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Ombudsman: Closeness to GMA no basis for impeachment

By Ira Pedrasa, abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines – Embattled Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez on Monday tried to fend off criticisms hurled against her credibility, saying a new impeachment complaint to be filed against her has no basis.

For the first time in months, the government official faced the public in a press conference that was also heavily attended—and several times applauded—by her own employees.

“As of now, there is no ground for me to be impeached,” she said.

In a prepared statement, Gutierrez said “in the discharge of our official functions, we adhere to the rule of law and the constitution, and in deciding cases we rely solely on evidence uncovered or presented to our investigators or prosecutors.”

She said her alleged closeness to her former boss, then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, is not reason enough to be impeached.

Any resignation, despite pressures from the camp of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, is also thus out of the question, she said.

“I don’t think the president will pressure me. I have a term, the president knows I have a fixed term,” she said.

She admitted however that she can’t just shrug off the criticisms since it is already affecting her family.

“I know it’s part of the job. I have feelings because I am also a human being,” she said.

Gutierrez said her detractors failed to take note of her credentials, especially in her 38 years in government service “[that] I was never involved in any anomaly.”

“Ni isang sentimo, wala po ako ninakaw. Ewan ko lang po ang aking mga detractors,” she said.

Truth Commission

Amid the impeachment plans, the Office of the Ombudsman is ready to get down to work and cooperate with the Truth Commission to ferret out alleged injustices committed by the Arroyo administration, she said.

She said the office will “extend full appropriate assistance and cooperation to the Truth Commission in carrying out its mandate. I hope that some quarters stop prejudging the future actions of [former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.]…in the same way that this early, they are prejudging my actions.”

Despite the conflicts in the mandate of the Truth Commission and that of her office, Gutierrez said “we will have the same goal, that of being able to gather evidence so that when we find probable cause, we’ll be able to file the appropriate charges.”

She said her office is ready to share documents and other pieces of evidence that will be relevant to the investigations.

Inhibit

One of the issues that will be tackled by the Truth Commission is the fertilizer fund scam, a case currently being assessed by a fact-finding panel within the Office of the Ombudsman.

Gutierrez said she has already inhibited from the case, a decision she also made in another issue also involving the Arroyos–the shelved National Broadband Network project.

“Now I do not know whether I can give time to our prosecutors in the conduct of their investigation…I do not know whether the prosecutors can be given a deadline but I promise you and I have to direct them…pabilisan niyo lang po kung maaari ang pag-iimbestiga nitong scam,” she told other officials also in the room with her.

Impeachment proceedings to proceed

In a separate interview with ANC, Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao dismissed Gutierrez’s claims.

She said there is a good chance that the impeachment proceedings will become successful this time around.

“The violations committed by Ombudsman Gutierrez is present and our basis for saying that is because there is culpable violation of the Constitution and there is betrayal of public trust when she failed to prosecute the different cases,” she said.

The Constitution provides that an impeachment case can be filed anew a year after it was first filed in Congress. The last one filed was in September 2009.

She said there is already a number of lawmakers that will support the cause, even if Arroyo will be around to hamper the move.