Ombudsman opposes co-prosecutor's bid to junk Estrada pardon

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who was among those who prosecuted former President Joseph Estrada, on Friday distanced herself from Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio who had opposed the grant of executive clemency to the deposed leader. In an interview, Gutierrez said Villa-Ignacio’s move to question the legal basis for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s pardon grant to her predecessor is not a collective action by the government and private prosecutors in the case, saying this is Villa-Ignacio’s personal stand on the issue. "Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio's letter to acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera is his own personal position," Gutierrez said. In a three-page letter to acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, Villa-Ignacio on Thursday said that under Section 19, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, Estrada is disqualified from seeking pardon for his plunder conviction because he was impeached by the Lower House. Even Estrada's 70 years, he argued, has no bearing on the issue of pardon as he stressed that the 'overriding consideration for the grant of pardon has always been rehabilitative factor and remorse' on the part of the convicted offender. In the interview, Gutierrez defended the pardon grant, saying the President merely exercised special powers granted her by the Constitution. "Under the constitution, the grant of executive clemency is vested solely with the chief executive," Gutierrez said. Shortly after President’s Arroyo granted an executive clemency to Estrada, Villa-Ignacio said he could not believe President Arroyo’s decision after all the effort poured in by prosecutors in proving the plunder case against Estrada. The special prosecutor said President Arroyo’s decision merely shows the government’s lack of political will to enforce the court’s ruling to convict Estrada, and the lack of political will to fight corruption. - GMANews.TV