‘Desierto impeach case could go either way’

Today’s crucial vote by the House justice committee on the impeachment case against Ombudsman Aniano Desierto can go either way, congressmen who have endorsed the complaint said yesterday.

"It can go either way, but I am hopeful the committee would vote for conducting full-blown hearings by finding the complaint sufficient in substance," said the principal endorser, Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental).

A finding of sufficiency in substance is not a conclusion of guilt on the part of Desierto but only means that the committee is opting for an exhaustive inquiry into the case, he said.

During that inquiry, the Ombudsman will have the opportunity to formally answer the complaint, confront his accuser and his evidence and present his own evidence, added Moreno.

The Misamis congressman was part of the 11-member House panel that prosecuted ousted President Joseph Estrada in his impeachment trial.

For his part, lawyer Ernesto Francisco, who filed the case against Desierto, said he believes that the complaint, together with voluminous attachments, "is more than sufficient to establish sufficiency in substance."

Francisco has accused the Ombudsman of bribery, violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, charges Desierto has consistently denied.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said he shared Moreno’s optimism on the outcome of today’s vote.

However, he said there are many in the justice committee who want the complaint already dismissed in this morning’s meeting instead of the panel conducting a full-blown investigation.

These members were ready to junk the case in last week’s meeting, he said.

Ocampo, together with Bayan Muna colleagues Crispin Beltran and Liza Maza, and Representatives Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte and Loretta Ann Rosales (party-list, Akbayan), have joined Moreno in endorsing the complaint.

Cebu City Rep. Clavel Martinez, also an Estrada impeachment prosecutor, has told the justice committee that she would file a separate resolution of endorsement.

Ocampo and Beltran said if the committee will throw out the complaint in today’s meeting, the endorsers and various groups supporting them will go for the vote by the entire House on the case.

"We will aim for the vote of at least one-third of all House members, or 72, to send the case to trial by the Senate," Ocampo said.

The endorsers appealed to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to prevail upon justice committee members bent on dismissing the complaint without hearings not to do so. — With reports from Romel Bagares, Sandy Araneta