‘Blackmail’ raps spook Merci
impeachment complaint

Our latest report reveals that in the last five years since she assumed office as Ombudsman, Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez has filed suit against only four members of the 15th Congress, and the father of Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., the chairman of the House Committee on Justice, according to the database of the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.

The PCIJ combed the Sandiganbayan database precisely to verify the statements of Gutierrez’s spokesperson, lawyer Salvador Panelo, that dozens of lawmakers have pending cases before the Ombudsman and seem poised to “blackmail” her into withdrawing these cases, so they would not vote for her impeachment.

Last Tuesday, Panelo said up to 50 lawmakers have pending cases before the Ombudsman, and they supposedly include the chairman and three ranking members of the House Committee on Justice that plans to submit the impeachment complaint to plenary vote on Wednesday.

Last Friday, Panelo in an interview, said the number of lawmakers with cases is an even bigger 101, but hastened to add that they include both those with pending cases at the Sandiganbayan and those who are the subjects of complaints still being investigated by the Ombudsman.

As well, Panelo clarified that his 101 figure – supposedly based on data he got from the Ombudsman – consists of both incumbent and former members of the House of Representatives.

To be sure, the Sandiganbayan database yields a far smaller number than Panelo’s tally. From March 1990 to December 2010, the Ombudsman had filed 118 cases that implicated at least 22 incumbent House members as respondents.

However, about 80 percent of these cases have since been disposed of; the 24 pending cases now involve only six members of the 15th Congress.

Of these six, only three had suits filed against them during Gutierrez’s watch, namely South Cotabato and General Santos City Rep. Pedro Acharon Jr., Samar Rep. Milagrosa Tan, and Lapu-Lapu City Rep. Arturo Radaza.

Aside from the three, Gutierrez also filed three graft cases in 2009 against only one Liberal Party stalwart, then Rep. Nereus O. Acosta of Bukidnon of the 14th Congress.

All three incumbent House members and Acosta are being accused of having violated certain provisions in Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Meanwhile, Rep. Eufranio C. Eriguel of La Union, a member of the 15th Congress, was sued by Gutierrez for alleged physical injuries in 2007. The offenses were supposedly committed while Eriguel was serving as Agoo town mayor. Both cases were dismissed in 2009.

Aside from the six House members with pending cases at the Sandiganbayan, at least three members of the Committee on Justice have relatives who are respondents in other cases that were all filed before Gutierrez became Ombudsman.

But a great majority of the cases against lawmakers past and present had been dismissed, withdrawn, archived, resulted in the acquittal of the accused, and remain pending to this day.

The Sandiganbayan database also yields an incontrovertible fact: Thus far, under Gutierrez, not a single member of Congress has been jailed for graft and other offenses he or she had committed while serving as a lawmaker.

Through this report, the PCIJ hopes to help clarify these issues, most notably the matter of charges of “blackmail” that had been exchanged between the Ombudsman and the members of the House Committee on Justice, in relation to the impeachment complaints against Gutierrez.