Lawmakers, Ombudsman face off during budget hearing

Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday finally had the chance to grill Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez on her alleged incompetence as stated in the two impeachment complaints filed against her. Gutierrez was at the Batasang Pambansa to defend the P1.109 billion proposed 2011 budget of the Office of the Ombudsman before members of the House appropriations committee. During the hearing, Akbayan Rep Walden Bello asked Gutierrez how could she ask the chamber to approve her budget when she has refused to appear before the justice committee hearing on the impeachment cases against her. “You are defying the order of the House and yet you are begging us to approve your budget. How would you justify this contradiction with your behavior?" Bello said. Gutierrez, looking unperturbed by Bello’s remark, said it is her Constitutional duty to present the budget of her department. “Mr. Chairman, it is my constitutional duty to present the budget of the Office of the Ombudsman. That is a constitutional duty that I have to do. Now the impeachment is another case. I have raised the constitutional issues before the Supreme Court and I do not want to violate the rule of sub-judice, so I will not comment on that," she said. Low conviction rate Bello then raised the issue on the low conviction rate of the Ombudsman under the helm of Gutierrez based on the records of the Sandiganbayan, which was one of the grounds in the impeachment complaint filed by former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros. On October 31, 2008, the conviction rate stood at 7 percent with 25 successful convictions in 349 cases filed. A report of the Sandiganbayan showed that in the first four months of 2010, the Ombudsman recorded a conviction rate of 12.9 percent or eight convictions in 62 cases filed. A low conviction rate indicates either poor assessment and preparation in choosing which cases to file, or sub-par handling of the actual prosecution once a case is in court. Gutierrez denied this by saying that based on their own record, they reached the 73.2 percent conviction rate which she said is highest the history of the Office of the Ombudsman. The Pestaño case Another issue raised by Bello against Gutierrez was her office’s alleged failure to speedily investigate the death of Navy Ensign Philip Pestaño, who military officials said committed suicide in September 1995 although his family believed he was murdered for supposedly knowing irregularities within the Philippine Navy. Gutierrez insisted that they are doing their best to resolve the cases filed against them. “We are resolving 35,000 cases. Isang tambak na ang naka-pending sa amin (We have a lot of pending cases). Please understand the process, please understand the plight of the personnel in the Office of the Ombudsman," she said.

Trip to Kabul Bello said he will not ask for a deferment of the budget of the Ombudsman, but “in fact my office will contribute the equivalent of $2,618.40 that is the cost of a one-way travel between Manila and Kabul so that we can send the Ombudsman to her comrades in the Taliban." Gutierrez, in what could be a sarcastic remark, said: “Thank you very much. I will go anywhere for the service of the country." Bello then went to Gutierrez's seat and handed her a green folder containing the impeachment complaint filed by Hontiveros. He said he would go to Afghanistan with the Gutierrez and made a peace sign while returning to his seat. Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao then asked Gutierrez how to get a copy of the Statement of Assets of Liabilities (SALN) of government officials from her office. The Ombudsman said they have guidelines that should be followed before they would furnish him a copy. But Bag-ao said despite following the guidelines, the Ombudsman still refuses to provide a copy of a government official’s SALN. Grounds for impeachment Aside from the dismal conviction rate, delay in the resolution of the Pestaño investigation and refusal to grant ready access to public records such as the Statement of Assets, Net Worth and Liabilities of former Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo, the other grounds cited on the impeachment complaint were: * Ombudsman’s failure to act promptly on cases filed against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, and other public officials involved in the NBN-ZTE deal; * Ombudsman’s decision to uphold the legality of the arrest and involuntary detention of Hontiveros by the Philippine National Police at the height of the 'Hello Garci' controversy; * Ombudsman’s failure to investigate the P1-million dinner for the presidential party at the Le Cirque restaurant in New York; * Ombudsman’s repeated failure to take prompt action on various cases involving Mrs. Arroyo such as the Mega-Pacific scam. Parañaque Rep Roilo Golez also asked the Ombudsman on the lifestyle check program which it started in 2006. Deputy Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni said they do not have an exact number of the cases they investigated. “There were two hotlines and we were deluged with calls," he told the committee. Earlier in the day, the House justice committee decided to push through with the impeachment complaints against Gutierrez despite the status quo ante order by the Supreme Court. Gutierrez has asked the Supreme Court to stop the House panel from hearing the impeachment complaints. She has yet to formally answer the complaints that the committee found sufficient in form and substance. - KBK, GMANews.TV