Prosecution terminates evidence presentation. Drops articles 1, 8, 4, 5, 6 in impeachment complaint!

The impeachment prosecution team has terminated the presentation of evidence today in the face of the supreme court decision not to allow its justices or any officers of the court to participate in the process. The supreme court said that the court has internal rules that will not allow the participation of their officials and personnel.

From the onset, the prosecution was already castigated for passing an imperfect verified complaint from congress which was seen as full of general statements and lacking in evidenciary weight. On several occasions as well, senator judges called the attention of prosecutors to come to trial prepared. Prosecutor Farinas also admitted that he did not sign the impeachment complaint because he knew it had many flaws. Two congressmen prosecutors were also found lying when they could not explain the existence of the fake PS Bank document that had caused the Senate to issue the PS Bank a subpoena. Lastly, the prosecution relied on the dissenting opinion of Justice Cereno, but was found that they had never invited her to be a witness for the prosecution. Only in the morning of Feb 28 did they actually send an official invitation.

The prosecution was hoping for the Senate to issue a subpoena to Cereno, depending on the impeachment courts power. However, Presiding Judge Enrile noted that they are conducting the trial by using the power of the court to subpoena evidence or witnesses that they should have already had prior to the trial. The Supreme Court reiterated its judicial right not to allow any of its justices, officers or employees to attend the trials.

Despite claims by the prosecution that they are ending on a strong note, this is highly suspect because of the above circumstances. What was evident was that they were relying on the impeachment court to make their case for them which some astute senator judges have already identified and uncovered.

Today, impeachment Articles 1, 8, 4, 5 and 6 were dropped by Tupas and the prosecution team where the presiding judge asked them to submit to the court an official notice that they are finally dropping these articles from the impeachment charge. This bolsters the claim that they no longer had any evidence to present.

Recent surveys saw that the people where beginning to doubt the motives of the prosecution and that the public is turning against them. This due to the despicable way they were conducting the trial and also because of the President’s evident bias. Surveys conducted by allies of the prosecution saw public sentiment turning against the prosecution and this was shown by Belmonte to the prosecution team. Likewise, the INC and interfaith rally on the 29th forced the hand of the congress leaders to shorten the presentation of the articles which they had no evidence on to begin with. Enrile ended the manifestation of the prosecution by saying: ” Are you saying that you will stand and fall on the 3 articles and what you have presented and dropping the the other 5 articles? Are you sure? You are Sure?” Tupas replied yes.

Was this just really a fishing expedition?

Banal untruth of the small lady story!

Now we are finally getting somewhere in the “small lady” story where a spurious document under question was used to subpoena banks officials in the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. It seems that a conspiracy to deceive the Filipino public was undertaken by the Prosecution panel in order to get the bank accounts opened and bring officials to court.

Big Man Congressman Rey Umali, a former customs deputy under the Arroyo Presidency, is under fire for lying to the impeachment court in saying that a small lady passed on the documents to him. Congressman Umali, who is also a Prosecutiion Panel member is being castigated publicly for the small lady lie, this after PS Bank Manager Tiongson revealed that she was visited by Congressman Bolet Banal of Quezon City and revealed the same suspect document to her and asked her assistance to verify the existence of Corona’s PS Bank Accounts.

Tiongson in her testimony stated that Banal went to the Katipunan branch of PS Bank and showed her the documents which were used by the prosecution to request for the subpoena duces tecum ad testificandumn issued to PS Bank officials. Banal for his part, an official in the prosecution impeachment secretariat, confirmed that he visited Tiongson. According Banal. a Liberal Party member since 2002, he received the fake documents when it was left in his gate.

Now, between the 2 Congressmen, the little lady lie already unravels. Congressman Umali claimed it was given to him in the Senate while Congressman Banal says it was left in his garage gate. How they will piece the 2 contradicting stories will be another tale of lies.

Here is how it may go in the succeeding days. Congressman Umali, who perfected the art of evasion in the customs bureau under GMA will claim that he met the small lady in the Prosecution Secretariat in the Senate because that is the only area where there are no CCTV Cameras, they think. They will say that Congressman Banal brought the small lady in after she finally approached Banal in person to own the documents. Meanwhile they will look for some brave soul to become the small lady. Someone who is not afraid of being prosecuted for violating the bank secrecy laws of the Philippines. She may even be a Congresswoman and claim parliamentary immunity from suit just to put a cap to this sordid affair. The Senators will not be pleased.

Deflection is already being used by the publicity managers of the prosecution by saying that because of this, the truth about the bank documents was unearthed. This is also followed up by Legal opinions from the likes of Dean Amado Valdez who is anti-Cuevas and who himself has ambitions of becoming a Justice in the Supreme Court. The President, much as he did today, will go on the attack and take the tack that the public should focus on the true issue which is corruption while the liberal party Senators continue to take up his bidding in the trial.

Word has it that because of the ineptitude of the prosecution team and magnitude of deception, they were castigated in a confidential liberal party meeting held a few days ago.

Senator Enrile meanwhile is trying to ferret out the truth by grilling the PS Bank officers on their measures of securing the bank documents of Corona. Bank President Garcia meanwhile explained that they transferred to the PS Bank main office all the related documents of Corona after the visit of Banal to its Katipunan office.

The Prosecution team led by Tupas knew something was amiss that is why they never wanted Tiongson to be their witness. Poor Girl was probably afraid she would meet the maker soon if she told the truth about the Banal visit that was why she may have been so evasive at the onset of her questioning. It was also revealed that some Liberal Senators had been pressuring George Ty, owner of Metrobank the mother company of PS Bank to reveal the documents officially prior to the trial itself.

Instead of covering up for the lies and the deceit, the President should castigate his people for undertaking such an act akin to the Watergate scandals that brought down Nixon. How can an act like this be perpetuated by law makers themselves, when they threaten, cajole and lie to the public just to follow the President’s whims.

Don’t get us wrong, we Filipinos want the truth as well. But we want it in a way that will not insult our intelligence or the moral fiber of this nation. Let the search for truth be done in a lawful manner where our constitution is respected and the rights of citizens held high.

If we let these shenanigans and deceitful acts go unpunished, if we allow our lawmakers to violate the law with utmost impunity and disregard for it, if we allow ourselves to become sheeps once again, we might just end up in another dictatorship – a fascist Presidency that controls all 3 branches of government with ultimate power to trample over our rights.

So is the small lady story true?

What is the AFP scam senate hearings all about?

Many have been wondering what the Armed Forces of the Philippines Fund Scam all about. The Congress had hearings on them, specifically on the plea bargaining deal between the Ombudsman and former AFP comptroller General Carlos Garcia and the Senate also had their own hearings which centered on General Ligot. What is the issue?

The issue is conversion. This will be threshed out later as we go on. In government, all funds are designated for a specific use and purpose. They are proposed by the different departments and then submitted to congress for approval. The consolidated budget of the government offices represent the budget for a specific year. Each Department of government, say the AFP, goes to congress to defend their budget in front of the appropriations committee where congressmen either approve the submitted budget, reduce it or sometimes increase it with some congressional insertions (projects which the congressmen proposed themselves with a specific budget).

Once a budget is approved, this is released to the AFP by the Department of Budget Management. The releases of the funds are based on a schedule and based on the purpose that it was intended for like personnel salaries, maintenance and operating expenses (for gasoline, electricity, transportation, repair etc.), capital outlay (for buying equipment or properties), intelligence funds (apart from the AFP, other Departments have these too, Projects and activities and other inputs which are called line items of the budget. If something is not in the budget, the Department cannot use the funds earmarked for specific entries for another item. To make it simple, everybody is given a wish list and are allowed to put an amount on them like apple 10 pesos, 10 pcs = 100 pesos or pencil 5 pesos x 20 pcs. = 100 pesos. When congress says ok to this, one cannot buy 11 apples or 21 pencils because the extra pencil and apple are not in the budget. Buying only 5 apples and using the remainder to buy additional pencils is also not allowed unless sufficiently justified to the DBM and an approval is given to re-align the approved budget for purposes of expediency. Now if you buy 3 oranges and 2 ballpens which are not in the budget and you used the funds for the apples and pencils to buy these, that is a form of conversion. In essence you used the funds slated for a specific item, did not buy that item as you declared in congress and used the funds for other purposes. In the case of the AFP, they used the funds that were meant for salaries, deposited them in long term accounts and used the interest as allowances of the generals. To a greater extent, funds that were intended for the modernization of the AFP to buy modern jets, faster ships and better tanks, were converted for the trips of the generals and those of whom who are the operators like Colonel George Rabusa and the whole of the J6 staff.

As indicated by newer witnesses who are part of the cabal of Rabusa, they freely admitted that this practice has been ongoing for many years and that each of those involved get a cut including the resident auditors of the Commission on Audit to a lesser degree.

This does not happen in the AFP alone. It happens in many other government offices with the exception that in the AFP, it was grossly greedy and unrepentantly initiated by so many officers and civilian personnel.

