(Photo by the Office of the Ombudsman website, a government site, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes)
According to news reports, an impeachment complaint was filed this morning against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez by well known civic and corporate leaders for betrayal of public trust for her failure to act on complaints of corruption against high-ranking government officials involving hundred of millions of pesos and the unusual and inordinate delay of her office in acting on complaints against high-ranking public officials (two to three years of not even issuing a subpoena to the respondent to appear or file an answer to a complaint filed; ordinary prosecutors and courts usually take a month or two to issue a subpoena to a respondent to appear and file an answer; in other words, she or her office is 2,400% slower than our ordinary courts or prosecutors in requiring respondents to appear or file an answer; the explanation for this is that, Jocjoc Bolante, a respondent, was out of the country for three years and if he had been served the subpoena at his last known address, the time to file an answer or to appear would have ran out, he would have been in default, and the complaint would have been resolved on the basis alone of the complaint filed and documentary evidence attached and their own investigation. In cases of default, more likely, the complaint would be deemed not controverted or not denied, i.e., a respondent or defendant has to specifically deny each allegation otherwise those would be deemed not controverted; and therefore , because it would be based on one party’s evidence alone, more likely, it would be resolved against the respondent who failed to file an answer or who was in default. Time did not run out against Jocjoc for three years. Because no subpoena was ever issued against him. For three years. Now he is is able to defend himself as if nothing happened and as if he never evaded processes. Up to now, the complaint against him is still pending.) The impeachment complaint lists a host of other cases of “incompetence” and “dereliction of duty”.
The procedure for the impeachment complaint is provided in Art. XI Sec. 3 of the Constitution.
There’s the long way and the expeditious route. The long way is: it is endorsed by a member of the House and it goes through the Committee hearings then voted upon by the Committee, etc. The expeditious route is: the complaint is signed by at least one-third of all the members of the House, the complaint then becomes the Articles of Impeachment and goes straight to the Senate for trial (as happened with Estrada in November, 2000. By the way, i saw a replay of Ombudsman Mercy’s interview and when asked whether there were any high-ranking government official that she had convicted, she took credit for the conviction of former general Garcia for perjury and former President Estrada for plunder. Maybe she had been supervising us all along during the prosecution of Estrada and i didn’t know it, maybe she is credited for it because she allowed Special Prosecutor Villaignacio to do his job then after the plunder case, supported the complaints against him; her interviews show that she supported those complaints against her own Special Prosecutor for whose work (People vs. Estrada) she took credit.)
