Ombudsman Gutierrez focusing on small fry, ignoring big fish - Marcelo

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez may have filed more cases than her predecessor, Simeon Marcelo, but she has focused on the small fry and ignored the big fish or those who really need to be punished to deter graft and corruption. Marcelo told a gathering of students at the University of the Philippines College of Law Tuesday that he indeed filed fewer cases when he was Ombudsman, but said these were the more difficult ones such as those of presidential friend and former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Carlos Garcia, and officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways who built the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue. Marcelo spoke at the forum called “Insights from the Alumni," which focused on providing UP law students with career choices. But he could not escape questions about the present Ombudsman, against whom impeachment charges were filed the other day. Several legal luminaries and leaders of civil society led by former Senate President Jovito Salonga filed the complaint against Gutierrez, whom they accused of condoning corruption because of her inaction on graft cases. But Gutierrez has lashed back, threatening to file cases of libel, perjury and falsification of documents against those who have filed the impeachment case. Marcelo refused to comment on Gutierrez’s work or the case filed against her, but questions during the open forum focused on his work as Ombudsman and on rampant corruption bedeviling the Arroyo administration. Marcelo quoted Tony Kwok of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption who came to the country to help institute anti-corruption measures while he was Ombudsman: “Lagi niyang (Kwok) sinasabi, bale wala lahat ang value formation seminars, graft prevention measures unless may deterrents, at may deterrents ka lang kung may napapakulong ka na malalaking tao. If you use that as a measurement or standard, there’s still a lot of graft and corruption. Wala pang nako-convict na big fish, with the exception of former president Joseph Estrada (Kwok used to say that it is useless to have value formation seminars without deterrents, and sending a big fish to jail is a deterrent. If you use that as a measurement or standard, there has been no big fish convicted, with the exception of Joseph Estrada)." Taking Kwok’s advice to heart, the former Ombudsman said, “We tried to give emphasis on the big cases." This, even if the country still had no mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) with other countries in investigating and prosecuting corrupt officials, which made it difficult to obtain documents and other evidence needed to pursue cases of ill-gotten wealth, he said. It was only in 2004 that the Senate signed the MLAT with Hong Kong which enabled the Ombudsman to build evidence against Perez, who was accused of having accepted $2 million in bribes from former congressman Mark Jimenez, the conduit in the government’s controversial deal with the Argentine firm IMPSA (Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad Anonima). With the treaty in place, the Ombudsman was able to obtain documents from Coutts Bank in Hong Kong where businessman Ernest Escaler held an account. Jimenez supposedly wired the bribe money to Escaler’s account, which was then forwarded to the account of Ramon Arceo, Perez’s brother-in-law and Perez’s account at EFP Private Bank AG in Switzerland. One of the bases for the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez was the filing of defective information that weakened the case against Perez, who also happened to be Gutierrez’s former boss. Gutierrez was justice undersecretary at the time Perez was secretary. Marcelo said media reports have contributed to the public perception that graft and corruption was rampant. But he said he and his investigators often scanned newspapers and clipped articles on exposes about corruption because these provided them with leads. Under the Ombudsman Law of 1989, the Ombudsman need not wait for a formal complaint to act on cases of graft and corruption. It could investigate individuals and agencies on its own on the mere suspicion of wrongdoing. Marcelo resigned as Ombudsman in late 2005 due to ill health. By then, he said, he was having only three hours’ sleep every night. Marcelo graduated from the UP College of Law in 1979, and practiced law in the big mainstream law offices. He eventually became senior partner of what was then the law firm Carpio, Villaraza, Cruz Law Office and handled the firm’s Litigation Department. His skills as a litigator were put to good use when he became one of the private prosecutors in the impeachment proceedings against Estrada. Eight years since the Estrada impeachment, Marelo said, “We have the same problems, the same ills plague us, and the same tasks we set out to do remain to be done." He encouraged UP students to devote their time and talents to help the less fortunate Filipinos in need of legal aid, and told them it was their duty as scholars of the people to do so. Marcelo said he was never an activist in college, but he now considers as role models in the legal profession lawyers who provide alternative legal assistance, among them Romeo Capulong, the brothers Pablito and Arno Sanidad, former senator Wigberto Tañada, Aison Garcia and UP law professor Florin Hilbay, one of the complainants in the impeachment case against Gutierrez. (VERA Files is the work of veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.")