MANILA, Philippines – Minority Leader at the House of Representatives and Albay Representative Edcel Lagman reminded lawmakers seeking to impeach Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez that the plea bargain agreement the government made with a former military comptroller accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth would not bear substantial weight on the present impeachment case. “It is a virtual admission that the present complaints are weak and could not legally prosper so much so that there is need to supplement the pending complaints or file a new one,” he said.
The Senate blue ribbon committee recommended in its partial report that the Ombudsman should be impeached for entering into a deal with former military comptroller Carlos Garcia.
Lagman said Gutierrez was “not presently being impeached for her supposed role” in the agreement. If the lawmakers want to use this as another case, they have to wait until the one-year-bar-rule on the filing of another impeachment complaint lapses in August.
Davao del Sur Representative Marc Douglas Cagas, another member of the minority bloc, refused to comment on the Senate findings, but said he hoped that the Ombudsman would be accorded due process if the case would reach the Senate.
Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Phil. Daily Inquirer
