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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPIN ES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTA TIVES House of Representatives ComplexConstitu tion Hills, Quezon City

IN THE M ATTER OF THEIMPE ACHMENT OF MA.M ERCEDITA S NAVARR O-

GUTIERREZ AS OMBUDS MAN OFTHE PHILIPPINES, Dr. Carolina A raullo Chairper sono f BA YA N , M o .

Ma ry Jo h n M ananzan of PAGBABAGO, DaniloRamos Secretary Ge neral of Kilus ang Magbubukid ng

Pilipinas(KMP) , Atty. Edre Ol alia actingSecr etary General of NationalU n io n o f Pe op l e s La w y e r s ( N UPL), Ferdi

nand GaiteC hairperson of COURAGE, Ja mesTerry Rid on Chairpers on of League of Filipino Students (LFS)

Complainants. x------------------------------------------------- x

VERIFIE D

IMPEAC HMENT COMPLA INT

COMPLAINA NTS,

Dr. Carolina Araullo Chairperson of BAYAN, Mo. Mary John M ananzan

of PAGBABA GO, DaniloRamos Secretary Gen eral of KMP, Atty. Edre Ol alia

actingSecretary General of National Union of Peoples Lawyers (NUPL),

Ferdinand Gaite Chairperson of COURAGE, James Terry Ridon

of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), most respectfully state:

PREFATOR Y STATEMEN T
1

Public officia ls are accoun

table to the p eople, not so metimes, not often times, but at ALL times and must servethem with

utmost respo nsibility and ef ficiency. Secti on 1 of Article XI of the Constitution declares so:

Section 1. Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employeesmu st at all times be accountable to the people

, serve them with utmostresponsibili ty, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency ; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.

The Office o f the Ombuds man was crea ted by theCon stitution precisely to ensure

this.Under Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, the Office of theOmbudsman was created as

an independent office dutybound totake prompt action on complaints filed against public

officialsand ot her employees of the govern ment. By fearl essly takingact ion and by promptly

investigating and prosecuting complaintsbrou ght before it, the Office the Ombudsman is

envisioned to bethe bulwark in enforcing p ublic accounta bility among p ublicofficials.

Article XI: Accountability of Public Officers

Section 12. The Ombudsman and his Deputies, as

protectors of the people, shall act promptly on complaints filed in any form or manner against public off icials or employe

es of the Govern ment, or any subd ivision,agency or instrumentality t hereof, including governmentowned or control led corporations, and shall, in appr

opriate cases, not ify thecomplainan ts of the action taken and the result thereof.Section 1 3. The Office of t he Ombudsman s hall have the foll

owing powers, functions, and duties:

1.

Investigate on its own, or on comp laint by any pers on, any act or o mission of any p

ublic official,em ployee, office or agency, when suc h act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient .

1
1

Section 15 of the RA 6770 or the Ombudsman Law similarly provides:

Sec. 15. Powers,Functions and Duties The Ombudsman shall give priority

to complaints filedagainst high ranking government officials and/or those occupyingsuperviso ry positions xxx
2

Section 15 of t he RA 6770 or the Ombudsm an Act on thep owers and fun ctions of the Ombudsman,

carries the sa meprovision:

Sec. 15. Powers, Functions and Duties. - The Office of the Ombudsmanshall

have the following powers, functions and duties:(1) Investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person,any act or omission of any

public officer or employee, office or agency,when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper orinefficient

. (emphasis supplied)

The above is the reason why the Ombudsma n is vested withindepende nce, as well as

vast powers an d broad discret ion incarrying out its mandate of enforcing public accountability

withinthe ranks of the govern ment service. I t is expected t o take aproact ive role in roo ting out corru

ption, ineffici ency andimpro priety in gover nment, and not merely stand a s a passiverecei ver of

complaints and evidence from the public.What is the remedy if t he person char ged, such as t

heOmbudsman, with prosecuting public officials for acts or omissionswh ich appear to be

illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient is herself charged with acts which are illegal, unjust or

improper at the veryleast appear illegal, unjust, improper or a t the very leas tinefficient

? The recourse is impeachmen t under Section 2 of Article XI:

Section 2. The President, the Vi cePresident, the Me

mbers of theSupr eme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and theOmbudsman may be removed from office, on i mpeachment for

andconviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graftand corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public

trust. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided bylaw, but not by impeachment.

Ultimate Facts
Public servic e is of crucial importance t o effectivegov ernance. This is

the reason why the Ombudsman was giventhe broad powers to prosecute not only acts or

omissions that areillegal, unjust or improper but even acts or omissions that merely
3

APPEARS to be ILLEGAL OR IMPROPER. In fact, the Constitutionma ndates the

Ombudsman to prosecute acts or omissions whichconstitute s inefficiency. T he impeachme

nt of the Omb udsman, being the onlyrecou rse left, deserv es no less than the same stan dard fromCong

ress acting as an impeachmen t body. If the Ombudsman cancriminally p rosecute lowly public officials

for appearing c orrupt,unjust, i mproper or ine fficient, the O mbudsman mu st also beimpea ched for

betrayal of public trust should she be found to havecommitted the same thro ugh her acts or

omission. Aft er all,impeach ment is not even a criminal procedure which results in theimprison

ment of the respondent. It is not even a civil case wherethe respondent may be found liable

for damages. It is not even anadministrati ve complaint i n the sense tha t it results in t hebanishment

of the respondent from office since an impeachmentin the House of Representatives

does not mean the respondent isguilty of the impeachable offenses charge d. Impeaching a publicofficial

merely mean s that the Arti cles of Impea chment istrans mitted to the Senate, who, in turn, is

required to hear thecomplaint and decide whether the impeached official should

beallowed to remain in office.A decisi on of the Hous e of Represent atives impeach ingMerceditas

Gutierrez does not mean she is guilty of the offensecharged , but rather, that there is a legal and

constitutional basisfor the Senate to conduct a hearing on the complaints filed

byconcerned citizens.Presum ing that ultimate facts are necessary to be alleged inthe Impeachment

Complaint itself, the House should not requiremore than the ultimate facts

required in the filing of a criminalinform ation. In a criminal case, after a finding of probable

cause,the Prosecutor files an Information with the court for the criminal
4
Final Impeachment Complaint vs Ombudsman
Impeachment complaint vs. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez filed by leaders of various people's organizations on Aug. 3, 2010.

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Category: Business/Law > Court Filings Rating: Upload 08/27/2010 Date: Copyright: Attribution Noncommercial Tags:
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Teddy Casino This is one of two impeachment complaints vs. Ombudsman Gutierrez to ba taken up at the House Justice Committee hearing on Sept. 1. 08 / 27 / 2010

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