New Ombudsman: No one can bribe me me

A deluge of questions greeted new Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday after her appointment as the country’s chief graft-buster was announced.

While her integrity is unquestioned, the public wants to know how she plans to tackle the graft cases of former and incumbent ranking officials identified with President Arroyo and other political issues that might impinge on the independence of the Ombudsman.

"I think people know that I cannot be approached on cases pending before my office. No one can approach me and bribe me and tell me that for a disposition there is an exchange," Gutierrez said.

Mrs. Arroyo named her chief legal adviser as Ombudsman despite the opposition’s concern that her closeness to the First Family could hinder her work.

Gutierrez, 56, an expert in international law and human rights, replaced respected lawyer Simeon Marcelo, who announced in September he was resigning effective yesterday due to ill health.

"Hopefully I can institute reforms and lead the cleanup in government," Gutierrez said.

The controversial cases that the new Ombudsman is expected to tackle include those against former justice secretary Hernando "Nani" Perez for bribery and Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos for an anomalous agreement on the computerization of the 2004 elections.

There is also the P728-million fertilizer fund scam at the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform. Critics allege that Mrs. Arroyo used the fund to boost her candidacy in last year’s elections.

Gutierrez stressed she could not comment on the cases yet but she would act promptly on the pending cases against high-ranking officials with the cooperation of the public and her co-workers in government.

She will begin her new assignment today as Marcelo’s resignation was effective yesterday.

Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) chairman Vincent Lazatin congratulated Gutierrez for her appointment and said that he is "looking forward to working with the new Ombudsman in forging a stronger and more independent anti-graft body."

Gutierrez previously served as justice secretary and as head of an anti-corruption body before being appointed chief legal counsel of Mrs. Arroyo in 2004.

Critics of the President have been wary of Gutierrez, noting she was a law school classmate of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and might be considered too close to the Arroyos.

Gutierrez’s appointment comes as the President fights a six-month-old campaign by the opposition to oust her based on charges that she cheated in the 2004 elections and was involved in other anomalies.

However, they could find nothing to complain about in Gutierrez’s record, as she was named as the unanimous choice of an eight-member council of prominent lawyers and judges.

She bested 13 other candidates, including Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta and Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez.

TAN, however, is requesting the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to make public the official transcripts of the interviews of the candidates, its deliberations and the criteria used for evaluating the short-listed candidates as well the scores of other candidates.

Lazatin said TAN is pursuing its advocacy for transparency and full disclosure as these are essential to good governance.

‘Test of will’

Senate President Franklin Drilon said yesterday that the will of the new Ombudsman will be tested by at least three controversial cases now pending before her office.

"I have known her to be a competent, dedicated and honest public servant. However, there are challenges ahead of her. She must show that the fight against corruption is taken seriously by this government," Drilon said.

For his part, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said that Gutierrez should focus her efforts on indicting officials involved in fraudulent contracts with the government.

In going after the so-called "big fish" in the anti-corruption campaign, Gutierrez said she was advised by her predecessor to seek the help of trusted people.

She disclosed that Marcelo told her to recruit at least 400 more personnel — investigators and prosecutors — with the increase in the Ombudsman budget.

"This will lighten my burden," Gutierrez said, emphasizing that she would want to institute reforms and change the country’s image as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia and the world.

Gutierrez finished her Bachelor of Laws degree at the Ateneo de Manila University and built a career at the Department of Justice, starting out as a legal staffer in 1983. She was promoted to state counsel, senior state counsel and then assistant chief state counsel.

She became justice undersecretary in 2001 and served as acting justice secretary in 2003 and 2004 and was later appointed chief presidential legal counsel.

Gutierrez also obtained a diploma in International Law and Development from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the Netherlands under a scholarship grant from the United Nations Development Program.

Because of her background in international law and human rights, she served as chaiwoman of the Presidential Human Rights Committee, the Special Committee for the Protection of Children and Civil and Political Rights Sector, the committee tasked to formulate rules and regulations implementing the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.

She was a member of the separate negotiating panels of the Philippines-Malaysia Maritime Tasks and the 9th Protocol of the Philippines-China Economic and Scientific Agreement.

Gutierrez was also tapped as member of the Philippines’ Reporting Team to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland and the Philippine negotiating panels that concluded extradition treaties with Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Micronesia, Korea, Hong Kong, Egypt and the United States.

A former staff of Gutierrez at the Department of Justice said that Gutierrez is the right person to head the Office of the Ombudsman.

"She rose from the ranks and we are happy that she was appointed as Ombudsman. She is a very organized person. We are giving our full support to her," Assistant Chief State Counsel Ruben Fondevilla said in an interview.

Another Assistant Chief State Counsel, Antonio Abanilla, who worked with Gutierrez for 20 years, attests to Gutierrez’s independence and competence.

"She has her own mind... Her association with Malacañang has nothing to do with her work," he said. — With Christina Mendez, Jose Rodel Clapano, AFP