MANILA, Philippines - House Minority Leader and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday President Aquino violated the Constitution in actively campaigning for the removal of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
He said “the trial by publicity and conviction through campus speeches being waged by President Aquino for the ouster of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez directly influence and demean the discretion and judgment of senators who are inveigled to act like Pontius Pilate to subject their decision to the vagaries of public opinion.”
“By actively, publicly and incessantly campaigning for the impeachment of the Ombudsman, President Aquino has violated the Constitution which exclusively reserves to and vests on Congress the power to impeach and convict impeachable officials,” Lagman said.
Under Article XI of the Constitution, the “House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment” [Section 3 (1)], while the “Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment” [Section 3 (6)], he said.
Lagman said the President has no constitutional role in impeachment proceedings.
“In fact, under Section 19 of Article VII the President is expressly prohibited from granting reprieves, commutations and pardons in cases of impeachment.”
“The President has invaded the exclusive prerogative of the House of Representatives when he marshaled the forces of his Liberal Party to impeach the Ombudsman,” he said.
He said Aquino’s continuing campaign to oust the Ombudsman infringes on the sole power of the Senate to adjudicate the impeachment case against the respondent Ombudsman.
Galvanizing public opinion for the conviction of the Ombudsman intrudes on the constitutional authority of senators to solely judge the culpability or lack of culpability of the Ombudsman, he said.
“The President must desist from culpable violation of the Constitution in his merciless penchant to oust the Ombudsman,” Lagman said.
Praying for strength
Meantime, with all the challenges she is facing and will continue to face in the next months, Gutierrez said she will spend Holy Week praying for strength.
While others are taking advantage of the time to go to the beach for a summer vacation, she said she will be staying home to spend time with her family.