Looking into what Garcia, Ligot, Rabusa and the Euro Generals have amassed, we can say that a big part of the modernization budget, intelligence funds and UN funds were rampantly misused and converted for personal use and enrichment.

Congressmen and Senators are guilty of this conversion practice as well but these are not revealed in the press. Only the COA provides oversight for how the citizens funds are used by Congressmen and Senators as the executive branch has no oversight on the legislative branch of government. How then is conversion done in congress or the senate. It is in fact easier because of the PDAF or Pork Barrels which each congressman and Senator is entitled to every year for their own pet projects and advocacies. There are times when projects are ghost projects and the funds destined for them are used for personal means such as the purchase of cars and trips abroad or even shopping. Funds are also converted by the congressmen or senators through their own suppliers in their respective provinces. A project is declared by a congressman, funds are paid to the supplier and the supplier does not undertake the project or does not follow the standards and returns part of the funds to the congressman or the senator.

Conversion to put it simply, is corruption. This practice is replete in the Philippine government, no matter what the department or high or low the office is. That is why our ADOBO or National Progress always seem to lack an ingredient and very few of the citizens can partake of it. As one PR practitioner put it, palaging matabang (always bland) no matter who cooks it! Why? One ingredient is lacking and its funds were converted for Chicharon! Right Mr. President?

Ombudsman Merceditas sad about impeachment

In a press conference embattled Ombudsman asked for fairness in the upcoming impeachment case to be heard in the Senate. She said that the cases against her and her office are weak because they really did not look at the history and timelines of the cases. Law is a process and the Ombudsman follows this process.

Asked on the case of General Garcia, she said that the former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and Special Prosecutor Villaignacio are the ones to be faulted because they had filed a weak case. Further they misinformed President Aquino on the true nature of what was filed. A demurer was never filed. They basically misled the President into believing that the Office of the Ombudsman, the institution is graft ridden and protectors of corrupt people. The disinformation campaign launched against us led to where we are now.

Marcelo and Villa-ignacio were found to have lied by the Sandiganbayan. Hence, they had to issue their public apologies. In fact the Ombudsman under her went into the plea bargaining agreement option in order to get back something for the Philippines. Otherwise, based on the case that Marcelo filed with the Sandiganbayan, we would have lost everything.

Gutierrez did not want to comment on insinuations that Congressmen were getting back at her for the cases that have been filed against them by their constituents with the Office of the Ombudsman. She however cited that the case of former Governor Neil Tupas Sr. regarding irregularities in the construction of the Iloilo International Airport is now with the Sandiganbayan. I hope the Senate will be more fair in hearing the impeachment case.

She denied that she is the gatekeeper of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and that the Deputy Ombudsmen were not appointed by the former President. The problem lies in the process of law and our legal system because it is perceived to be slow. However, it is a system that ensures the rights of everybody and usually that takes time. She stated that anybody can come to the Ombudsman and file cases against erring officials for as long as they have enough evidence. We will help them with these cases if they have evidence. That is our duty.

On whether she watched the whole proceeding last night, she said that she only watched parts of it but her lawyers, Atty. Anacleto Diaz and former Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas watched through the 8 hours of the proceedings. However she already expected that the House Resolution would be passed because of the pressure that were put on them. On a question whether the former President called her, she just said in tagalog: “Kayo naman palaging ganyan ang tanong niyo” and answered that she did not talk to her.

I am saddened by this whole affair after having served the government for almost 40 years. At least the Senate will be fair in the hearings. At least that is my hope. Asked whether she will be going on leave during the trial, she said she did not see the need to do so.

As of this reporting, the family of the Ombudsman has experienced mixed feelings most specially in light of one of her daughters passing the bar exams.

Arroyo advises Tupas – limit cases

Senator Joker Arroyo has advised the House of Representatives to concentrate on only 2 of the strongest cases for the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. It is not the not the volume of evidence, but the quality of evidence that will count according to the Senator who led the prosecution panel in the impeachment proceedings of former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

Of the 150 Congressmen who have so far agreed on the impeachment move, 117 have pending cases with the Ombudsman. This includes Congressman Neil Tupas Jr. himself whose father, a former Governor of Iloilo has a pending case surrounding the construction of the Iloilo Airport. A lynch-mob is how one journalist described the Congressmen! They want to save their own necks by making the Ombudsman and the prosecutors disappear. They have to remember that it was not the Ombudsman who initiated the cases but private citizens from their own provinces. The Congress is set to vote in plenary on Wednesday March 16. How Can Tupas himself lead the Prosecution quipped Congressman Syjuco when he is considered tainted and biased? He will make the House of Representatives look stupid!

