JBC starts nomination for Ombudsman post

MANILA, Philippines - The selection process for the next Ombudsman is on.

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), in an announcement published in The STAR, gave interested parties a non-extendible period of 10 days or until May 16 to submit their applications and recommendations for the position left vacant by Merceditas Gutierrez, who resigned last week to avoid being subjected to an impeachment trial.

Applications and nominations may be submitted personally to the JBC office at the 2nd floor of the Centennial Bldg. of the Supreme Court in Padre Faura St., Manila or through email, [email protected], according to the advertisement.

RA 6770 (Ombudsman law) requires the Ombudsman to be “natural-born citizen of the Philippines, at least 40 years old, of recognized probity and independence, member of the Philippine Bar, and must not have been candidate for any elective national or local office in the immediately preceding election whether regular or special.”

The Ombudsman, who has a fixed term of seven years, must also have at least 10 years experience as a judge or law practitioner in the Philippines.

Even before it opened the nominations, the JBC already received a recommendation for lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. from former Pampanga governor Eddie Panlilio.

Francisco was among the complainants who had filed graft charges against former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in connection to the controversial NBN-ZTE deal.

Schedule of interview for SC aspirants

The JBC has also set interviews of candidates for the two upcoming vacancies in the Supreme Court with the impending retirement of Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo

Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales next month.

The eight-man council chaired by Chief Justice Renato Corona has scheduled the public interviews of 20 of the 33 aspirants on May 18, 19 and 20.

The candidates set for interview on May 18 are Court of Appeals Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Estela Perlas Bernabe, Apolinario Bruselas Jr. lawyer Tomas Cabili, Court of Appeals justices Stephen Cruz and Rosemarie Carandang, and Court of Tax Appeals Justice Juanito Castañeda Jr.

On May 19, the JBC will interview CA Justices Magdangal de Leon and Isaias Dicdican, law books author Francis Jardeleza, lawyer Eduardo Lizares, lawyer Sabino Padilla IV, Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiroz and CA Justice Bienvenido Reyes.

Six more bets --CA Justice Jose Reyes Jr., businessman-lawyer and bar topnotcher Rodolfo Robles, Biñan, Laguna RTC Judge Marino Rubia, human rights advocate and Free Legal Assistance Group founder Pablito Sanidad, CA Justice Noel Tijam and Deputy Court Administrator Nimfa Vilches.will face the council on May 20.

The JBC earlier interviewed 13 other aspirants for the SC posts. They are: CA presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and justices Hakim Abdulwahid, Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, Japar Dimaampao, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Portia Alino-Hormachuelos and Vicente Veloso; law professor and noted women’s right advocate Katrina Legarda, UP Law Dean Raul Pangalangan, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez, Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz, and CTA Justice Lovell Bautista.

Senate shelves impeachment trial of Gutierrez 

The Senate sent to the archives yesterday House Resolution 105 that called for the impeachment of Gutierrez for betrayal of public trust after she resigned from her post.

“While we at the Senate have already prepared for the impeachment trial for the conduct and our constitutional duties, it is impractical for us to convene the impeachment court… considering the manifestation of the prosecution,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said at the resumption of regular session. 

“So in the light of these preceding events, Mr. President, and more importantly to allow the Senate to focus on more urgent and vital legislative work, may I respectfully moved that House Resolution 105 be referred to the archives,” Sotto said

Sotto also read into the record the notification from the House of Representatives committee on justice which received Gutierrez’s resignation letter and President Aquino’s letter of acceptance. 

He quoted the letter transmitted to the Senate by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr, which read: “In view of this development, the prosecution panel of the House of Representatives respectfully submits that the impeachment trial has become moot and academic.”

With no objection from the floor, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, acting as presiding officer ruled that House Resolution 105 be referred to the archives.  

In an interview, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate could now focus on more important legislative matters including the priority bills of the President. 

“We will try to do whatever we can do… We are not going to do everything that we have to do in six years, in a day, or in a month or in a year,” Enrile said. 

He said the priority bills that will be tackled include the Anti-Trust Bill, a proposed measure seeking to reform the National Telecommunication Commission; the proposed revision to the Public Land Act, proposed Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2010, and the People’s Survival Fund bill, which seeks to amend the Climate Change Act. 

Enrile said the Senate would also consider Malacañang’s proposal to postpone the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 

He said he expects the Senate to be more productive now that Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who went into hiding for about a year in connection with the Dacer-Corbito case, has returned.

 Gutierrez not yet off the hook

But while Gutierrez may have evaded the impeachment trial, she is not spared from graft charges over alleged inaction on cases when she was still Ombudsman.

Militant groups filed charges against Gutierrez yesterday in connection with the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

The groups led by Anakpawis party-list, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) accused Gutierrez of graft, negligence of duty and obstruction of justice for the delay in the resolution of the charges against former agriculture officials involved in the fund mess.

In their 12-page complaint, the groups said the failure of Gutierrez to act promptly on the complaints is inexcusable… and constitutes violation of section 3 (e) of Republic Act 3019 and is tantamount to obstruction of justice.”

“Clearly, the respondent used the power and mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman to protect the respondents in these cases and to frustrate the ends of justice by not making them accountable for the well-documented and highly publicized fertilizer funds scam,” they said.

They said the five years that it took Ombudsman Gutierrez to resolve preliminary investigation on their complaint “constitutes inordinate delay in the administration of justice.”

They noted that Task Force Abono created by the Ombudsman itself had submitted to Gutierrez as early as July 2007, 40 reports recommending the filing of criminal and administrative complaints against public officials and private individuals found liable in the fertilizer fund scam.

“The reports and evidence gathered by the Task Force Abono, the Senate, and the Commission on Audit finding culpability on

high-ranking government officials and private individuals have long been submitted and known to Ombudsman Gutierrez as early as during the first quarter of 2006; and… failure (to act) is contrary to the Ombudsman’s duty to give priority to complaints filed against high ranking government officials and/or those occupying supervisory positions and to complaints involving grave offenses and large sums of money,” they stressed.

They asked the DOJ to indict her for violations of section 3 (e) and (f) of RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code and Presidential Decree 1829.

The fertilizer fund scam was one of the issues Gutierrez was supposed to face had the impeachment trial against her pushed through.

Shortly before she resigned, Gutierrez ordered the filing of charges against former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo, undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante and several others for the fertilizer fund scam. With Christina Mendez