By Perfecto T. Raymundo
MANILA, Jan. 30 (PNA) — The Supreme Court (SC) has exonerated former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in connection with the petition filed by former Solicitor General Frank Chavez.
In an en banc ruling, the SC dismissed the petition for mandamus filed by Chavez against Gutierrez asking the SC to compel her to act on four separate complaints for plunder and other crimes that the former filed before the Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) in 2004.
Chavez filed a complaint against former President and now Pampanga (2nd District) Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante and several others in connection with the “fertilizer fund scam.”
The second complaint involved P1.1 billion that was denominated as “rice, corn and livestock maintenance and operating expenses” as part of Arroyo’s “Ginintuang Masaganang Ani” program. Arroyo, Lorenzo, Bolante and some others were sued.
The third complaint pertains to the “Oplan Mercury” which involved public funds amounting to P200 million allegedly sourced from various government agencies for use in Arroyo’s 2004 presidential bid.
The fourth complaint concerns the alleged diversion of more than P600 million from Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Fund and supposedly used for Arroyo’s political and other unrelated purposes.
In the ruling, the SC said that on Sept. 11, 2013, Chavez passed away.
Gutierrez resigned on May 6, 2011.
Former SC Senior Associate Justice Conchita Carpio Morales presently heads the Ombudsman.
“With Chavez, the third party seeking by mandamus the immediate resolution of the cases, already deceased and with Gutierrez no longer in a position to do that [the petitioner] had demanded of her, the action may be deemed moot and academic,” the ruling, signed by SC en banc Clerk of Court Atty. Enriqueta E. Vidal, said. (PNA)