Gutierrez: Merciful to the oppressed or the powerful?

MANILA, Philippines - Before her ascension to the Office of the Ombudsman, Merceditas Navarro Gutierrez was appointed to plum posts under the Arroyo administration. These include serving as two-time acting Justice secretary, to fill up the seats vacated by Hernando Perez and Simeon Datumanong in 2002 and 2004, respectively. She also became chief presidential legal counsel in September 2005. In December 2005, Gutierrez, a batch-mate of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, at the Ateneo law school, became Ombudsman with a mandate to investigate erring government officials. She was the first female to head the post. On March 2, 2009, 31 civil society leaders led by former Senate president Jovito Salonga filed an impeachment complaint against Gutierrez, accusing her of turning from a “defender of the people to the coddler of untouchables," because she allegedly sat on, and mishandled several high-profile cases involving influential people. In their 33-page complaint, Salonga, private lawyers, former government officials, and other personalities from the civil society accused Gutierrez of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution. Merci… merciful to powerful? The complainants said that as defender of the people, the Ombudsman was expected to be "merciless against public servants who pursue their own interest." But with Gutierrez at the helm office “public trust has completely collapsed." "The Ombudsman - the 'Tanod-Bayan' or literally 'Protector of the People' - is expected to be merciless against public servants who pursue their own interests at the expense of the public good...unfortunately, with...Gutierrez at the helm since 1 December 2005, the public trust has completely collapsed," read the complaint. “Ombudsman Gutierrez has clearly failed the Filipino people with her inaction, mishandling, and downright dismissal of clear cases of graft and corruption, some leading to the President herself and that of her closest associates," the complaint added. The cases were the Mega Pacific and corruption issue hurled against former Elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr.; the World Bank mess involving the alleged collusion of three Filipino construction firms; the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, the extortion case against former Justice secretary Perez, and the Euro generals scandal. Attack against critics Upon learning of the complaint against her, Gutierrez immediately called for a press conference and lashed back her critics. She hurled tirades against her detractors and accused them of using politics to bring her down. Gutierrez said the Nacionalista party, where Salonga was chairman Emeritus, was getting back at her because of the graft charges her office filed against the party’s vice-president, Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta last February. The Ombudsman ordered the filing of graft charges before the Sandiganbayan against Acosta, his mother and their relative for supposedly defrauding the government of P10.5 million in public funds. Gutierrez, who said that she would not resign from her post, said she was mulling on filing counter charges against her critics. The Ombudsman picked at Soliman, known for her hued hair. “Dapat ang nilalagyan ng kulay ay ang buhok ni Dinky Soliman [Color should be added not to the performance of my duty but to the hair of Dinky Soliman]." The Ombudsman also dared Salonga to account for the loss of important documents against former President Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies in Washington when Salonga was chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) during the Aquino administration. Gutierrez said the loss of the documents resulted in the dismissal of about 90 percent of the cases filed against the late dictator and his allies. She also hit back at Akbyan party-list Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros, the endorser of the impeachment complaint. She accused Hontiveros of using the case to gain popularity for her senatorial bid in 2010. - AIE BALAGTAS SEE, GMANews.TV