MANILA, FEBRUARY 19, 2011 (STAR) By Paolo Romero - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. temporarily withheld the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez until the Supreme Court (SC) makes a final ruling on her petition to stop moves in the House of Representatives to oust her.
Belmonte's move came after the SC asked lawmakers to wait until it issues a final ruling on its decision giving the House committee on justice the go-signal to proceed in tackling the two impeachment complaints filed by militant groups against Gutierrez.
The SC warned that it might violate the court's processes if the committee, chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., resumes its hearings before the tribunal decides on the Ombudsman's motion for reconsideration.
Tupas said yesterday there is "no legal obstacle for the committee to proceed and perform its constitutional duty."
"We will require the Ombudsman next week to answer the complaint filed against her. After that, we will schedule the voting on the determination of the sufficiency of the grounds of impeachment," he said.
Belmonte, however, said the House would respect the request of the SC and the legal processes.
He noted that under the law, Gutierrez is allowed to file a motion for reconsideration before the SC.
"Of course some people may voice their impatience (to proceed with the impeachment hearings) but under my watch, we will adhere to the legal requirements and one of them is to allow the other party a certain period of time to seek a motion for reconsideration," Belmonte told a press conference.
He said that up to now a 60-day period for the House to dispose of an impeachment complaint is considered suspended when the SC issued a status quo ante order on the hearings after Gutierrez filed the petition to shield herself from the "arbitrary, capricious and whimsical exercise by the committee of its power to impeach."
Belmonte said he himself attended the arguments in the SC to express the chamber's concern over the judiciary's encroachment on the exclusive power of Congress to initiate impeachment hearings.
When asked to comment on Tupas' assertion, Belmonte said, "It (hearings) won't happen. We must finish it (SC ruling) first."
"We have already chosen calm deliberation over rashness and so forth," he said.
He said the justice panel is a big committee with 55 members, most of whom attend hearings.
"It's not something that will happen just because the chairman wants it," he said.
Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas yesterday urged Gutierrez not to delay the impeachment proceedings against her in the House by appealing the recent SC ruling that allowed her impeachment to push through.
"I am appealing to her to face the music already, unless that (filing an appeal) is part of her plan to delay the proceedings," he told the Serye Café' news forum in Quezon City.
Fariñas said Gutierrez should consider filing a motion for reconsideration "if she has new arguments."
"But I don't think she has new arguments. So what she would be presenting would just be a rehash of her original petition. It will be thrown out by the Supreme Court," he said.
Fariñas said the SC would act expeditiously on an appeal that the beleaguered Ombudsman may file.
"We have a constitutional mandate to perform," he added, referring to the impeachment power of the House of Representatives.
Fariñas is the House deputy majority leader and vice chairman of the committee on justice, where Gutierrez has pending impeachment complaints.
He said if the Ombudsman decides against filing a motion for reconsideration with the SC, the justice committee would require her to answer the two impeachment complaints filed against her.
Hearings would then be held where the complainants and the accused would be heard, he said.
"After that, we will vote whether to recommend her impeachment or not. The final decision rests with the entire House," he added.
Fariñas projected that the impeachment process would take one to two months.
He said it would require only one-third of the 280-member House to impeach Gutierrez and two-thirds of the Senate to convict her.
"This process will be finished long before she retires in November next year," he said.
Asked what happens if Gutierrez retires while there is still a pending impeachment case against her, Fariñas said, "She will not be able to get her retirement benefits." – With Jess Diaz
Belmonte: No party stand on impeach raps vs Ombudsman By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated February 19, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (7) SHARE: facebook twitter yahoo! buzz Other social networks
MANILA, Philippines – There is no party stand on the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday.
He said each member of the House of Representatives would have to decide on his own whether he would go for impeaching or ousting the beleaguered Ombudsman.
"Each member will have to decide and vote according to his or her conscience," he said.
Belmonte heads the Liberal Party-led pro administration coalition in the House.
Sources in the chamber said Gutierrez could easily be impeached if the coalition takes a stand to send the impeachment complaints against her to the Senate for trial.
Under the impeachment rules, it would take only one-third of the 280-member House, or 94 members, to refer the complaints to the Senate.
The Ombudsman's impeachment would also be hastened if President Aquino gives clear signal to his partymates and allies to work for her removal.
The President has said he wanted Gutierrez replaced so he could appoint an Ombudsman who would aggressively pursue his campaign against graft and corruption.
There are speculations that many House members would either vote against impeaching Gutierrez or abstain from voting because they or their relatives have cases pending in the Ombudsman's office.
Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, senior vice chairman of the committee on justice, has admitted that he is still facing some cases in the Ombudsman.
"But I am not worried about those cases. The fact that they have been pending since 1997 is a violation of my rights. They filed one case against me with the Sandiganbayan, and I acted as lawyer for myself and I won," he said.
For the sake of transparency, Fariñas is urging Gutierrez to publish a list of House members and their relatives with cases still pending with her office.
"Let the public be forewarned on how these members would vote on the impeachment complaints against her," he said.
The father of justice committee chair and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. is one of the former local officials who have cases in the Ombudsman's office.
Tupas is raring to aggressively pursue the impeachment of Gutierrez. He wanted to resume his committee's impeachment hearings next week, saying there was no more "legal obstacle" for the panel to do so.
But Belmonte stopped him, saying the hearings would only resume after the Supreme Court has ruled on the motion the Ombudsman plans to file to appeal the tribunal's decision allowing the House to proceed with her impeachment.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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