New impeach complaint filed vs Ombudsman

Two congressmen, joined by several leftist groups and people’s organizations, filed a new impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Aniano Desierto.

The case is based on the expose’ of Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) in which he accused the Ombudsman of deliberately bungling and whitewashing a P5.3-billion tax scam involving the Chingkoe group of 12 companies, and some Petron and Shell officials.

For his part, Desierto said the second complaint was intended to distract his attention from the cases of jailed former President Joseph Estrada.

In an interview, Desierto said records of the Office of the Ombudsman "will show that there is nothing wrong and irregular in the outcome of their handling of various cases."

"My consicence is clear, the records will show that nothing at all is irregular. So why should I doubt the outcome of this case?" he asked.

The congressman-complainants are Moreno himself and Satur Ocampo, a former communist leader and now one of the three representatives in the House of the leftist group Bayan Muna.

They were joined by several groups identified with the left, including Bayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Task Force Detainees, Courage, which groups militant government personnel, Akbayan, Migrante and Kadamay, an urban poor organization.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr., who earlier filed an impeachment case against Desierto, signed the new complaint.

Minutes before he, Ocampo and the other complainants filed their complaint, Moreno told a news conference that Desierto "deserves to be impeached because he has bungled his job and has bastardized and raped his office."

"I hope my colleagues will see that (in the new complaint)," he said.

Desierto has consistently denied the accusations of both Moreno and Francisco.

In the same news conference, Ocampo said the Ombudsman’s alleged bungling of the tax credit scam cases "weakens the justice system in our country."

He said Desierto has no significant track record to speak of.

He pleaded with fellow House members "to keep an open mind, look at this complaint and entertain it."

Moreno and Ocampo were among several congressmen who had endorsed Francisco’s impeachment complaint against the Ombudsman.

The House committee on justice has voted overwhelmingly to throw out the case filed by Francisco for lack of substance. The entire chamber is scheduled to vote on the committee report tomorrow.

Moreno said the House should hold in abeyance any action on the first case until the justice committee tackles and acts on the second complaint.

But Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II told reporters that the chamber will proceed with disposing of the committee report as scheduled tomorrow.

He said the House was set to take a vote on the report last Wednesday but had to postpone it to give way to Moreno’s tax scam exposé.

Like in the justice committee, congressmen, for inexplicable reasons, are expected to cross party lines to uphold the committee report that would in effect clear Desierto. – With Jose Rodel Clapano