GUTIERREZ MIGHT BE TRYING TO WEAKEN IMPEACHMENT CASE - BELMONTE
MANILA, APRIL 27, 2011 (STAR) By Delon Porcalla - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said yesterday impeached Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez might be trying to weaken the impeachment charges against her.
Belmonte told reporters that the recommendation of the Ombudsman's office for the filing of criminal charges against certain former lawmakers who are related to incumbent House members is not a retaliatory move against his chamber for its overwhelming vote to impeach Gutierrez.
"The members of the House are already out of this already, since we have voted on it. I look at it as a move to defang one of the impeachment charges, which is related to the fertilizer scam," he said.
However, the Speaker pointed out the fact that the Ombudsman's office is recommending charges against former lawmakers and agriculture officials seven years after the 2004 fertilizer scam "only proves that there was prolonged delay of action."
"I am surprised that it has taken the Ombudsman all this time to resolve this thing. The very basis of the impeachment is lack of expeditious action," he said.
He also urged Gutierrez to identify lawmakers whom her office is investigating in connection with the fertilizer scam.
"I would say, go ahead, complete their investigation and not do it in trickles so that people can speak out," Belmonte said.
Last April 15, the Ombudsman's office announced that it is recommending plunder charges against former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr., former undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante and former assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit Jr.
Charges for technical malversation of public funds were recommended for former lawmakers and former Department of Agriculture (DA) regional directors.
Members of the House team that will prosecute Gutierrez in her Senate trial said the "late" filing of fertilizer scam charges only proves inaction on the part of the Ombudsman.
Inaction on the scam tops the six impeachment charges against Gutierrez.
P-Noy never received fertilizer
At the Palace, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda called on the Office of the Ombudsman to exercise caution in naming government officials allegedly liable in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in May 2004, since no less than President Aquino had been unfairly included as among its recipients.
"I don't know if that list (of respondents for plunder) is vetted. The Ombudsman should study and scrutinize it further. Investigators should vet the names of persons, whoever they may be," Lacierda said.
He recalled that when the scandal initially broke out - where former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was accused of trying to buy the loyalty of local officials in time for the May 2004 presidential elections – then Tarlac representative Aquino and Batanes congressman Florencio Abad were both implicated.
Lacierda said it was good that the President managed to get a "certification" that he did not receive any liquid fertilizer for distribution to farmers in the congressional district of Tarlac. "It's a matter of public record," he said.
In November 2008, when Aquino was senator, The STAR tried to get his side on the issue after the Ombudsman divulged the names of the purported congressman-beneficiaries, which may have included local officials.
Aquino, whose name was also on the Ombudsman's list, said he and fellow Liberal Party member Abad, now budget secretary, were just used in the scam even if they had not even applied to avail of the program.
"The problem is that we are being used as shields. Either way, the farmers will be offended. When they read it in the papers, they asked where was it. When I told them I wasn't included, they asked why I didn't avail," he said.
Aquino said they were not able to apply because they were told that the "guidelines" were still being processed, although they received reports that several congressmen already received theirs. He said they were excluded.
Aquino nevertheless managed to secure a "certification" from former agriculture secretary Arthur Yap (now a Bohol congressman) that his district was not a recipient of the fertilizer project.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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