Ombudsman never called us: Salonga - Malaya 10.13.2006
‘Gutierrez acting as protector of corrupt officials, greedy execs’
TWO of the complainant-groups in the voided P1.3 billion Mega Pacific poll automation deal yesterday denied claims by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez that they ignored summons to participate in a public hearing.
"We were not notified," former Senate president Jovito Salonga, chairman of Kilosbayan, said in a press conference at the Club Filipino in San Juan.
Maricor Akol, Augusto Lagman and Antonio Pastelero of the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP) said the claim of Gutierrez was full of "half-truths."
"They sent the subpoena to the wrong address. There is no doubt that there is malice," Pastelero said.
"We challenge the Ombudsman to prove that the summons was served and was stamped ‘Received’ by our office. We want to see if our people really signed the subpoena," Akol said.
Lagman said the claim summons were issued was intended to put the complainants on the defensive.
He said they were made to appear that they "ignored’ the public hearing and were resigned to whatever verdict that would come out."
"Now we have to explain why we were not able to participate. Di namin alam ang schedule nila for the hearings," he said.
Gutierrez on Tuesday said the investigative panel conducted 12 public hearings and invited the complainants, witnesses and interested parties.
"Marami pong nakinig sa civil society groups, NGOs at iba pa. Subalit hindi po dumalo, aktibong nakilahok at nagsumite ng ebidensiya ang complainants sa 12 araw ng pagdinig," she said.
Salonga accused Gutierrez of selling out the mandate of her office and condoning corruption.
"When she first joined the Ombudsman, she read the Constitution. Bad news is she forgot her duty as protector of the people. She is now acting as protector of the corrupt election officials and greedy businessmen who compose the 11-day-old Mega-Pacific Consortium," he said.
He dismissed the claim of the Ombudsman that its Oct. 2 resolution clearing all Comelec officials and private respondents of any criminal liability did not contradict the Supreme Court’s January 2004 ruling that voided the poll automation project.
"Every criminal case has civil liability. They are just looking for convenient loopholes," he said.
Salonga said the exoneration of Comelec officials was Gutierrez’s payment of gratitude to Malacañang.
"She was presidential legal counsel before she was Ombudsman. And she was a classmate of the First Gentleman. I will not go into details about how she did in the bar exams which they took together, out of mercy for Mercy (Gutierrez)," he said, drawing laughter.
Rep. Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel (PL- Akbayan) said more pressure should be applied to convince Gutierrez to resign as the anti-graft body has lost much of its credibility. "If she won’t resign, then she should be impeached" she said.
‘OFFICE ARREST’
Pastelero said the ITFP will ask the Supreme Court to place Gutierrez under "office arrest".
"We will ask the Supreme Court to throw into the garbage can the garbage resolution that the Office of the Ombudsman submitted to it. Then we will ask the High Court to confine Gutierrez in her office until she can come up with an acceptable resolution," he said.
The ITFP said the motion will be filed on Oct. 28.
The group also sought the deferment of the admission of the Oct. 2 resolution, saying this is to give way to their challenge on its validity.
In the 52-page resolution, the anti-graft body reversed its June 23, 2005 resolution that recommended the filing of impeachment complaints against Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Mehol Sadain and Florentino Tuason on the grounds of graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust and held retired Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco and Pablo Ralph Lantion liable for two counts of graft each.
Pastelero contradicted the claim of Gutierrez that the resolution did not conflict with the SC ruling.
He said the SC verdict was unequivocal when it said "Comelec and its officials concerned must bear full responsibility for the failed bidding and award, and held accountable for the electoral mess wrought by their grave abuse of discretion in the performance of their functions.’
The Ombudsman has claimed that the SC ruling dwelt only on the civil aspect while it was up to the anti-graft court to determine criminal liability.
Pastelero said that for this alleged violation of the SC directive, all officials of the Ombudsman involved in the public hearing should submit an explanation why they should not be cited for contempt of court.
UP Prof. Harry Roque and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, chief counsel for the Black and White Movement, also a complainant, warned that the decision to clear Comelec officials would put the credibility of the midterm 2007 elections in question.
"If the Comelec people are still there, what’s the use of having another election? So many lawyers are beginning to doubt if justice is still existent in this government. Sinasabi nila, ‘Panahon na para mag-isip kung kailangan nang isoli ang ating lisensya," Roque said.
"The bigger concern now is what kind of election ang haharapin natin sa Mayo sa susunod na taon," he added.
