House saves Ani from impeachment

The House of Representatives voted last night to grant immunity to beleaguered Ombudsman Aniano Desierto from impeachment by dismissing the first bribery- related case against him.

The dismissal of the case will mean that Desierto will be shielded from any new complaint for one year. He will retire as Ombudsman in August.

It also means that the second, more serious, tax fraud-related impeachment complaint filed by Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo is now dead in the water and will be consigned to the archives.

The first case filed by lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. accused Desierto of receiving P235,000 worth of video equipment from Bank of Southeast Asia and P500,000 in cash from bank owner Luke Roxas.

In the second complaint, Moreno claims that the Ombudsman deliberately bungled the investigation of a P5.3-billion tax credit scam to favor the accused and to the prejudice of the government.

The Ombudsman had denied all the charges.

Abstaining from last night’s vote, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said he has to keep his neutrality on the issue even if as head of the House, he has to respect the decision of the committees.

He said that despite his "acts of neutrality, I have been villified by the complainant (Francisco)."

He told his colleagues that he has consulted senators on the Desierto case and he was told that an impeachment trial would just waste the Senate’s time.

The head of the House opposition, Minority Leader Carlos Padilla (LDP, Nueva Vizcaya) voted against what he described as the "flawed" report of the justice committee recommending the dismissal of the case against Desierto.

He said the committee did not really bother to find out whether Roxas indeed bribed the respondent as alleged by the complainant.

Moreno, the Ombudsman’s principal tormentor, said "Mr. Desierto can now sleep soundly, confident that the House has granted him immunity from impeachment for anything he does until he retires."

He said that with last night’s vote, the chamber sent the message that it was toleraring a "bungling Ombudsman."

Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) said "our fight for good government does not end with the dismissal of the complaints."

Zubiri led the signature campaign for the second case with Spice Boys colleague Federico Sandoval of Malabon-Navotas and Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte.

He said he had an inkling of the imminent fate of the impeachment complaints the whole day yesterday when the signature drive did not move any further.

"We were stuck with about 40 signatures and 16 pledges," he said. They needed 73 to send the case to the Senate for trial.

In a stormy session, the House proceeded to vote on the justice committee recommendation to throw out the bribery-related case despite impassioned appeals from Moreno and his colleagues that they be allowed to ask questions about the report.

A last-minute motion by Barbers in support of the appeals was defeated.

Rep. Raul Gonzalez (NP, Iloilo), who presided over the session, and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales invoked technicalities in the rules to expedite the voting on the committee report.

Ironically, Gonzalez and Moreno were part of the House panel that prosecuted former President Joseph Estrada in the Senate impeachment trial.

Most Liberal Party members voted against the report of the justice committee and for subjecting the cases against Desierto to full-blown hearings.

Batanes Rep. Florencio Abad, LP president, said the House acted in "undue haste" in dismissing the complaints.

He said the panel "interpreted its rules liberally in favor of the respondent (Desierto) and strictly against the complainant (Francisco)."

Another LP solon, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III of Tarlac, said he found it strange that the Libanan panel gave more weight to the denial of Roxas that he bribed Desierto with P500,000 in cash than to Francisco’s "positive assertions that he saw Roxas deliver the money and that it was he (complainant) who arranged the bribery.

Solons identified with Estrada, including Didagen Dilangalen of Maguindanao and Agapito Aquino of Makati, a high school classmate of the ousted leader, voted for affirming the committee report.

It was the second time Desierto has dodged an impeachment complaint in his seven years as Ombudsman. During the time of President Fidel Ramos, when De Venecia was also speaker, the justice committee threw out a complaint against Desierto filed by then Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez.