Friday, July 25, 2008 Perez sees acquittal in robbery, 3 other raps
THE Office of the Ombudsman has poor conviction rate because it has been filing weak cases in court, former justice secretary Hernando Perez said.
Interviewed after his arraignment on one of his cases before the Sandiganbayan, Perez said he had to agree with Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has been filing weak cases before the anti-graft court.
Perez, however, refused to comment on the ongoing dispute between Villa-Ignacio and Gutierrez, both of whom he had a chance to work with when he was still head of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
"I cannot comment on the dispute between the ombudsman and the special prosecutor out of delicadeza. I have worked with both of them. Each has a reason, a gripe against the other," Perez said.
"But I agree with the special prosecutor that the ombudsman is filing weak cases before the Sandiganbayan," he added.
Both Perez and Villa-Ignacio were among the original members of the prosecution team in the plunder case of former President Joseph Estrada.
Gutierrez, on the other hand, served as one of the DOJ undersecretaries during the term of Perez.
Villa-Ignacio had accused Gutierrez of clipping his powers and wanting him out of his office, citing the estafa charges filed against him by a subordinate.
The ombudsman, through Assistant Ombudsman Mark Jalandoni, dismissed the allegation of Villa-Ignacio as completely false.
On May 5 or less than one month after the ombudsman filed robbery and three other criminal charges against him, Perez accused the ombudsman of violating his constitutional right to speedy trial.
Perez noted that the anti-graft body took more than six years to complete the preliminary investigation.
He also criticized the ombudsman for filing the cases even if the complainant, former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez, already submitted an affidavit of desistance.
Meanwhile, Perez entered a not guilty plea on falsification of public documents pending before the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
The case stemmed from a complaint filed in 2001 by Jimenez accusing Perez of extorting US$2 million from him after he refused to execute affidavits implicating Estrada cronies in a plunder case against the ousted leader. (Sunnex)
