Ma. Merceditas Navarro Gutierrez was just being true to her character when she resigned as Ombudsman a few days before her impeachment trial in the Senate was to have begun. She is an ardent loyalist of the Arroyos – Gloria and Mike. That was the reason, after all, that she was appointed Ombudsman in 2005.
Gutierrez’s appointment came at a time when protests were mounting against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the aftermath of the Hello Garci controversy and other corruption scandals. Having served Arroyo as presidential legal adviser and twice as acting justice secretary, Gutierrez must have been perceived as a loyal soldier by Arroyo who could protect her, her family and her loyal allies from prosecution during Arroyo’s term and beyond.
Gutierrez was not an outstanding lawyer, having failed the Bar exams in 1973, the same year her Ateneo classmate passed it. She eventually passed the Bar in her second attempt in 1974 with an average grade, says the Wikipedia. This was probably the reason she spent most of her legal career in the government service, where one can move up for reasons other than brilliance.
Nonetheless, her closeness to the Arroyos was aptly rewarded with two stints as acting justice secretary after the resignations of Justice Secretary Hernani Perez in 2002 and of Justice Secretary Simeon Datumanong in 2004. On Dec. 1, 2005, Gutierrez became the Ombudsman, replacing Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo, who resigned for health reasons.
As Ombudsman, she had control over the lives and careers of government officials, particularly the corrupt ones.
While Marcelo, who was fifth placer in the 1979 Bar exams, distinguished himself for prosecuting major corruption cases before the Sandiganbayan, including the President Diosdado Macapagal Blvd. case, the RSBS Pension Fund cases, the DPWH Repair scam caases, and the Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia cases, Gutierrez became known for inaction in high-profile corruption scandals that occurred during her tenure at the Office of the Ombudsman – the P728-million Fertilizer Fund Scam, the Mega Pacific election computerization case, the Euro generals scandal, the $320-million NBN-ZTE broadband deal, and several other fund scandals especially in the Department of Agriculture.
Instead of bringing the corrupt officials to court, she was infamously known for ignoring the Supreme Court’s order to prosecute the Comelec officials responsible for the
Mega Pacific deal, which the high court had declared as null and void. Initially, she filed charges against one of the seven commissioners, but eventually reversed herself and cleared the official. She was also held responsible for approving a controversial plea bargain deal with General Garcia who was facing plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan.
Just like her boss, Gutierrez was the frequent subject of impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives, all for mishandling of cases. In March 2009, former Senate President Jovito Salonga filed an impeachment complaint against her for “mishandling cases.” In July 2010, she was against the subject of an impeachment complaint filed by party list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and Evelyn Pestano for “illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient” handling of cases. In August that year, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan filed another impeachment complaint for her inaction on the fertilizer fund scam, the Mega Pacific deal, and the Euro generals cases.
Needless to say, she was saved by the allies of her boss, Arroyo, who exercised tight control over the House of Representatives throughout her nine-year tenure using her power over the pork barrel allocations. All these impeachment complaints were dismissed right in the committee level.
On March 10 this year, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the filing of an impeachment complaint against her for “neglecting, weakening and complicating” the plunder case against General Garcia and family. Finally, on March 22, an impeachment complaint was filed and endorsed by the House of Representatives in an overwhelming vote of 210 in favor, 46 against, and 4 abstaining.
Gutierrez vowed to fight the impeachment to the end, and said “My conscience is clear, I’m willing to finish this process.” She rejected all calls for her to resign, and fought back when President Benigno S. Aquino III declared war against her in various forums.
It was then a surprise to many that just nine days before her impeachment trial in the Senate, she personally went to see Aquino in Malacanang to tender her resignation. The photos showed a smiling Gutierrez, not the arrogant and embattled Ombudsman who dared defy the President by refusing to terminate her deputy. They showed a woman at peace with herself, not the wounded tiger that denounced Aquino and her other detractors in press conferences.
Why the sudden turnaround? Why the sudden change of heart?
Did the peace and solemnity of the Holy Week have a calming effect on her? Did she finally realize the impeachment trial was a no-win situation for her? Did she fear that current and former colleagues in the Office of the Ombudsman would turn against her and testify in the trial? Did she fear that the evidence against her was strong and that the Senate would inevitably convict her? Did she finally heed the pleas of her husband and other family members to just resign?
The answers to all these could easily be a Yes. But looking back at her defiance and her firm resolve to fight the impeachment, it was hard to believe that she would back down so easily. There must be an overwhelming reason for a wounded and angry tiger to turn around and walk away from a fight, a far more pressing reason than the above speculations.
On the day the House was set to vote on her impeachment, Gutierrez was visited by Arroyo in her home. Nothing was written about what transpired in that fateful meeting, but it’s not difficult to surmise that Arroyo may have reminded her that an impeachment trial could drag Arroyo into the mud. Arroyo may not have been able to convince her that time to resign in case of an impeachment vote, knowing the anger and other emotions that were seething inside Gutierrez at that time.
But the long hiatus could have mellowed her a bit, and enabled her to think more coherently. Still, a retreat does not bring a smile to the defeated, much less a look of peace and satisfaction. There was something that assured her resigning would be to her advantage, to her great benefit; that it would be a win, not a defeat in another sense.
There is no question in my mind that Gutierrez resigned as a favor to the Arroyos, as one last loyal act to her benefactor. But there could be something else the Arroyos offered her in return, because that’s how Arroyo had earned blind loyalty from her so-called allies.
Whatever it was, we’ll leave it to speculation. The good thing is that her resignation saved the nation from an expensive, time-consuming, distractive and divisive impeachment trial. The bottom line is that the great obstacle to Aquino’s promise to curb corruption and to punish the corrupt is gone.
There should now be no excuse for failure.