OMBUDSMAN BUDGET DEFERRED
The United Opposition deferred the passage of the P974 million proposed budget of the Office of the Ombudsman for 2007 because of the Mega Pacific issue.
The House is expected to wrap up the deliberations and submit the proposed P1.126 trillion national budget for 2007 by midnight.
Escudero moved for the deferment after Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Lakas, Manila), who defended the Ombudsman’s proposed budget, failed to satisfy him on questions surrounding the controversial Oct. 2 resolution of the anti-graft court.
At the early part of the interpellations, Gutierrez, who was in the gallery, gave the assurance her office would speed up the investigation of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728 million fertilizer fund scam who is facing visa violation charges in the US, and of the P2 million extortion case of former justice secretary Hernando Perez.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) remains doubtful of the credibility of the election agency.
CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio said the Church believes that there is no viable, one-shot solution that will enable Comelec to restore its sagging credibility "much more with a government agency (like Ombudsman) clearing another government agency (Comelec)".
He said the problem lies with the officials. "Kung madumi yung puno, madumi din yung sanga down the line. It has to be cleaned first," he said.
COMPUTERIZED POLLS BY ‘07
The Senate approved on final reading the proposed measure to computerize the elections beginning next year.
Sen. Richard Gordon, the main author, said poll automation would be pilot tested in 12 provinces and cities each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the 2007 mid-term elections.
Full implementation will be in 2010.
Gordon said the results of the elections would be transmitted electronically from the municipalities to the provinces and to the main headquarters of the Comelec for faster and a more "secure" canvass.
Print-outs of the results of the votes would be available for comparison in cases of election fraud allegations.
The bill was filed in 2005, with committee hearings that started on Oct. 17 last year. It was sponsored on March 20 this year and was the subject of "passionate" and late-night debates the past three days.
Gordon said Comelec has proposed an initial funding of P1.2 billion for the computerization, which would be spent for the purchase of the hardware and the development of the software.
Gordon said stronger measures for supervision and oversight will be in place to ensure transparency in choosing the technology and in bidding out the contract.
Under the measure, an oversight committee composed of three each from the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Comelec would review the implementation of the law every 12 months from the last election for refinement or adjustment. – Peter Tabingo, Gerard Naval, Wendell Vigilia and Dennis Gadil
TWO of the complainant-groups in the voided P1.3 billion Mega Pacific poll automation deal yesterday denied claims by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez that they ignored summons to participate in a public hearing.
"We were not notified," former Senate president Jovito Salonga, chairman of Kilosbayan, said in a press conference at the Club Filipino in San Juan.
Maricor Akol, Augusto Lagman and Antonio Pastelero of the Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines (ITFP) said the claim of Gutierrez was full of "half-truths."
"They sent the subpoena to the wrong address. There is no doubt that there is malice," Pastelero said.
"We challenge the Ombudsman to prove that the summons was served and was stamped ‘Received’ by our office. We want to see if our people really signed the subpoena," Akol said.
Lagman said the claim summons were issued was intended to put the complainants on the defensive.
He said they were made to appear that they "ignored’ the public hearing and were resigned to whatever verdict that would come out."
"Now we have to explain why we were not able to participate. Di namin alam ang schedule nila for the hearings," he said.
Gutierrez on Tuesday said the investigative panel conducted 12 public hearings and invited the complainants, witnesses and interested parties.
"Marami pong nakinig sa civil society groups, NGOs at iba pa. Subalit hindi po dumalo, aktibong nakilahok at nagsumite ng ebidensiya ang complainants sa 12 araw ng pagdinig," she said.
Salonga accused Gutierrez of selling out the mandate of her office and condoning corruption.
"When she first joined the Ombudsman, she read the Constitution. Bad news is she forgot her duty as protector of the people. She is now acting as protector of the corrupt election officials and greedy businessmen who compose the 11-day-old Mega-Pacific Consortium," he said.
He dismissed the claim of the Ombudsman that its Oct. 2 resolution clearing all Comelec officials and private respondents of any criminal liability did not contradict the Supreme Court’s January 2004 ruling that voided the poll automation project.
"Every criminal case has civil liability. They are just looking for convenient loopholes," he said.
Salonga said the exoneration of Comelec officials was Gutierrez’s payment of gratitude to Malacañang.
"She was presidential legal counsel before she was Ombudsman. And she was a classmate of the First Gentleman. I will not go into details about how she did in the bar exams which they took together, out of mercy for Mercy (Gutierrez)," he said, drawing laughter.
