By Noemi M. Gonzales
BusinessWorld
THE HOUSE OF Representatives on Tuesday impeached Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez in a session that extended beyond midnight and ended six months of proceedings.
In an overwhelming vote of 212 for the impeachment, 44 against and four abstentions, the chamber affirmed at 12:13 a.m. Committee Report 1089, which contains the articles of impeachment against Ms. Gutierrez, and sending the same to the Senate for trial.
The House needed only 95 votes, or a third of its membership of 283, to oust an official who has a specific constitutional mandate, such as the Ombudsman.
Under the Constitution, the House prosecution panel now has to obtain the support of at least 16 of the 23 senators, or two-thirds of the 24-member chamber, to secure a conviction and make the Ombudsman's impeachment final and executory.
The Senate has one less member after then senator Benigno S. C. Aquino III was elected president in last year's general elections. Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, who had been jailed since his election in 2007, has been granted temporary liberty pending the approval of his amnesty application over his alleged involvement in mutinies during the Arroyo administration, while Senator Panfilo M. Lacson is expected to resurface after the Court of Appeals junked with finality murder charges and arrest warrants issued against him for allegedly masterminding a double murder case in 2000.
Senators have said they will tackle the case after the Holy Week break on March 26 to May 8.
The Arroyo family in the House -- former president now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2nd district), her sons Diosdado “Dato” of Camarines Sur (1st district) and Juan Miguel “Mikey” of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy, and brother-in-law Ignacio T. Arroyo of Negros Occidental (5th district) -- all voted against impeachment. Ms. Gutierrez has been close to the Arroyos and was a school mate of former first gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" T. Arroyo at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School.
Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla (4th district) abstained from voting as her husband, Senator Ramon “Bong” B. Revilla, Jr., will serve as judge during trial. Las Pinas City Rep. Mark A. Villar, son of Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr., also abstained on the same grounds.
Ms. Gutierrez, whose seven-year term ends in November 2012, is facing the prospect of being the first Ombudsman to be impeached.
Her trial in the Senate will be the second, following that of former president Joseph E. Estrada whose trial was cut short after his allies in the Senate decided against opening an envelope that allegedly contained evidence to pin him down on plunder charges. He was ousted after an uprising that followed, now known as EDSA 2, in January 2001.
EDSA 1 was the so-called People Power Revolution in February 1986 that ousted dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and catapulted Corazon "Cory" C. Aquino to the presidency. The late former president is the mother of the current president.
The minority bloc had attempted to delay the proceedings after its members questioned sponsors of the articles of impeachment, drawing lengthy debates that questioned the grounds for impeaching the Ombudsman.
Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman (1st district, Albay) also called for an investigation on the text message allegedly sent by Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district), chairman of the influential committee on appropriations, to congressmen which warned on the risk of voting against impeachment in exchange for losing the so-called pork barrel fund, or a stand-by authority of legislators to identify pet projects that will be undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“I ask the leadership to immediately cause the investigation of this latest assault against our institution. More than the impeachment proceedings, the preservation and protection of the independence and integrity of our chamber must be upheld and prioritized," Mr. Lagman said in a speech before the plenary.
The articles of impeachment bear the following cases:
-- failure to act on the P728-million fertilizer scandal, particularly the alleged fund diversion to finance Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential campaign in 2004;
-- failure to take action on the P1.3-billion poll automation contract in 2004, which was declared null and void by the Supreme Court;
-- refusal to prosecute so-called euro generals, or police officials who brought undeclared euros to a conference in Russia in 2007 that were intercepted upon their departure from Moscow;
-- failure to act on the $329-million National Broadband Network project with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. also involving Mrs. Arroyo and her husband;
-- delay in the investigation on the death of Navy Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño in 1995 on board a Navy ship over an alleged drug shipment discovery; and
-- low conviction rate. -- Noemi M. Gonzales
The House needed only 95 votes, or a third of its membership of 283, to oust an official who has a specific constitutional mandate, such as the Ombudsman.
Under the Constitution, the House prosecution panel now has to obtain the support of at least 16 of the 23 senators, or two-thirds of the 24-member chamber, to secure a conviction and make the Ombudsman's impeachment final and executory.
The Senate has one less member after then senator Benigno S. C. Aquino III was elected president in last year's general elections. Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV, who had been jailed since his election in 2007, has been granted temporary liberty pending the approval of his amnesty application over his alleged involvement in mutinies during the Arroyo administration, while Senator Panfilo M. Lacson is expected to resurface after the Court of Appeals junked with finality murder charges and arrest warrants issued against him for allegedly masterminding a double murder case in 2000.
Senators have said they will tackle the case after the Holy Week break on March 26 to May 8.
The Arroyo family in the House -- former president now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (2nd district), her sons Diosdado “Dato” of Camarines Sur (1st district) and Juan Miguel “Mikey” of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy, and brother-in-law Ignacio T. Arroyo of Negros Occidental (5th district) -- all voted against impeachment. Ms. Gutierrez has been close to the Arroyos and was a school mate of former first gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" T. Arroyo at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School.
Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla (4th district) abstained from voting as her husband, Senator Ramon “Bong” B. Revilla, Jr., will serve as judge during trial. Las Pinas City Rep. Mark A. Villar, son of Senator Manuel B. Villar, Jr., also abstained on the same grounds.
Ms. Gutierrez, whose seven-year term ends in November 2012, is facing the prospect of being the first Ombudsman to be impeached.
Her trial in the Senate will be the second, following that of former president Joseph E. Estrada whose trial was cut short after his allies in the Senate decided against opening an envelope that allegedly contained evidence to pin him down on plunder charges. He was ousted after an uprising that followed, now known as EDSA 2, in January 2001.
EDSA 1 was the so-called People Power Revolution in February 1986 that ousted dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and catapulted Corazon "Cory" C. Aquino to the presidency. The late former president is the mother of the current president.
The minority bloc had attempted to delay the proceedings after its members questioned sponsors of the articles of impeachment, drawing lengthy debates that questioned the grounds for impeaching the Ombudsman.
Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman (1st district, Albay) also called for an investigation on the text message allegedly sent by Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district), chairman of the influential committee on appropriations, to congressmen which warned on the risk of voting against impeachment in exchange for losing the so-called pork barrel fund, or a stand-by authority of legislators to identify pet projects that will be undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
“I ask the leadership to immediately cause the investigation of this latest assault against our institution. More than the impeachment proceedings, the preservation and protection of the independence and integrity of our chamber must be upheld and prioritized," Mr. Lagman said in a speech before the plenary.
The articles of impeachment bear the following cases:
-- failure to act on the P728-million fertilizer scandal, particularly the alleged fund diversion to finance Mrs. Arroyo’s presidential campaign in 2004;
-- failure to take action on the P1.3-billion poll automation contract in 2004, which was declared null and void by the Supreme Court;
-- refusal to prosecute so-called euro generals, or police officials who brought undeclared euros to a conference in Russia in 2007 that were intercepted upon their departure from Moscow;
-- failure to act on the $329-million National Broadband Network project with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. also involving Mrs. Arroyo and her husband;
-- delay in the investigation on the death of Navy Ensign Philip Andrew Pestaño in 1995 on board a Navy ship over an alleged drug shipment discovery; and
-- low conviction rate. -- Noemi M. Gonzales
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