Filtered By: Topstories
News

Blue ribbon report vs Merci to be presented to plenary Wednesday


The blue ribbon committee report recommending the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez will be presented to the Senate during its plenary session on Wednesday, Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said. In an interview Tuesday, Guingona, the panel chairman, said he was supposed to present it the report during the day's plenary but Sen. Edgardo Angara asked him to wait for his comments. "We will of course accede to Sen. Angara. [We will present it] tomorrow (Wednesday) [instead]," he told reporters. Last week, Guingona released the partial blue ribbon committee report recommending the impeachment of Gutierrez and the dismissal and filing of charges against the state prosecutors who entered into a plea bargaining agreement with accused plunderer, former Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia. The senators who signed the report were Francis Escudero, Sergio Osmeña III, Joker Arroyo, Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Juan Miguel Zubiri, Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Pia Cayetano, Ralph Recto, Antonio Trillanes IV, Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, and Manny Villar. 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. Guingona, for his part, said the signatures of these senators will still count as a "yes" vote. He admitted, however, that they can always change their vote or come out with clarificatory statements. Incomplete? On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III said that Guingona cannot present the report to the Senate because it is still incomplete without its findings on the alleged corruption in the Armed Forces. Sotto likewise said that a committee report is not deemed final and can still be amended as long as it hasn't been approved in plenary by the Senate. Guingona said he "respects" the opinion of Sotto but stressed that if he had waited for them to finish with all the issues before coming out with a report, it might "drag on" until Congress takes a break. The break starts March 25 and ends May 9. "If I make a final report after it has been fully ventilated, we might end up (coming out with a report) at the latter part of this year. When something is overly long, it's best to cut it down into segments," he said. "It's like a pizza pie, you don't eat the whole pizza, you slice it," he added. Committee reports 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. Not an LP initiative In a related development, Guingona denied Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's allegation that the impeachment recommendation was an "initiative" of the Liberal Party (LP), of which he is a member. "I'm very sure that Sen. Miriam and I are together in seeking the truth and justice in this impeachment trial," he said. President Benigno Aquino III had earlier given LP congressmen marching orders to impeach Gutierrez. However, the LP senators denied getting similar orders since they will sit as judges during the impeachment trial. Aquino is LP national chairman. Although Guingona refused to answer whether he will inhibit from the proceedings, he assured the Ombudsman that she will get a "fair" trial from the Senate. "Definitely she will get a fair and impartial trial," he said. Sotto earlier said that the Senate is expected to begin the impeachment proceedings on the second week of May when Congress resumes session. Article XI, Section 3 of the Philippine Constitution specifically states that "no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate." Escudero, who also chairs the Senate justice committee, explained that this would mean that 16 votes are needed to impeach Gutierrez because there are 24 allocated Senate seats. — RSJ/KBK, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT