MANILA, Philippines -- Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio is not backing down from what he said were moves by Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and her allies to unseat him.

“They will have to shoot me,” said Villa-Ignacio whose seven-year term does not end until February 2010.

The prosecutor who led the team that successfully obtained the plunder conviction of deposed President Joseph Estrada is now fighting off ouster moves himself.

According to Villa-Ignacio, an estafa (fraud) case filed against him by a special prosecutor in the Ombudsman’s internal affairs board was part of the pressure being placed on him.

He said Gutierrez wants him out so she can appoint her own man to the job. He declined to name the prosecutor being eyed to replace him.

“That’s pure harassment. You can attack my management style, but not my integrity. I’ve been protecting my integrity for years,” he told reporters in his office at the Sandiganbayan.

The complainant, Elvira Chua, said she filed the case on her own and not on the orders of Gutierrez.

“This is not a demolition job against him,” said Chua who faced the media with a group of Ombudsman officials and prosecutors, everyone of whom voiced support for Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was supposed to appear at the press conference, but decided against it.

Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro advised Villa-Ignacio to face the suit, and assured him that he would be accorded due process.

‘Face the music’

“He has to face the music,” said Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus, the spokesperson for the Ombudsman’s Office.

Chua claimed that she handed over to Villa-Ignacio P26,600 for the installation of water pumps for victims of Typhoon “Milenyo” in Quezon province in 2004. However, she found out later that the funds had been channeled to a Gawad Kalinga project. She filed the fraud case against Villa-Ignacio last March.

Villa-Ignacio countered that the money was coursed through the Ombudsman, and ended up in the GK since it had a similar project for typhoon victims. He said the disbursement was well-documented.

“Is that estafa? I’ll let my freshmen students at the Ateneo de Manila handle it and I’m very sure they can handle it,” he said.

Villa-Ignacio said Chua was trying to get back at him because he had “disciplined” her in a case involving Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno. He said Chua had failed to attach a document in the case against Puno stemming from a cancelled purchase of a radio system resulting in the case being dismissed by the Supreme Court.

According to Chua, Villa-Ignacio was asked to submit a counter-affidavit on her estafa case by the Ombudsman’s internal affairs board, but went to the media instead. Villa-Ignacio denied this, saying he has not received any notice to file his comment.

“It was given due course faster than the complaint against Joc-Joc Bolante,” he said, referring to fugitive Jocelyn Bolante, a former agriculture undersecretary who was charged over the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004.

Villa-Ignacio said if the Ombudsman rules against him and suspends him, he would take the case to the Supreme Court.