The 2nd Impeachment

MANILA, Philippines -- The Office of the Ombudsman has cited a Marcos decree in declining a lawmaker’s request for an inventory of its pending cases that involve congressmen and senators.

In a letter to Akbayan partylist Representative Risa Hontiveros Baraquel, Assistant Ombudsman Dina Joy Tenala cited the rule of confidentiality extended to all accused under Section 17 of Presidential Decree No. 1630 and Section 7 of Republic Act 6713 that barred the premature release of the status of cases pending with the Ombudsman.

Tenala said the Ombudsman was constrained not to divulge information on pending cases including those in the fact finding stage to avoid preempting the resolution of the cases.

Tenala argued that Baraquel's appeal to right to information would not apply in her case because these were not public records, or documents of official transactions or raw or processed date used in formulating government policies.

Baraquel had hoped to publicize the names of the congressmen with pending cases as their participation on the impeachment case of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez would be placed under a cloud of suspicion.

Baraquel said she would raise the matter with the House committee on justice, which was scheduled to hold a hearing on the impeachment complaint filed against the Ombudsman on Wednesday.