Gutierrez says no evidence she’s unqualified as GSIS board member

Gutierrez says no evidence she’s unqualified as GSIS board member

MANILA, Philippines — Former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez refuted the allegations against her on Monday, saying that the anonymous tip questioning her qualifications as a member of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) board “is tainted with vindictiveness and bad faith.”

According to Gutierrez, since she started pointing out irregularities and anomalies in the GSIS’s operations, several attempts have already been made to remove her from office.

“The present anonymous letter is yet another attempt to harass and silence the undersigned into acquiescence,” her letter addressed to Governance Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations chair Marius Corpus reads.

Gutierrez said she does not hesitate to ruffle feathers about actions that violate laws, such as the Civil Service Commission, Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Audit (COA) because the investment of the contributions of all GSIS members is affected.

She said she has also “opposed abusive and high-handed treatment of GSIS officers and employees, especially those who are holding contrary opinions or views that are based on solid legal grounds and approved policies and guidelines of the GSIS.”

Gutierrez added that she has also supported investigations of anomalies and irregularities reported within the GSIS.

Gutierrez released her April 8 letter to the media on Monday after GSIS President and General Manager Jose Arnulfo Veloso made public his letter to Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin that calls their attention on their  “legal conclusion” that Gutierrez “is not qualified” to sit as the agency’s board member after discovering findings related to “a whistleblowing complaint” against her.

In his letter, Veloso said that the whistleblowing complaint informed them that Gutierrez failed to possess the mandatory qualifications required by the GSIS Charter when she was appointed to the agency’s board member.

In response, Gutierrez also said the anonymous letter should be disregarded as it contains “no evidence” to prove that she is unfit to serve on the agency’s board.

Citing Section 12 of the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service, Gutierrez’s letter says: “No anonymous complaint shall be entertained unless the act complained of is of public knowledge or the allegations can be verified or supported by documentary or direct evidence.”

Gutierrez noted that the public is aware of her experiences in public service after serving as acting Justice secretary and eventually chief presidential legal counsel from 2004 to 2005 before becoming Ombudsman from 2005 to 2011.

The letter also pointed out how can there be a legal conclusion when the whistle blowing complaint did not attach any evidence of the allegations against her.

In November last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that Gutierrez would continue to sit on the board of trustees of the GSIS.

She was named to the GSIS board in an acting capacity in April of the same year.

She previously served as Ombudsman in the Arroyo administration but resigned during the term of former president Benigno Aquino III after having been impeached on charges related to corruption cases.