THE House justice committee “officially” junked on Tuesday the impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, a decision which the opposition said was hastily handed down to hide it from the public as everybody is preoccupied with the damage wrought by Typhoon Ondoy.

Congressional allies of President Arroyo, which dominated the committee, voted to declare the complaint “insufficient in substance,” to the dismay of the members of the minority, whose negative votes were not counted.

Gutierrez was accused by civil-society groups of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for her alleged failure to perform her duties and responsibilities to prosecute those involved in the P1.3-billion Mega-Pacific election-computerization scam, the $2-million extortion case against former justice secretary  Hernando Perez, the P728-million fertilizer-fund scam, the P6.9-million “euro generals” case, the multibillion-peso  World Bank road-project collusion scheme, and arbitrary dismissal and suspension orders against local officials.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised given the impunity with which GMA [President Arroyo] has subverted the institutions of democratic government in the Philippines,” said Nacionalista Party Rep. Teofisto Guingona III of Bukidnon.

Party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna, for his part, said what happened in the committee was probably a first in the history of the House of Representatives.

“The votes of the opposition were not even asked. Sa pagmamadali nilang i-dismiss ang complaint sa Ombudsman habang ang atensyon ng publiko ay nasa relief operations sa mga biktima ng Ondoy, nalimutan nilang pabotohin ang minorya,” he said.

Party-list Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros of Akbayan called for the resignation of the committee chairman, Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Matias Defensor of Quezon City, for “orchestrating the railroading of the illegal dismissal of impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.”

“What the chairman did was a patent violation of our rules. He should resign if he cannot even enforce and respect the rules of Congress,” Hontiveros said.

“So are they going to fabricate the committee report to cover up this insanity? It was not even necessary for them to gag the minority since they had the numbers,” she added.

According to Hontiveros, the panel had postponed the hearing several times because of the lack of quorum.

“And yet today, despite the disaster and just when the entire nation is busy providing relief to the victims of Typhoon Ondoy, there was a surprising mobilization of anti-impeachment congressmen. It was surreal,” Hontiveros said.

She was about to move for the suspension of the hearing to give time to the members of the committee to study the points raised by the other camp, and to allow House members to focus on relief operations, when Deputy Speaker Amelita Villarosa quickly moved for a vote on the issue.

Despite criticisms from the opposition on the swift dismissal of the impeachment case, Ombudsman employees said they were “pleased over the results of the hearing conducted by the House Committee on Justice.”

In a press statement, Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr. said, “We are happy that an absolute majority of the House Committee on Justice was able to see through the impeachment complaint filed against Ombudsman Maria Merceditas Gutierrez.”

De Jesus said, “This proves that, indeed, the Ombudsman has not been remiss of her duties, and that she diligently performed her functions as mandated by the Constitution.”

De Jesus also said the hearing showed the independence of the House of Representatives, which treated the impeachment complaint beyond politics. Instead, he said the complaint “was dismissed based on its merits, it being clearly shown that the Ombudsman is only doing her duty, which can never equate to culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes or betrayal of public trust.”