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Humility Is Still a Better Way to Go

THE THINGS THAT Ombudsman Chief Merceditas Gutierrez may have or have not done are finally catching up on her. Fact-finding hearings in Congress simply unearthed strong bases to believe that she may have betrayed the trust of the Filipino people.

On 8 March 2011, the Committee on Justice at the House of Representatives overwhelmingly found probable cause to impeach Gutierrez. About the same time the committee had its voting, the Supreme Court issued its ruling refusing to grant her Petition for Reconsideration. And two days later, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee concluded its report on the Garcia Deal, and recommended that she "be held accountable for non-feasance."

It is rare for a person guilty of a crime to admit so. So if Gutierrez betrayed the trust of the people, she can be expected not to admit so. That's obvious.

But the outcome of the independent hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the House Committee on Justice, tackling different issues, that converge into finding probable cause to believe that the current Ombudsman chief has betrayed public trust is too coincidental not to be true. The Garcia Deal unearthed probable culpability of Gutierrez, while the ZTE-NBN Deal and the Fertilizer Scam (among others) found her not doing the job her Office was supposed to do.

It is clear that the rope in the hands of Merceditas Gutierrez is running very short, indeed.

She may fight the looming impeachment trial in the Senate. But that will not change the truth where it will be pointing eventually. For a short while when the impeachment case runs, facing the truth may be postponed as long. Still truth, especially in the new spirit of reform moving around this new administration, will always have its day in court.

The only way to go then is through the way of contrition. And coincidentally this Lenten season provides the necessary environment to once again choose the path of the truth because there is always forgiveness to those who seek it. The reason why Judas ended his life in such an ignoble way resulted from his failure to respond to the grace of humility and seek his Lord's forgiveness. Had he done so the Lord would have forgiven him the way He forgave Peter.

At the end of the day, mistakes we all make in certain situations in life where overwhelming pressures can cloud our minds into choosing the wrong path. And the Lord Jesus Christ waits for those who wants to come to Him, even a chief Ombudsman.
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