House panel opens today impeachment proceedings vs Ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines – Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, chairman of the House committee on justice, assured the people that the panel would conduct an impartial proceeding as the hearing on the impeachment complaint filed against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez starts today.

“Expect a very transparent hearing,” he said. Defensor has 60 session days to finish the deliberations of the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez, who has been accused of “betrayal of public trust and gross and manifest incompetence to perform her duties.”

The committee would determine if the impeachment complaint is sufficient in form, which means that the complaint was duly verified and endorsed by a member of the House in accordance with the House Rules on Impeachment Proceedings.

Section 4, Rule III of the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings, entitled “Finding Probable Cause,” states: “The requirement of substance is met if there is a recital of facts constituting the offense charged and determinative of the jurisdiction.”

Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao of the Nationalist People’s Coalition expects the dismissal of the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez, saying it is a “political issue.”

“The impeachment will surely hurdle the first test – sufficient in form. But beyond that, the fate of the case is sealed. Dismissal. It’s a political issue,” he said.

Party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna, one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez, said the complaint is sufficient, although he is still uncertain if the members of the majority will vote for the sufficiency in substance.

“Having endorsed the impeachment complaint, we say it is sufficient in form and in substance. I can’t be sure, through, if the majority in the justice committee will vote for sufficiency in substance given its actions on previous impeachment complaints,” he said.

A newly installed party-list representative of Akbayan had also endorsed the impeachment complaint, saying it was his “first act” as a legislator.

Economist Walden Bello, the second nominee of Akbayan, took his oath before House secretary general Marilyn Yap. Bello is the seventh endorser of the complaint, aside from Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros and five other party-list lawmakers.

Hontiveros also expressed confidence that the complaint is sufficient in form and substance.

“Not only that (sufficient in form), the committee will find the complaint sufficient in substance as well.”

The Office of the Ombudsman respects Bello’s decision to endorse the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez.

In a statement, Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr. said Bello is entitled to his own decisions and beliefs.

“We reserve our comments on the action of the newly sworn-in party-list rep, safe to say that everyone is entitled to act on his belief,” he said.

“As for us, there is no legal basis for the impeachment complaint and that is our firm stand,” de Jesus, as spokesman of the Office of the Ombudsman, stressed.

Gutierrez had earlier declared her readiness to face the charges being leveled against her before the House of Representatives.

“I am ready to face these baseless charges. I believe that the truth will eventually rise above petty politics,” she said.

Gutierrez and her lawyers have been talking and discussing how the impeachment complaint will be answered as soon as they are given the chance to present a defense.

In a 33-page complaint filed by the group headed by former Senate President Jovito Salonga last March 2, they accused Gutierrez of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for her alleged failure to perform her duties.