The Philippine Online Chronicles

To err is only human, and the country's officials are proving that they are very much part of the human race.

Aside from a pending impeachment case at the Office of the Ombudsman, there are allegedly internal conflicts in the Supreme Court which are very far from just.

Complaints have now been filed in the House of Representatives calling for Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to be impeached for "culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust," according to the Philippine Star.

The charges, complainants said, were because Gutierrez did not act on incidents during then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's term, such as the fertilizer fund scam, and the National Broadband Network scandal (NBN deal).

The office of the Ombudsman, according to the Philippine Constitution, "shall act promptly on complaints filed in any form or manner against officers or employees of the Government, or of any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, including government-owned or controlled corporations, and enforce their administrative, civil and criminal liability in every case where the evidence warrants in order to promote efficient service by the Government to the people."

The case has gathered support from various pro-admin groups, including the Liberal Party, to which President Benigno Aquino III is connected. One informal count by media sources predicted that 150 congressmen may vote to impeach, said ABS-CBNnews.com.

The House justice committee is set to decide on the impeachment today.

If the committe votes yes, they will prepare their report, which will then be submitted to the Senate for trial after it is approved, said inquirer.net.

Despite the threats to Gutierrez, however, a number of employees of the Office of the Ombudsman and other supporters are reportedly rallying to keep her in office.

"Gutierrez had not interfered in cases to protect anyone, contrary to what her critics claimed," inquirer.net quoted Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba.

Push and pull

Newsbreak reported that Gutierrez has "solid allies" in the Supreme Court, as evidenced by the SC stoppage of impeachment proceedings in Congress. The move came even before the Ombudsman asked the SC to declare the proceedings unconstitutional, sources noted.

Certain SC employees were being pressured to certify that they had distributed copies of the petition filed by Gutierrez to the justices before their En Banc session September last year, Newsbreak said in another article.

This was so the high court would not appear to have been unprepared for the decision. Some justices, such as Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, had objected to the September voting, because they did not receive a copy of the Petition supposedly sent to the justices (read more here).

The Supreme Court is now involved in a public relations mess that is threatening the justice system's credibility.

Bad rep

A search on Google for "justice system Philippines" yields discouraging results: words like "problem" and "rotten" are in the first results, with countless other entries saying how "sad" and "hopeless" it is.

Despite the current negative buzz on the local judiciary, however, the Ombudsman's office recently rejected an appeal by a government official found guilty of corrupt practices.

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro reportedly denied an appeal by Neil Tupas Sr. asking the office to drop graft charges filed against him while he was still Governor of Iloilo.