EXPLANATION OF ABSTENTION OF MINORITY LEADER EDCEL C. LAGMAN ON THE MOTIONS FINDING PROBABLE CAUSE TO IMPEACH THE OMBUDSMAN

          I abstain for the following reasons:

           1) No sufficient time has been accorded to the Members of the Committee to assess the voluminous evidence (approximately 2 feet in height) submitted by the complainants as well as the two answers of the respondent Ombudsman, all of which were given to the Members of the Committee only late yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the voting. The limited time effectively deterred the Members from determining the facts and circumstances that would engender a well-founded belief of the existence of probable culpability of the Ombudsman.

             2) The decision of the Committee on Justice last week which found “sufficient grounds for impeachment” was premature and precipitate without the answer of the Ombudsman considering that at that time the Ombudsman had a pending motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court, and the right of a litigant to file a motion for reconsideration and wait for its resolution are integral to due process.

           3) After the Committee granted the Ombudsman the opportunity to file her answer, whether as a responsive pleading or part of her evidence, until Friday last week, and after the Ombudsman interposed her answers within the new deadline and the Committee admitted said answers, the process had been set back in time and the procedural steps outlined in Sections 5 and 6 of Rule III should have been followed in order to observe due process.

           4) The Committee failed to await the final decision of the Supreme Court on the petition of the Ombudsman, which decision or resolution denying the Ombudsman's motion for reconsideration was rendered shortly before the Committee made a vote on probable cause. Verily, the imprudent haste of the Committee in resuming the impeachment proceedings pending final adjudication of the High Court thwarted due process since the Ombudsman was denied the full opportunity of advocating her defenses because she had precarious constraints of not prejudicing her motion for reconsideration.