Merci lawyers ready for impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines - With the impeachment trial expected to begin soon, lawyers of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez said yesterday that they are ready to prove that the country’s chief graft-buster should not be removed from her post.

“We have gathered, arranged, and indexed our evidence for the trial,” lawyer Anacleto Diaz told The STAR yesterday. “We shall be ready for the trial.”

Also defending Gutierrez is former Supreme Court associate justice Serafin Cuevas.

Gutierrez herself has repeatedly expressed readiness to submit herself to the process, believing that the accusations against her were baseless.

She is being accused of betraying public trust for allegedly sitting on high-profile cases like the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, which has recently been resolved.

The Office of the Ombudsman has already ordered the filing of plunder, graft and other charges against former agriculture secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo and former undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante before the Sandiganbayan.

Gutierrez expressed confidence that she will be absolved based on law and evidence by an impartial Senate whose members will not be influenced by politics, unlike members of the House of Representatives.

Admin lawmakers  back Merci’s ouster

The House, with a majority of its members backing the impeachment, is eagerly waiting for the Senate trial that would start on May 9.

Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III said the ouster of Gutierrez is one of the concrete steps in the campaign for reforms by the Aquino government.

Tañada, spokesperson of the Liberal Party (LP), said he fully supported the statements of President Aquino in seeking public backing for his campaign to remove Gutierrez.

“I agree with the statement of PNoy (Mr. Aquino’s nickname),” Tañada said. “It (eradicating corruption) should be a collective effort. One person cannot do it alone. We should match what we believe in into concrete action. One concrete step is the removal of the Ombudsman.”

Tañada is a member of the 11-man House prosecution panel that would seek Gutierrez’s conviction in her Senate trial.

However, it is possible that the trial would not push through if the beleaguered Ombudsman would resign.

Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya Jr., secretary-general of the LP and also a member of the prosecution team, said that “though there may be upcoming distractions and perceived clashes in the political arena that may seem contrary to the call of the President, such is necessary because there will never be a true democracy without justice.” Citizens Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales said she shares the President’s optimism that corruption can be dealt with as long as people and government seriously work together towards its eradication.

Senate deputy secretary lawyer Edwin Bellen said the Senate is all prepared for the impeachment trial with barely 14 days to go as the first batch of judicial robes of the senator-judges was delivered yesterday.

“As far as the secretariat preparations are concerned, I think we are all ready to provide the senator-judges with the assistance necessary,” said Bellen.  – With Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez