At the End of the Day

SOMETIMES A DELAY can prove more efficient in the use of time and resources. The Senate Resolution 441 of Senator Francis Pangilinan may have been late for the adoption of Senate Resolution 432, otherwise known as the Rules of Procedures on Impeachment Trials, on March 23. But the senators may as well adopt it anyway to speed up the Gutierrez Impeachment Trial and save the country millions of pesos for the cost of an exercise that might not conclude earlier than a year. What is a two-month delay if a final decision can be made within the first two months of hearing? Since the Pangilinan proposal allows the senator-judges to remove current Ombudsman chief Merceditas Guttierez when proven guilty only on one article, the impeachment proceedings can be concluded even on the first impeachment article should the evidence allows. That will certainly cut on the costs, allow the Filipinos to get over the issue quick, and when the verdict is guilty let the government do away with Gutierrez fa

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