Aling Merceditas should be disbarred

THIS might sound cruel for someone who wants to retire in peace come 2012, but her record of inaction in a government agency that is supposed to champion good governance leaves a yawning gap that can be very difficult to explain to the Filipino people. Yesterday’s .Congressional hearing on allegations of ineptitude, incompetence and criminal neglect, bolstered by thick documentary evidences, presented by the camps of Akbayan and Bayan Muna leaves no room for dilly-dallying.

How will she explain, for instance, that during her first year of office, she made a claim that her performance shot up by 70 percent. But according to the Akbayan witness, Aling Merceditas was lying through her teeth. Actually only three people were convicted, having among them several cases. The three were small fries, and one of them was even accused of stealing P200 – which was dismissed by the Sandigan for its ridiculous imputations. In her four years, Merceditas was only able to secure conviction of 4 cases, or a dismal record of one case a year.

Cases involving large-scale theft involving high government officials remained in limbo or were not simply taken up. On the other hand, some 800 cases already filed with the Sandigan were withdrawn by the Ombudsman. These cases were settled amicably.

In her testimony, former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiverso Baraquel said that Merceditas was “very selective” in her choice of cases, saying cases that involved big government officials were not given due course. In the words of  former solicitor general Frank Chavez, the Ombudsman has been “under sedation” for the last seven years. She has created a “mere cobweb to catch the flies and small insects”, not the bigger predators.  

Chavez cited the fertilizer scams during the Arroyo administration and the Megapacific Automation contract of Comelec commissioner Benjamin Abalos as two large cases that the Ombudsman refused to act on. He said besides the P728 million scam allegedly perpetrated by DA Usec Jocjoc Bolante, there was another P1.1 billion cases filed with the Ombudsman which the latter also refused to act on. 

This despite the fact that the Senate in its hearings declared there was sufficient evidence. As of Feb. 25, 2011 ,no case has been filed by the Ombusman – seven years after the information was filed.

In the Mega Pacific Automation contract entered by Abalos, again the Ombusdman refused to filed the case even if the contract was nullified by the Supreme Court. Instead, the Ombudsman has absolved the Comelec in the anomalous transaction.

In the P1.1 billion fertilizer scam, the Ombudsman has ignored the Senate findings, the COA report on this and even the reports of its own field offices. Chavez has named several congressman involved this scam. He was pressed by Rep. Fariñas to disclose the names, but the latter backtracked when Chavez was preparing to read the names of the congressmen.

Now if these evidences presented by the two groups on the alleged criminal neglect of the Ombudsman does not end in the dismissal of Aling Merceditas, we will hold the Congress committee on justice responsible for the continuing corruption in the top levels of the bureaucracy.