Thanks to the all-too-apparent foot-dragging of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, former DOJ chief Hernando Perez has been acquitted of two of the four ‘diluted’ crimes leveled against him for the bribes he allegedly got for approving the tainted multi-million project proposed by the Argentine firm IMPSA.
The Sandiganbayan ruled that the Ombudsman lost its authority to file the case due to a violation of the accused’s right to a speedy trial.
Then Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez had accused Perez of plunder in 2002 because Perez supposedly extorted $2 million from him so that Perez would stop forcing Mr. Jimenez to execute damaging affidavits against certain individuals in the Estrada administration.
Gutierrez did not issue a resolution ordering the filing of charges until January 2007 with the cases lowered to simply robbery and extortion.
Two other remaining cases against Perez are now almost certain to be junked.
Such has been the trademark of the current Ombudsman in its handling of serious charges against perceived administration friends.
Given this ‘sterling’ performance, it is no wonder to many that Madame Gutierrez is tipped to ‘ascend’ to the Supreme Court.
Popularity: 1% [?]
ding,
In the judiciary and in the department of justice, they do not recruit the best legal minds. They recruited people who can deliver party-lines and be subservient to their patrons or benefactors.
“The government cannot recruit the best lawyers because the best ones are already recruited by the big law firms whose compensation packages are commensurate to their potentials. Others were recruited by multinationals. The best lawyers felt that their capacity to earn is circumscribed by the pay the government positions had to offer and therefore would rather go into a private practice or become in-house counsel for big
companies for the big money. Some of the best lawyers saw the perks in government positions and took the job and become corrupt.
One cannot see the likes of the late Senator Jose W. Diokno, Senator Lorenzo Tanada, Senator Jovito Salonga, my classmates Alex Poblador and Cosme Rosell, or the younger lawyer Arno Sanidad, or for that matter, Rene Saguisag waiting in line for Regional Trial Court job.
The country sometimes was able to recruit the best legal minds that were also honest for higher positions because these lawyers saw the prestige of the positions and have the desire to be of service to the country. But most of the time, the executive department recruited judges out of patronage and the Supreme Court which filtered these aspirants was not insulated from the same closed-door horse-trading, backslapping and patronage. Thus, the country ended up staffing most of its judicial positions and positions in the department of justice with legal rejects and intellectual pygmies. This lopsided ratio of legal pygmies and giants in the government defines the quality of justice the country dispenses. If you account for the fact that these rejects are also corrupt, the problem is exponentially magnified.
To quote novelist James Baldwin: “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power is the most ferocious enemy justice can have”.
It was only when the county was younger and our people were exuding great sense of patriotism, that the best legal minds would like to serve the country by being in the judiciary. Thus we saw in those times the calibre of Justices Cayetano Arellano, Jose Abad Santos, Manuel Moran and Cesar Bengzon”. (Censuring Back the Supreme Court, p. 120).
The Ombudsman is one of our 31 impeachable officials. This one ought to have been impeached long ago.
It was reported that the former Ombudsman, Simeon Marcelo, was doing a good job of going after grafters in the Philippine government. In fact, his performance was cited by the USG, particularly by USAID and by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
Marcelo resigned at the same time when Nonong Cruz of DND, when the latter raised concerns about moves to amend RP’s constitution.
A Few Good Men resisting The Evil That Men Do?
Gents,
You come from different stations but are all spot on. My problem is these government shysters are all salaried employees of Filipino taxpayers. Whose interests do they really serve. Expletives are not enough.