The Office of the Ombudsman is on trial.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez herself admits to the fact that calls for her resignation or impeachment have been mounting since the scandal involving alleged rigging of World Bank projects broke out.

?It seems that the Office of the Ombudsman, which was given a copy of the World Bank report [on the alleged collusive practices among public works contractors] is being implicated in the case,? Gutierrez told Standard Today in an interview after a media forum in Manila.

?It was as if we did something wrong,? Gutierrez said.

She said even her mother has told her she possibly needed a ?coach? to help her deal with her dilemma.

Gutierrez said she has led a quiet life during her 23 years at the Justice Department where she rose from the ranks until she was thrust into the limelight because of high-profile cases filed in her office, some of them implicating First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.

Gutierrez denied charges she has been ?sitting on cases? involving the First Gentleman and Malaca?ang.

But she said she has no misgivings about her job despite all the controversies because it has been her advocacy to fight graft and corruption in government.

The beleaguered Ombudsman also said that the Judicial Bar Council, an independent body, reviewed her credentials before endorsing her appointment to the constitutional body.

?And I got a unanimous 8 votes,? said Gutierrez who has repeatedly denied any cover-up in the investigation of cases involving the First Gentleman.

She challenged her detractors and critics to come up with proof of her wrong-doing. ?If you want to remove me from the Ombudsman, stop corruption and the Ombudsman becomes irrelevant,? said Gutierrez.

The latest to seek her resignation was Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that investigated the P728-million fertilizer scandal.

Gordon said that more than 1,300 days had lapsed since Gutierrez?s office received the Senate report on the fertilizer fund mess, but it has yet to prosecute one of the accused. Gordon?s committee recommended the filing of plunder/money laundering charges against former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn ?Joc-Joc? Bolante and 10 other individuals for the misuse of the fertilizer fund. Macon Ramos Araneta