KASAUP

Editorial

Attorney Mike

Philippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 19:11:00 03/04/2009Filed Under: Impeachment,the House of Representatives — betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution, because of alleged inaction — right after she absolved everyone involved in the Mega Pacific scam. (This scam, to be sure, is included in the present complaint.)
After the Senate blue ribbon committee had established the anomalies in the Mega Pacific contract as facts, and the Supreme Court (after castigating the same Ombudsman for slowness of action) confirmed the existence of irregularity, what did Gutierrez do? She absolved everyone, like a priest at a Lenten rite. Her decision, we wrote in this same space on Oct. 6, 2006, “asks us to believe, against all evidence and experience, in a crime without criminals, an evil deed without evildoers.”
Thus, the supreme irony: In her tenure as Ombudsman, Gutierrez has served as midwife to the perfect crime.
It may be that “Attorney Mike’s” defense of a batch mate would not have come about without the enterprising work of a reporter (in this case, Kara David of GMA News). But this is not the first time that Arroyo had had the opportunity to speak to reporters. That he took the opportunity to ask the public to let the ombudsman alone tells us something about his essentially political approach even to legal matters. That he took advantage of the opportunity to say anything at all — well, that says something about his relationship with Gutierrez. Apparently, while he requires the services of the avuncular Jesus Santos or the pugnacious Ruy Rondain to defend his actions, Attorney Mike thinks nothing of lawyering for his law school year mate. What, after all, are friends for?