By Macon Ramos Araneta

SEVERAL groups have threatened to file impeachment charges against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for allegedly sitting on cases involving government officials.

Former congressman Nereus Acosta, a member of Kilosbayan Foundation, said the groups are preparing to file an impeachment case against Gutierrez because the institution she heads has stopped functioning as an independent body. He did not identify the groups.

Acosta said several groups have expressed support for the planned impeachment adding that he hopes lawmakers in the House will endorse and support the move against Gutierrez.

The former lawmaker scored Gutierrez for giving the order to file graft charges against him, his mother former Manolo Fortich Mayor Socorro Acosta, and an aunt, Ma. Nemia Bornidor, a member of the board of trustees of the Bukidnon Integrated Network of Home Industries, for allegedly defrauding the government of P10.5 million worth of public funds.

Asked about the planned impeachment case, Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus, spokesman for the office, said yesterday they will respond to the charges appropriately at the proper time.

?We will cross the bridge when we get there,? assured De Jesus.

Gutierrez has also been the subject of mounting calls to quit her post after being accused of ?merely sitting? on high-profile cases wherein the First Gentleman was implicated.

The latest resign call was made by Senator Richard Gordon who said the Ombudsman should resign to salvage the anti-graft body from further embarrassment after she failed to act on the alleged rigging of the bidding for the World Bank-funded road projects.

But Gutierrez said she will not step down, insisting that her Office has been ?silently? investigating cases filed before them, including the P728-million fertilizer fund scam. She also debunked claims of protecting the First Gentleman who was her classmate at the Ateneo Law School.

Due to her refusal to heed calls to voluntarily leave her post, her detractors are now contemplating on filing an impeachment complaint against her.

The demand for her resignation and threats of impeachment stemmed from the alleged ?inaction? of the Ombudsman on the multi-million fertilizer fund anomaly allegedly perpetrated by former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn ?Joc-Joc? Bolante.

Gutierrez disclosed the probe is now on its final stage.

?So it?s not true that we are not doing anything or that we are not investigating the case. We are not just fond of publicizing everything we do,? stressed Gutierrez.

?This is a very big case. We need to investigate all over the country due to the involvement of several personalities which include even the municipal, city, municipal and regional officials,? related Gutierrez.

She said they have to gather evidence in the whole country. ?We are doing what we are supposed to do,? she added.