The 2nd Impeachment

MANILA, Philippines — Party-list lawmakers on Wednesday described the Office of the Ombudsman as “inutile” and “prostituted” with Merceditas Gutierrez at its helm, insisting she should be impeached.

“At no other time in history have we seen the Office of the Ombudsman so inutile and so prostituted to serve the ends of the morally bankrupt and corrupt Arroyo government,” Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo told the House committee on justice, which resumed hearing the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez.

“The Office of the Ombudsman joins the list of institutional mechanisms that have been debased and robbed of credibility and integrity under the Arroyo government,” Ocampo said.

The committee would determine if the complaint, filed by former Cabinet officials and civil society leaders, was sufficient in substance before it could be brought to the Senate for trial. The panel earlier voted that the case is sufficient in form.

Gutierrez was accused of failing to act on various cases, including the alleged collusion and corruption in the bidding of the World Bank-funded road projects and the voided P1.3 billion deal of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) with poll machines supplier Mega Pacific.

Ocampo said it appeared Gutierrez “was placed in her post not to be merciless as public servants who pursue their own interests at the expense of the public good. She was placed precisely to play deaf and dumb to this government’s insatiable drive for greed in raiding the public coffers.”

Ocampo was one of the 10 pro-impeachment lawmakers, all endorsers of the complaint, who made a presentation of facts for one-and-a-half hours Wednesday to show the panel that Gutierrez committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.

Akbayan party-list Representative Risa Hontiveros said Gutierrez betrayed public trust when she absolved the Comelec officials in the Mega-Pacific poll automation deal despite the decision of the Supreme Court in 2004 to scrap the contract it described as tainted with anomaly.

“It similarly mocks the faith and trust which the public has reposed in her office. This is certainly a betrayal of public trust because the Ombudsman fell short of her sacred duty to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the violations that the Supreme Court itself has determined to exist,” Hontiveros said.

“This is also betrayal of public trust because by failing to prosecute the perpetrators she failed in her duty to stop, prevent and correct any abuse or impropriety in the performance of duties of public officials as enshrined in the Constitution to which she vowed to defend in her oath of office,” she said.

Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales of the party list Citizen Battle Against Corruption said that Gutierrez committed “unpardonable inaction” on crucial cases aimed to protect the family of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño meanwhile said the Ombudsman “committed the sin of omission and is guilty of constitutional non-feasance to the damage and prejudice of our Constitution and of the Filipino people” by failing to probe and file criminal charges against those involved in the alleged anomalous projects funded by the World bank.

Walden Bello of Akbayan noted that under Section 15 of Republic Act 6770, the Ombudsman should give priority to three types of complaints: complaints filed against high ranking government officials and/or those occupying supervisory positions; complaints involving grave offenses; and complaints involving large sums of money and/ or properties.

“The Euro-Generals case is certainly one such textbook case. It squarely fits the three categories of cases, which the Ombudsman is mandated to give priority,” Bello said, referring to the police director who was caught in Moscow carrying 105,000 euros.

But he said that to date, no resolution has yet been issued by the office of Gutierrez.

Representatives Lorenzon Tanada III and Teofisto Guingona III said Gutierrez sullied the Constitution when she violated her constitutional mandate to be the protector of the people and in her transgressions in dismissing and suspending local government officials, specifically Iloilo Governor Neil Tupas and Bataan Governor Enrique Garcia.

Tanada said that in October 2008, Gutierrez approved the June 2005 recommendation of the Ombudsman in Visayas exonerating Tupas, contradicting her previous finding that the governor was guilty.

Quezon City Representative Matias Defensor, the panel chairman, set the next hearing on September 2 for the presentation of the anti-impeachment lawmakers.

In the complaint, the petitioners said Gutierrez betrayed the public trust when:

• She ignored the Supreme Court’s findings, which voided the P1.3 billion supply deal of Mega Pacific with the Commission on Elections under former chair Benjamin Abalos;

• She failed to act on the collusion and corruption reported by the World Bank in the bidding of road projects;

• She filed late and defective cases against former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez who was accused of extorting money from former representative Mark Jimenez;

• She showed "gross inexecusable inaction" on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam;

• She failed to promptly resolve the dollar smuggling case involving police generals; and

• She showed bias in dismissing and suspending local government officials specifically Iloilo Governor Neil Tupas and Bataan Governor Enrique Garcia.