Solons prolong Desierto’s agony

Critics in the House of Representatives of embattled Ombudsman Aniano Desierto who are moving for his ouster succeeded last night in prolonging his agony.

Desierto’s detractors forced the House to postpone its widely expected vote sustaining the decision of its justice committee throwing out the first impeachment complaint against him.

Such vote will effectively "kill" the second case that is anchored on the P5.3-billion tax credit fraud exposed by Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) and which the Ombudsman has allegedly bungled deliberately.

Under its impeachment rules, the House cannot entertain any new impeachment complaint against the same impeachable official within one year from the time it took action one way or the other on a case.

In Desierto’s case, such one year-period would have started last night had the larger chamber of Congress, which has the exclusive power to initiate an impeachment process, acted on the justice committee report.

Lawyer Jose de Jesus Jr., spokesman for the Office of the Ombudsman, said in a statement it was "unfortunate" that the House failed to act on the justice committee recommendation to dismiss the first impeachment complaint against Desierto.

"But we fully respect the procedure and the rules of Congress being applied on the matter," he said.

What could be more worrisome for the beleaguered Ombudsman was the move taken last night by Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) and some "Spice Boys" colleagues to spearhead the solicitation of enough votes for the second complaint while the one-year ban is not yet in effect.

Zubiri said the tax scam fraud exposed by Moreno is more serious than the bribery allegations of lawyer Ernesto Francisco, who filed the first complaint that the justice committee wants dismissed.

He said he and some colleagues have already convinced more than 10 House members to endorse the second complaint filed by Moreno, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and representatives of several people’s organizations.