Friday, May 6, 2011
MANILA (Updated 1:53 p.m.) -- Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, whose resignation takes effect today, Friday, will face charges within days of becoming a private citizen, militant groups said Friday.
According to radio reports, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas will file the charges against Gutierrez at the Department of Justice on Monday. The groups held a rally outside the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday, Gutierrez's last day at work.
Gutierrez tendered her resignation to President Benigno Aquino III last Friday, 10 days before the Senate trial on impeachment case filed against her.
However, KMP secretary general Danilo Ramos said her resignation will not shield her from her alleged inaction on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
Ramos was one of the complainants in an impeachment case against the ombudsman, whom the House of Representatives impeached in March.
Gutierrez was perceived loyal to former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Pamalakaya plans to file charges against her for not acting on cases they filed against the former President.
In a press conference last Friday, Gutierrez said she was grateful to Arroyo for appointing her as ombudsman, but "my undivided loyalty always was to the Constitution and the Filipino people."
The six articles of impeachment earlier approved by the House of Representatives against Gutierrez were as follows: the fertilizer fund scam, the anomalous Mega Pacific deal, her failure to prosecute those involved in the Euro Generals case, the inaction on the NBN-ZTE broadband project under the Arroyo's administration, the inexcusable delay in concluding its investigation into the wrongful death of Ensign Philip Pestano, and the low conviction rate recorded in the Ombudsman's office from 2008 onwards.