Rep. Riza Hontiveros-Baraquel (PL- Akbayan) said more pressure should be applied to convince Gutierrez to resign as the anti-graft body has lost much of its credibility. "If she won’t resign, then she should be impeached" she said.
‘OFFICE ARREST’
Pastelero said the ITFP will ask the Supreme Court to place Gutierrez under "office arrest".
"We will ask the Supreme Court to throw into the garbage can the garbage resolution that the Office of the Ombudsman submitted to it. Then we will ask the High Court to confine Gutierrez in her office until she can come up with an acceptable resolution," he said.
The ITFP said the motion will be filed on Oct. 28.
The group also sought the deferment of the admission of the Oct. 2 resolution, saying this is to give way to their challenge on its validity.
In the 52-page resolution, the anti-graft body reversed its June 23, 2005 resolution that recommended the filing of impeachment complaints against Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Mehol Sadain and Florentino Tuason on the grounds of graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust and held retired Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco and Pablo Ralph Lantion liable for two counts of graft each.
Pastelero contradicted the claim of Gutierrez that the resolution did not conflict with the SC ruling.
He said the SC verdict was unequivocal when it said "Comelec and its officials concerned must bear full responsibility for the failed bidding and award, and held accountable for the electoral mess wrought by their grave abuse of discretion in the performance of their functions.’
The Ombudsman has claimed that the SC ruling dwelt only on the civil aspect while it was up to the anti-graft court to determine criminal liability.
Pastelero said that for this alleged violation of the SC directive, all officials of the Ombudsman involved in the public hearing should submit an explanation why they should not be cited for contempt of court.
UP Prof. Harry Roque and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay, chief counsel for the Black and White Movement, also a complainant, warned that the decision to clear Comelec officials would put the credibility of the midterm 2007 elections in question.
"If the Comelec people are still there, what’s the use of having another election? So many lawyers are beginning to doubt if justice is still existent in this government. Sinasabi nila, ‘Panahon na para mag-isip kung kailangan nang isoli ang ating lisensya," Roque said.
"The bigger concern now is what kind of election ang haharapin natin sa Mayo sa susunod na taon," he added.
OMBUDSMAN BUDGET DEFERRED
The United Opposition deferred the passage of the P974 million proposed budget of the Office of the Ombudsman for 2007 because of the Mega Pacific issue.
The House is expected to wrap up the deliberations and submit the proposed P1.126 trillion national budget for 2007 by midnight.
Escudero moved for the deferment after Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Lakas, Manila), who defended the Ombudsman’s proposed budget, failed to satisfy him on questions surrounding the controversial Oct. 2 resolution of the anti-graft court.
At the early part of the interpellations, Gutierrez, who was in the gallery, gave the assurance her office would speed up the investigation of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, the alleged architect of the P728 million fertilizer fund scam who is facing visa violation charges in the US, and of the P2 million extortion case of former justice secretary Hernando Perez.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) remains doubtful of the credibility of the election agency.
CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio said the Church believes that there is no viable, one-shot solution that will enable Comelec to restore its sagging credibility "much more with a government agency (like Ombudsman) clearing another government agency (Comelec)".
He said the problem lies with the officials. "Kung madumi yung puno, madumi din yung sanga down the line. It has to be cleaned first," he said.
COMPUTERIZED POLLS BY ‘07
The Senate approved on final reading the proposed measure to computerize the elections beginning next year.
Sen. Richard Gordon, the main author, said poll automation would be pilot tested in 12 provinces and cities each in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in the 2007 mid-term elections.
Full implementation will be in 2010.
Gordon said the results of the elections would be transmitted electronically from the municipalities to the provinces and to the main headquarters of the Comelec for faster and a more "secure" canvass.
Print-outs of the results of the votes would be available for comparison in cases of election fraud allegations.
The bill was filed in 2005, with committee hearings that started on Oct. 17 last year. It was sponsored on March 20 this year and was the subject of "passionate" and late-night debates the past three days.
Gordon said Comelec has proposed an initial funding of P1.2 billion for the computerization, which would be spent for the purchase of the hardware and the development of the software.
Gordon said stronger measures for supervision and oversight will be in place to ensure transparency in choosing the technology and in bidding out the contract.
Under the measure, an oversight committee composed of three each from the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Comelec would review the implementation of the law every 12 months from the last election for refinement or adjustment. – Peter Tabingo, Gerard Naval, Wendell Vigilia and Dennis Gadil
posted by brodkaster43 at Lunes, Oktubre 16, 2006
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