarily that of CBCP which recently asked Arroyo not to stand in the way of the truth with regard to corruption in government, particularly on the issue of the national broadband network (NBN) project.

The CBCP, after a 10-hour special consultative meeting February 26, also asked Arroyo to lead the country in combating corruption by removing all impediments such as Executive Order 464, which prevents government officials from testifying in various investigations without the President’s consent.

David said the CBCP’s permanent council could still discuss the proposed dialogue if a formal request is made.

Malacañang could not say if a formal request has been made but Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said someone he could not name is making arrangements with the CBCP.

He said the meeting will take place this week.

"We would like to have consultations first before actually making a recommendation to the President," he said.

The legal team is composed of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol, deputy executive secretary for legal matters Manuel Gaite, and government corporate counsel Alberto Agra.

The matters the legal team would have to discuss include the petition of acting Higher Education chair Romulo Neri before the Supreme Court which seeks to prevent him from appearing in the Senate. The case is up for oral argument today.

Despite all the talk on the abolition of EO 464, the Palace has been mum on Memorandum Circular 108, which Sen. Joker Arroyo branded as a "resurrected" version of the provisions of EO 464 that the Supreme Court had ruled as unconstitutional. The CBCP has not called for the revocation of MC 108.

EO 464 was issued by Arroyo in September 2005 after a general testified before the Senate about alleged massive cheating in Lanao in the 2004 elections.