Senators want Ombudsman impeached over Garcia case

UPDATED 4:00 p.m. The Senate blue ribbon committee is recommending that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez be impeached for betraying public trust by entering into a plea bargaining agreement with former military comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who is facing plunder charges. "Sa tingin natin ang first recommendation namin ay ang pag-impeach laban sa Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez sapagkat sa pananaw namin si Ombudsman Gutierrez ay nagtaksil po sa pagtitiwala na ibinigay ng taumbayan sa kanya," blue ribbon committee chairman Senator Teofisto Guingona III said during a weekly forum at the Senate on Thursday. Guingona, however, said Gutierrez has the choice to resign before she is impeached. "Please spare the country of this conflict... please resign," Guingona called on Gutierrez. Aside from Gutierrez, he said the Senate panel is also recommending to President Benigno Aquino III the dismissal and filing of administrative and criminal charges against the prosecutors involved in the plea bargaining agreement, namely:

special prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit;

deputy special prosecutor Roberto Kallos;

deputy special prosecutor Jesus Micael;

assistant special prosecutor Jose Balmeo Jr., and

assistant special prosecutor Joseph Capistrano. "They have also betrayed public trust," Guingona said. According to the executive summary of the committee report, there are at least six grounds by which the Office of the Special Prosecutor betrayed public trust through "breach of official duty." The six grounds are as follows:

failure to strengthen the evidence and case buily at the time of the filing of the Information for Plunder in 2005;

failure to abide by the requisites of the Rules of Court with respect to plea bargaining agreements (specifically getting the consent of the aggrieved party);

ignoring, disregarding, and abandoning the favorable rulings made by the Sandiganbayan in its previous rulings in relation to the Garcia plunder and anti-money laundering cases;

showing inconsistent positions in their manner of prosecuting the case;

violation of Section 3 (e) and (g) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act

gross negligence in allowing Maj. Gen. Garcia to plead guilty to a lesser offense without first asking the Sandiganbayan to approve the agreement The report also said the Senate panel has asked the House of Representatives to immediately transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.
Section 2, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution states that the grounds for the removal of the Ombudsman from office are "culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust." The blue ribbon report said that aside from betraying public trust, Gutierrez is guilty of "nonfeasance" for lacking "prosecutorial zeal" in handling graft and corruption cases. "She has clearly conveniently resorted to blaming the team of the former Ombudsman for failing togather all the evidence they need in the prosecution of the Garcia case while her own team did not exercise any form of due diligence before saying that their case is weak," it said. "She allowed her prosecutors to enter into a plea bargaining agreement that is manifestly disadvantageous to the republic while they did not exhaust all the pieces of evidence available," it added. Meanwhile, Section 8 of Republic Act 6770 or the Ombudsman Act of 1989 says the special prosecutor may be removed from office by the President for any of the grounds provided for the removal of the Ombudsman. Guingona said the basis for their recommendations is that Gutierrez and the special prosecutors allegedly "weakened" the case against Garcia, allowing him to go free. Not indicative of impeachment vote The senators who signed the blue ribbon's recommendation were Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Escudero, Francis Pangilinan, Sergio Osmeña III, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Ralph Recto, Antonio Trillanes IV, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Pia Cayetano, Alan Peter Cayetano, Joker Arroyo, Loren Legarda, and Manny Villar. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, all ex-officio members, did not sign the report. However, Drilon, Escudero, Legarda, Recto, Revilla, Zubiri, Villar, and the two Cayetanos expressed reservation over the impeachment call because the impeachment proceedings are bound to end up at the Senate. However, Guingona said this does not automatically mean that the same senators will also vote for Gutierrez's impeachment currently pending before the House of Representatives. He explained that their signatures contained annotations which indicate that their signing of the report is with reservations on the case pending with the House. "She will get a fair trial," he said. "Prudence dictates that as regards the conclusions as to the liability or teh issue of accountability of impeachable officers... the assessment, findings, and conclusion should be done by the House of Representatives so that the senators will not be placed in a compromising position if and when the articles of impeachment is finally transmitted to the Senate," said Senate Minority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. On the other hand, Arroyo said that he did not participate in the proceedings as to enable him to make any kind of judgement. Under the Senate rules on procedure, committee reports are approved by a majority vote of all its members. Concurring and dissenting reports may likewise be made by the members who do not sign the majority report. The report will then be filed with the secretary of the Senate, who shall include it in the next order of business of the Senate. Once it is adopted in plenary, the report shall be forwarded to the concerned agency. In this case, Guingona said the impeachment recommendation shall be forwarded to the House of Representatives while the recommendation for the filing of criminal and administration charges to the Office of the Ombudsman. Administrative charges Senator Franklin Drilon had also earlier recommended that the state prosecutors involved in the Garcia case be slapped with administrative charges for violating the law. He said prosecutors may have violated Section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 for “causing any undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence." He added they may have also violated section 3 (g) of the RA for “entering, on behalf of the government, into any contract or transaction manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the same, whether or not the public officer profited or will profit thereby." Drilon said anyone can initiate the filing of charges against the prosecutors. Former Ombudsman Marcelo also earlier said that the state prosecutors may have intentionally bungled the Garcia case. House recommendation The House committee on justice had also earlier asked for the dismissal of Sulit and the filing of appropriate charges against deputy special prosecutors Kallos, Micael, Balmeo, and Capistrano. The committee likewise said Sulit, her deputies, and assistants also displayed "gross inexcusable negligence and dereliction of duty." Reforms Aside from the recommendation for dismissal and filing of charges, the blue ribbon committee also suggested some legislative reforms. Among these are:

passage of the Freedom of Information Act

passage of law requiring the participation of the Ombudsman, Solicitor General, and Department of Justice in plea bargaining agreements;

passage of a law that would prohibit plea bargaining agreements under the Plunder Law

passage of a law that would give the DOJ jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute administrative and criminal cases against employees of the Ombudsman

passage of a law that would amend the Anti-Money Laundering Law

passage of a law that would amend the Ombudsman Act of 1989 to make the Office of the Special Prosecutor independent from the Office of the Ombudsman - VVP/HS/RSJ, GMA News