TALK about getting stabbed in the back. And
by your own boss too.
Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez has
opposed a motion filed by Special Prosecutor Dennis
Villa-Ignacio seeking the inhibition of Associate Justice
Gregory Ong, chairman of the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, from
the trial of 148 cases involving alleged fraud in the issuance
of tax credit certificates (TCC) amounting to billions of pesos.
Villa-Ignacio cited his personal differences
with Ong as ground for his motion, saying the magistrate might
harbor bias against him after he raised questions on Ong’s
impartiality and citizenship before the Supreme Court
But in a seven-page comment filed last Sept.
26, Gutierrez said "it is the position of the Office of the
Ombudsman that the incumbency status of Hon. Gregory S. Ong as
Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan must be accorded due
respect rather than be doubted."
This despite the fact that it was the
Ombudsman herself who appointed Villa-Ignacio as lead counsel to
prosecute the TCC scam cases in her Office Order No. 72 dated
July 10, 2008. Also appointed as members of the Villa-Ignacio’s
team are Assistant Special Prosecutors Rohemia J. Jamsani-Rodriguez,
Ma. Hazelina A. Tujan-Militante, Jennifer A. Agustin-Se, Agnes
B. Autencio-Daquis, Mariter Delfin-Santos and Roland B. Galvan.
In her comment, Gutierrez stressed that her
office does not support Villa-Ignacio’s stand that there is
sufficient basis to ask Ong to recuse himself. "The motion for
inhibition… filed by the special panel exclusively pertains to
such panel without the imprimatur of the Office of the Ombudsman
and as such remains their personal position and definitely not
the position of the Office of the Ombudsman."
The Ombudsman filed the comment in compliance
with an order from the Fourth Division.
Curiously, Gutierrez furnished 11 parties in
the case copies of her comment but not the Office of the Special
Prosecutor.
A petition filed by the Villa-Ignacio and
Prosecutor Wendel Barreras-Sulit in 2004 resulted in a directive
from the Supreme Court ordering Ong to recuse himself from
participating in the trial of 10 graft cases against former
First Lady Imelda Marcos.
On July 20, 2007, the special prosecutor also
asked the Supreme Court to enjoin Ong from discharging the
functions and duties of a Sandiganbayan Associate Justice while
there were still unresolved issues about the latter’s
citizenship as raised by Kilosbayan and Bantay Katarungan
Foundations.
Under the internal rules of the Sandiganbayan, a justice from
another division would be appointed to sit in lieu of a division
member who inhibits himself. But if it is the division chairman
who recuses himself, the case or cases would have to re-raffled
to any of the other four divisions. – Peter J.G. Tabingo
