A few good men, gone!

The latest statement by Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio shows how all the "good" people in President Arroyo's official family are either being eased out, or forced to resign from their posts. Remember the Hyatt Ten? Their faults, they do good jobs in the positions they were placed in. We're talking about the person responsible for bringing the first ever conviction to a Philippine president for the crime of plunder. A crime he was later pardoned, eventually freed.

Villa-Ignacio claims that a group identified with Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has been making life hard for him, clipping his powers and even allowing the filing of a P26,000 estafa case against him, when all he did was to donate the said amount to some other charity with the full knowledge of the donor. And after two years, the donor decides to file a case against him. All with the goal of forcing him to resign, much like the high profile resignation of SSS chief Corazon de la Paz, another "good" appointee of the President. De la Paz is leaving behind a strong SSS, much to her credit. And now, Romulo Neri steps in. Enough said.

So many things have been going on in the Office of the Ombudsman. But the most glaring would be the lowest conviction rates the Office has ever experienced. All under the watch of Merceditas Gutierrez. Celebrated cases have been dismissed or acquitted, while trivial cases such as the P200 phone bill case, pursued and given much media mileage. This has left the Office of the Ombudsman demoralized.

According to Villa-Ignacio, the Office has become nucleated, with Gutierrez at the center of almost everything - from decision making to the issuance of travel and intelligence funds. People have been instructed to report to her directly, instead of a compartmentalized department. This alone is unprecedented, as this is a judiciary body, where you  need the most independent-minded individuals you can find. Those not afraid to go against the grain of the current administration, should the need arise. All this is gone.

You don't have to be a political analyst to see the rationale for all this. 2010. The administration is making sure that those who do not or cannot toe the line with them are booted out before the elections begin. With her popularity rating sinking to an all-historical low, she needs all the remaining friends she has in place. I'm sure there will be more of the likes of de la Paz and Villa-Ignacio, eased out or forced to resign. There are still a lot of good people out there. This administration just doesn't want them around when the games begin!