merci

finally! yes, ombudsman merceditas gutierrez was finally impeached (at least by the house of representatives), sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. the senate will then act as an impeachment court. a vote of at least two thirds (16) of all senators (24) will permanently remove gutierrez from her office and will be stripped of any benefits when she retires.

Akbayan complaint: On July 2010, former Akbayan representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel led the filing of an impeachment complaint against Gutierrez. The complaint cited these issues:

- Low conviction rate of the ombudsman
- Failure to act promptly on the Philippine National Broadband Network controversy
- Incurred inexcusable delay in the investigation on the death of ensign Philip Pestaño
- Legitimized the arrest of Hontiveros by the police at the height of the Hello Garci scandal
- Failure to investigate Arroyo's PHP1 million dinner at New York's Le Cirque restaurant
- Failure to act on the Mega Pacific scandal, among others
- Refusal to grant ready access to public records such as the Statement of Assets, Net Worth and Liabilities of former Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo.

BAYAN complaint: BAYAN filed their own case on early August 2010. Led by Renato Reyes, BAYAN cited these issues on their complaint:

- Failure to act on the Fertilizer Fund scam
- Failure to act on the Euro Generals scandal
- Failure to act on the Mega Pacific scandal

i stayed up late to watch the live proceedings in the plenary session. i was curious to see which politicos will vote for or against the impeachment. not surprisingly, the arroyos voted against it but it's still a mystery to me why edcel lagman kept on fighting for gutierrez... what's there for him to side with the still seemingly powerful gloria arroyo? and what about the abstention of lawmakers like lani mercado? i hope that gutierrez will finally be removed from her office. senators, do your job well, please.