Move to impeach Ani gains ground

The move to impeach Ombudsman Aniano Desierto appears to be gaining ground in the House of Representatives.

Three members of the Spice Boys, the group of Lakas congressmen that initiated the impeachment process against former President Joseph Estrada in 1999, came out openly yesterday in support of the P5.3-billion tax scam-related complaint against Desierto.

The three are Representatives Juan Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon, Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte and Federico Sandoval II of Malabon-Navotas.

Zubiri told reporters that he and his colleagues have talked to more than 20 House members who are willing to join them in endorsing the second impeachment complaint against Desierto.

He said this number does not include the complainants and the initial endorsers.

"I can tell you that Mr. Desierto will continue to have sleepless nights," he said.

Supporters of the beleaguered Ombudsman, however, expressed doubts on whether Zubiri and his colleagues can still add their names to the tax fraud-related complaint as endorsers.

They said under the House impeachment rules, no additional name can be entertained either as a complainant or endorser after the filing of a complaint.

The tax scam complaint was filed by Rep. Oscar Moreno (Lakas, Misamis Oriental) and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo. It was endorsed by Liza Maza, a Bayan Muna colleague of Ocampo. Another colleague, labor leader Crispin Beltran, is expected to endorse it.

Zubiri and his group are aiming for at least 73 signatures representing one-third of all House members.

Under the impeachment rules, if a complaint is endorsed by one-third of all members, it is sent directly to the Senate for trial. This was what happened in the impeachment case against Estrada.

In a radio interview, Rep. Marcelino Libanan (NPC, Eastern Samar), who chairs the justice committee, said the Zubiri group has to solicit enough signatures before the House takes a vote on his panel’s recommendation to dismiss the first complaint against Desierto filed by lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr.

He said once the vote is taken, the one-year ban on the consideration of any new case against the same impeachable official takes effect.

That will effectively kill the second complaint, he added.

The Libanan panel has voted overwhelmingly to throw out the Francisco petition for lack of substance.

Keeping up the pressure on Desierto, Zubiri said the Ombudsman should not spare those responsible for the P5.3 billion tax credit fraud "who should be sued for plunder for their unrestrained rapacity."

"Compared to what Faustino and Gloria Chingkoe stole, Erap would look like a kindergarten school extortionist. But Erap is in detention and the Chingkoes are not," he said.

The Bukidnon congressman has obtained copies of documents on the tax scam that a presidential task force is still investigating.

Moreno has accused Desierto of deliberately bungling and whitewashing the case against the Chingkoes, a charge the Ombudsman denies.

Zubiri said between 1992 and 1998, the Chingkoe couple used fictitious companies to obtain at least P2.2 billion worth of tax credit certificates which they sold for cash to various oil, packaging and steel companies, including Petron and Shell.

He said many of the certificates were issued by the government’s One Stop Shop Tax Credit and Drawback Center even before the Chingkoes applied for them.