The ongoing rift between Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio has turned for the worse.
 
Gutierrez has relieved Villa-Ignacio and his team from prosecuting the tax credit scam certificate (TCC) on the ground that the latter has not been submitting updates on the case.
 
Not about to take the relief sitting down, Villa-Ignacio sees the move as part of a demolition job to his character.
 
In a hastily called press conference, Villa-Ignacio said that contrary to Gutierrez’s claim, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) had been pursuing the tax credit case to the letter.
 
“We already have roadmap for the case, interviewed witnesses, and requested documents from parties involved. Now, their basis is that we did not update them of the status of the case. But we have documents to show that we filed a report. The relief and the accusation is totally false, if not malicious,” Villa-Ignacio said.
 
Villa-Ignacio was lead counsel handling the multi-million tax credit scam involving the Chingkoe companies.
 
The cases involved defrauding the government of P2.3 billion through the anomalous transfer and issuance of TCCs. Officials of the finance department, including former undersecretary Antonio Belicena, were sued for graft, malversation and falsification cases at the Sandiganbayan.
 
In an October 24 order, Gutierrez relieved Villa-Ignacio and the rest of the prosecuting panel from the case after they allegedly failed to submit a monthly report to Gutierrez.
 
Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimoro, who recommended the relief, said the Special Prosecutor’s non-compliance becomes highly questionable following the allegation of Bureau Director John Turalba that Villa-Ignacio instructed them to “dribble the cases” and the disappearance of the Immunity Agreement and affidavit  of  Felix Chingkoe, star witness of  the TCC scam.
 
Casimiro said he suspects that the missing documents were with Villa-Ignacio.
 
Villa-Ignacio belied the claims, arguing that he never get hold of the safety vault containing the said documents.
 
Replacement

The Special Prosecutor said his relief may have been prompted by his move questioning the capacity of Sandiganbayan justice Gregory Ong to handle the tax credit scam.
 
He said he had petitioned Ong to inhibit from handling the cases on the ground of his questionable citizenship. Ong has been appointed to the Supreme Court but questions about his citizenship prompted Malacanang to recall his appointment.
 
“There is someone trying to protect somebody,” Villa-Ignacio said, adding that Gutierrez is sympathetic to Ong. He also recalled that it was Ong who acquitted Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno in connection with the Motorola case.
 
He said his relief from the tax credit case is part of the ongoing demolition job to pressure him to resign.

Villa-Ignacio is facing a estafa charge filed by a former subordinate who accused him of pocketing P26,600 supposedly intended for the victims of Typhoon Milenyo in Quezon province. But Villa-Ignacio said the documents would show that the money went to Gawad-Kalinga.

The Special Prosecutor feared that he might not just be relieved from prosecuting the Belicena cases, but he might be removed from the OSP much earlier than his intended retirement in February. This came after his staff quoted Gutierrez saying, “We are going to force OSP to resign within the year.”
 
“They want their man here, so that their network will be complete. They think that I am very independent,” he said.
 
Villa-Ignacio said that instead of thinking how they can get rid of him, Gutierrez should concentrate on other cases that is more significant for the country. He mentioned the cases of the “euro generals”, the fertilizer scam, and the botched telecommunications deal with China.