“All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Members of Binhi ng Kapayapaan form the peace sign at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani after a march in Diliman, Quezon City, where they called for an end to war in Mindanao. –
PHOTO BY ROLLY SALVADOR
‘Impeach Gutierrez’ Salonga cites betrayal of public
trust, gross incompetence’
BY WENDELL VIGILIA
THE House was asked yesterday to impeach
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for being a "coddler of the
powerful and corrupt."
Former Senate President Jovito Salonga,
leaders of civil society groups and former government officials,
in their 33-page impeachment complaint, accused Gutierrez of
"betrayal of public trust and gross and manifest incompetence to
perform her duties."
House secretary general Marilyn Yap received
the complaint about 8:45 a.m.
OMBUDSMAN Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday
said the impeachment complaint against her was triggered purely
by politics.
"They are using misleading and false evidence
against me. I am considering charging them in court for perjury
and falsification of documents," she said in a press conference
at her office.
The Ombudsman said former Bukidnon Rep.
Nereus Acosta cooked up the impeachment complaint after she
recommended his indictment on three counts of graft in
connection with an alleged P10.5 million fund release.
SEN. Francis Escudero yesterday said
legislators with pending cases before the Office of the
Ombudsman should inhibit from the impeachment proceedings
against Merceditas Gutierrez.
Escudero said he had asked the Ombudsman for
a list of pending cases but was furnished only a list of those
filed before the Sandiganbayan.
"What I wanted was a list of those pending,
not those filed. If we get that list, then we will know who
among our colleagues have cases pending before her office, and
from there we can determine whether that person should inhibit
himself from the impeachment hearings," he said.
