Yearender: Ombudsman survives impeachment bid

MANILA, Philippines - Ombudsman Merceditas N. Gutierrez will still be the chief anti-graft prosecutor even after President Arroyo steps down on June 30, 2010, since her term will end in 2012.

There are already many speculations on the manner Gutierrez will handle the various graft complaints that are expected to be filed against Mrs. Arroyo, who appointed the Ombudsman, when the President loses her immunity from suit when her term as president ends next year.

The President, however, filed her certificate of candidacy for congresswoman in the second district of Pampanga that covers her hometown of Lubao.

A group led by former Senate president Jovito Salonga filed an impeachment complaint before the House of Representatives against Gutierrez but Congress, which is controlled by the allies of Mrs. Arroyo, dismissed the impeachment case last November for being “insufficient in substance.”

Critics believe that the dismissal of the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez, a classmate of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo at the Ateneo law school, showed how she also enjoys the protection of the President’s political allies.

Lawyer Harry Roque said graft cases would be filed against Mrs. Arroyo at noon of June 30, 2010.

When asked about the expected graft cases that would be filed against the President, ranking officials of the Office of the Ombudsman refused to talk about it “on the record.”

Sources, however, believe that Gutierrez will be able to work better once Mrs. Arroyo is no longer in power, even if she is elected congresswoman.

Ranking officials of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), the prosecutorial arm of the agency, said Gutierrez does not meddle with the graft cases that they handle, contrary to claims that she is “protecting” the President and members of the First Family.

“She (Gutierrez) never tries to influence the outcome of cases,” one of the special prosecutors told The STAR, insisting the allegations that the Ombudsman files weak cases at the Sandiganbayan are not true.

An OSP official said it is unfair to gauge the Ombudsman through a right minus wrong method, which means that convictions are easily wiped out by acquittals regardless of what the cases were.

NBN-ZTE still unresolved

Months after Gutierrez was slapped with an impeachment complaint, the Office of the Ombudsman came out with its resolution on the controversial national broadband network contract between the government and ZTE Corp. of China, with graft investigators recommending that charges be filed against two top government officials.

Members of the special panel tasked to investigate the $329-million NBN-ZTE deal said it found probable cause to indict former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos and Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri, who was the socio-economic planning secretary when the NBN-ZTE contract was approved.

President Arroyo’s immunity from suit exempted her even from investigation for her alleged involvement in the NBN-ZTE deal while her husband was cleared of interfering in the awarding of the contract.

Even as the investigation on the NBN-ZTE case is almost over with the filing of motions for reconsideration, several other big cases remained unresolved.

The Office of the Ombudsman is yet to reveal the results of its investigation on the fertilizer fund scam wherein former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante is being accused of diverting more than P700 million to finance Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential campaign in 2007.

The Field Investigation Office (FIO) of the Ombudsman has completed the initial investigation on the alleged anomaly in the World Bank road project, leading to the filing of graft charges against former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Florante Soriquez and 16 other officials, but the Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication and Monitoring Office (PAMO) is yet to determine if there is probable cause to indict the respondents before the Sandiganbayan.

Despite the alleged delay in big graft cases, Gutierrez claims victory for the resolution of 20,000 cases since she assumed her post in December 2005.