In the Senate, only 5 to 6 Senators are confirmed to vote against Gutierrez. These are Senator Francis Pangilinan, Senator Franklin Drillon, Blue Ribbon Committee Chair Senator Teofisto Guingona, Trillanes, Jinggoy and Miriam. Senator Enrile, Senate President has assured the Ombudsman that the Senate will be fair in hearing the impeachment case which slated to be heard in May and if Arroyo is correct will be a long drawn affair.

The President has ordered the Liberal Party to support the impeachment move. Other officials in the administration had advised the beleaguered Ombudsman to just resign. For her part, the Ombudsman who is popularly supported by her office personnel and some sectors had stated that she would never resign from her sworn oath to defend the interest of the Filipino people.

Tupas should step aside – Syjuco

In a live committee meeting of the House Committee on Justice on the impeachment proposition in Congress, Congressman Bobby Syjuco moved to have Congressman Neil Tupas inhibit himself out of delicadeza. This motion came in light of cases pending in the Ombudsman concerning the father of Congressman Tupas who was a former governor and who was rumored to have approached Deputy Ombudsman Casimiro on his pending cases.

Congressman Lagman, Minority Leader, also noted that there is a pending Supreme Court motion for reconsideration from the Ombudsman and that Congress should follow due process. Congressman Golez for his part stated that parliament has the right to impeach regardless of whether it is a judicial or a political process. 76% of the members of the House of Representatives are none lawyers. Therefore, it, impeachment, would be a political process rather than a judicial one. None Lawyers will decide this according to what they feel is right for the public Golez ended.

In a separate press forum of the CBCP in Intramuros, embattled Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez noted that media has been unfair to her in light of all the allegations. She has stated that she will not face Congress as she does not expect any impartiality. She noted that she will not be able to get any semblance of fairness if those hearing the impeachment themselves have pending cases with the Ombudsman such as the father of Congressman Tupas and Congressman Farinas. The Ombudsman has held fast against Congressman, both being constitutional bodies, stating that the motion for reconsideration still pending in the Supreme Court should first be decided and that she would gladly face the Senate rather than the house. Former Senator Nene Pimentel stated that impeachment proceedings should be impartial in the CBCP forum.

Congressman Albano stated that we should determine probable cause first. We should not be too liberal on the rules of impeachment and should be guided by a judge for the interest of the public. The sense of fairness is lost when this is done in haste Congressman Oreta stated. Congressman Climaco noted that the Committee should turn itself into a collegial body to vote according to their conscience as this is what is expected of the Public.

In light of the allegations and of pending cases with the Ombudsman, the particular congressional proceeding has been put in bad light and has raised eyebrows on its partiality. The cases presented and supported by Congressman Teddy Casino seem to bear weight. So let the cases stand for themselves and bear scrutiny . Congressman Miro Quimbo, Vice Chairman of the Justice Committee, found it alarming that the officials of the House, most specially members of the Justice Committee, are now being hounded and assaulted before the bar of public opinion. Congressman Tupas alleged that the confidential laws are being partially implemented by the Ombudsman.

The 55 member Justice Committee is set to vote on the motion to impeach the Ombudsman where 28 will be the deciding vote. Ex Officio members can vote, but these votes will not be counted according to the House Rules as set by the Speaker.

Former DOT Undersecretary happy on Ombudsman impeachment!

Insiders from the Department of Tourism have indicated that former Undersecretary Theresa Ilagan Martinez had expressed happiness over the move of Congress to impeach Ombudsman Merceditas Guiterrez.

Martinez who was removed from Office by the Ombudsman for practicing Nepotism is currently appealing the decision and trying to reverse it with the help of her patron who seats as one of the Board Members of the Foundation of former President Fidel V. Ramos.

DOT employees feel that a return of Martinez to the Department will derail the reorganization moves to prepare the DOT for future campaigns. It will be noted that upon the assumption of Bertie Lim to the Office of Secretary of the Department of Tourism, he promoted Martinez to the rank of Undersecretary without looking into her background. Martinez on the other hand filled all the positions in the DOT with her allies and ensured that Lim would be surrounded by people loyal to her like Undersecretary Jasmin and the current Director of the DOT Special Concerns Office.

Martinez at the onset of Lim’s appointment was heard to claim that she had the full trust and confidence of Secretary Alberto Lim and nothing goes to him without her approval or being consulted.

Her removal from office was a result of the a case filed by the head of the DOT Employees Cooperative back in 2007 where it was found that she had a direct hand in having her brother Mario ILagan hired in the San Francisco Office of the Department. The employee who filed the case has since died.

Interested to learn more about this topic? Read our older posts!

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