Ombudsman rejects ‘resign’ calls

(Updated 2:20 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines - Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez on Tuesday rejected calls for her to step down from her post for alleged inaction on the fertilizer fund scam. “I am not resigning," Gutierrez told reporters as she arrived at the Senate to attend an informal technical briefing by the World Bank, which started Tuesday. The latest to seek her resignation was Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee that investigated the P728-million fertilizer scandal. Gordon said there exists a culture among Filipinos where those accused of corruption or inaction on graft cases display no signs of shame. Gordon said that more than 1,300 days had lapsed since Gutierrez’s office received the Senate of the 13th Congress’ report on the fertilizer fund mess, but no one has been prosecuted to date. Former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante has been accused as the alleged mastermind of the scandal. Aside from Gordon, those demanding Gutierrez’s resignation are various civil society groups and the Coalition Against Corruption, which includes the Makati Business Club (MBC. ‘Show fairness’ The advocacy group Black and White Movement, meanwhile, asked Ombudsman Gutierrez to display fairness in conducting its investigation into the scam to prove that she is not partial to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Gutierrez and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo were classmates at the Ateneo Law School. Critics have accused her of siding with the administration because the fertilizer scam was reportedly hatched to help fund President Arroyo’s campaign kitty in 2004. This was the challenge of Black and White Movement to the Ombudsman after the Senate blue ribbon committee submitted on Monday its report on the scam, radio dzBB said Tuesday. ‘Unfair’ Gutierrez denied that her office sat on recommendations to pursue anti-graft and corrupt charges against participants of the scam. In fact, she said, her office will be releasing the result of their investigation not later than the first week of March. Gutierrez, however, branded as “unfair" the accusations she slept on the case. "It's not true that we're doing nothing. In fact, we do not dismiss any case even if it was based from an anonymous complaint," Gutierrez said Monday on GMA's 24 Oras. - With Sophia M. Dedace, GMANews.TV