IMPEACHED OMBUDSMAN: DARK POLITICS RULED THE DAY. I WON'T GO ON LEAVE
MANILA, MARCH 24, 2011 (ABS-CBN) By Ira Pedrasa - Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is more than ready to face the trial of her life before the Senate.
Seemingly composed after a "good" rest despite being impeached by 212 members of the House of Representatives, Gutierrez insisted "my conscience is clear. I have done nothing wrong."
She did not resist from lambasting the members of the lower House, however, saying partisan politics got the better of them. "Dark politics ruled the day," she said.
She admitted that the outcome of the marathon hearings in the lower House was "lamentable but expected."
She said she watched snippets of the 8-hour long hearings, but that her lawyers managed to monitor the whole thing.
Come May, the expected start of the proceedings in the Senate, she will be represented by lawyer volunteers led by Anacleto Diaz and former Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas.
Not fair
From the very beginning, she did not anymore expect any fair treatment from the Justice committee that sponsored the impeachment complaints before the plenary.
"Even though I felt the proceedings were being railroaded in violation of my right, I still gave the House of Representatives the benefit of the doubt that they will discard partisan politics," she said.
She added, however, that she will leave her fate to the senator-judges who will have to take their oath that they will decide based on the strength or weakness of available evidence. At least 16 senators are needed to vote for her ouster from office.
INC's role
She refused to comment on the alleged protection given by the Iglesia ni Cristo, insisting that it was the black propaganda that brought her to where she is now.
She cited, for example, the questions hurled against the plea bargain agreement that her office entered into with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.
Gutierrez said her predecessor, lawyer Simeon Marcelo, and former Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio managed to taint the spirit behind the plea deal and mislead the public into believing that it was improper.
She said the case has been tried before the public, even before a proper court, the Sandiganbayan, could rule on the matter.
'I won't go on leave'
She also stressed there will be more attacks against her person moving toward the proceedings before the Senate.
She said "they may be [thinking] that there is a need to [boot me out of office] in order that the new Ombudsman will give them favorable decisions."
Despite all these, Gutierrez reiterated she will continue working and will not take a leave of office.
"I will continue discharging my duty, the case will not be a hindrance," she stressed.
Merceditas N. Gutierrez's Road to Impeachment By templar on Mar 9, 2011 | In Philippine Politics & Governance (Source: Ombudsman's Official Website)
Merceditas N. Gutierrez is a Filipino government official and currently the Ombudswoman of the Republic of the Philippines. She heads the powerful Ombudsman Office which investigates all government officials who defy the law of conduct. She was a 2-time Justice Secretary of the Philippine Justice Department in 2002 and 2004, respectively. She assumed the Office of the Philippine Ombudsman on December 1, 2005 as the first female to head the post.
Today, the people of the Philippines is eagerly waiting for the outcome of Ombudswoman Merceditas Gutierrez?s impeachment case. Gutierrez is accused of sitting on many corruption cases against President Arroyo and her allies, like the ZTE-NBN deal, Euro Generals, fertilizer fund scandals and many more. A matter that according to the verified complaint filed against her is sufficient ground to impeach her as the country?s ombudsman.
... As a lay person, I would not delve so much into the aspect of legal arguments considering that what is written by the human hands is not supreme and absolute in its concept, content and value. Instead, I will look into how things unfold to where it is now, the road to impeachment of the current Ombudsman. We will try to analyze the defense of the Ombudsman Gutierrez in the light of so many allegations against her that give rise to the filing of the impeachment complaint.
To begin with, let it be known that this is not the first impeachment complaint filed against Ombudsman Gutierrez in fact, in March 2009, former Senate President Jovito Salonga and other civil society groups filed impeachment charges before the Philippine Congress, alleging that she mishandled cases however, the complaint was later dismissed. To some the dismissal of the said case was due to the coordinated action of the then President of the Republic Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her cohorts that comprised the majority of the House of Congress.
On July 22, 2010 a new impeachment complaint has been filed against Merceditas Gutierrez by former Representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, General Danilo Lim and Evelyn Pestano. On the basis of "illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient" handling of cases. Hence, the battle of legality begins.
Claims and Issues to be resolved :
According to Ombudsman Gutierrez that she had done nothing wrong.
In retrospect, how many cases were filed and acted by Ombudsman Merceditas N. Gutierrez against the then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her first family? What happened to the Fertilizer Scam? How about the ZTE-NBN deal? The Euro Generals? How about the Senate Committee report pertaining to bringing several accused public officials to justice?
The Justice Committee of the House of Congress is a Kangaroo Court.
The constituents represented by these Congressmen are not robots and idiots that it will not questioned the integrity of their corresponding representative when it comes to issues affecting the Filipino people. Thus, calling the Justice Committee of the House of Congress as a Kangaroo Court is like calling the Representatives constituents as Kangaroos as well. Where in fact and in truth she was given the opportunity to defend herself before the justice committee and yet she opted not to appear.
The impeachment complaint is politically motivated and subjective.
Needless to say, that Ombudswoman Merceditas Gutierrez is a political appointee of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and therefore, politically she was installed then also politically she will be removed. Her stay of more than 5 years as the country?s Ombudsman is long enough to sleep on cases that are crucial for the common Filipino people. Being an Ombudsman one must maintain integrity, diligence, self-restraint, impartiality and other virtues that nourish the Filipinos trust and confidence in running against unscrupulous public officials.
If I were the Ombudsman, I rather step down from my office as a form of my graceful exit from the institution. In this way, I will be saving the integrity of the institution where I stayed for more than 5 years and let both the two houses?Senate and Congress, to discuss other matters that are needed by the Filipino people rather than wasting their time prosecuting and proving neither my guilt nor my innocence.
As the current Ombudsman, to fight till the end is not worth it in this case. The trust and confidence of the people to the said office is no longer there right at this very moment. The ultimate thing to do is to resign and let these events be considered as things of the past.
Concede to the dictates of the Filipino people for this is the best thing to do, not only in saving oneself but the whole country in general
----------------------------------------------------------
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
----------------------------------------------------------
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------
