Noynoy mulls sacking, impeaching Ombudsman By Aytch S. de la Cruz 07/10/2010

Noynoy mulls sacking, impeaching Ombudsman By Aytch S. de la Cruz 07/10/2010 President Aquino is determined to force Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to resign, and failing that, will either be seeking her impeachment from the House of Representatives or question her continued stay in office, on a alleged technicality of her already having served the full seven years, as she is believed by the Palace to have merely taken over after the resignation of her predecessor, Simeon Marcelo, who stayed in his post for two years. Malacañang yesterday publicly declared its intention to sack Gutierrez because she is distrusted by Aquino and his administration owing to her close association with former President Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda bared during a Palace press conference that they are looking at many options to get rid of Gutierrez, including pushing another impeachment case against her with the help of Aquino’s Liberal Party allies in the 15th Congress. But Lacierda quickly backtracked, clarifying that he is not yet prepared to categorically state that the options being weighed in  dealing with the Ombudsman are geared toward the removal of Gutierrez from office. “I’m stating it clearly that we are studying all the options. We have not decided yet on what we will do with the Ombudsman,” he said further. Lacierda also disclosed that the Palace is also looking at the possibility of bringing back the issue of Gutierrez’s questionable tenure, previously raised by Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, to motivate her to resign. He also mentioned that they might consider speaking to Gutierrez personally and politely ask her to consider dropping her post and have an early retirement instead to spare the new Aquino administration more headaches. Lacierda explained that Malacañang duly recognizes the independence of the Office of the Ombudsman and its mandate to go after erring and corrupt public officials but they doubt the integrity of its occupant based on her past decisions, part of which was Gutierrez’s decision to clear the First Couple from all the graft charges filed against them, especially on the anomalous $329-million national broadband network with the Chinese firm, ZTE... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100710hed2.html