Decision on Maynilad expected, DOJ says

The Ombudsman’s decision clearing President Arroyo and two justice officials of plunder and graft charges was expected, acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said yesterday.

Gutierrez noted the respondents that include private individuals from Benpres Holdings Corp. — Maynilad’s parent company — were not asked by the Ombudsman to comment on the complaint filed by senatorial candidate Melanio Mauricio Jr. of presidential hopeful Raul Roco’s Alyansa ng Pag-asa.

In the first place, Gutierrez said it was premature to question both the government and private officials who worked on the agreement between Maynilad and the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) because it was still subject to approval by the Quezon City regional trial court.

"We really expected that the Ombudsman will drop the charges. We were not even asked to comment," the justice official said.

By "bare facts alone," she said there was no need for the respondents to comment because there was "no cause of action" against them.

"We actually don’t know where he (Mauricio) got the information to use as basis to file charges against us," Gutierrez said.

Citing lack of basis, the Ombudsman ruled there was "nothing in the records" to show Mrs. Arroyo had a hand in the deal.

Malacañang welcomed the Ombudsman’s dismissal of what it earlier described as a "nuisance suit."

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the Ombudsman was right in castigating Mauricio for filing the case against the President, who her spokesman stressed is protected by the constitutional immunity against suits while in office.

In its 20-page fact-finding report, the Ombudsman pointed out it is "basic and elementary" that for a sitting president to be removed from office, an impeachment complaint must first be initiated at the House of Representatives, which should comply with the grounds stated in the Constitution.

The Ombudsman did not find any basis in the accusations of Mauricio that Mrs. Arroyo and the other respondents deliberately refused to collect P8 billion in concession fees from Maynilad and thus are guilty of conspiring to unjustly enrich themselves to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino people.

It added Maynilad’s pending petition for rehabilitation in the sala of Quezon City RTC Branch 90 Judge Reynaldo Daway tied its hands on the matter and that issuing a cease-and-desist order will encroach upon judicial authority.

"It is a very welcome decision and it is a reiteration of the law," Bunye told the government-run Radyo ng Bayan. "It appears that the Ombudsman even lectured the one who filed this complaint as if they did not know the President is immune from suit and the only way to remove the President is by filing an impeachment complaint."— With Marichu Villanueva, Jose Rodel Clapano