Guanzon asks Ombudsman for fairness, seeks reconsideration of graft raps

Former Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon (FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon formally asked the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday to reconsider its earlier decision to indict her for graft after she supposedly “prematurely disclosed” confidential information on the disqualification cases filed against then presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a resolution dated July 25, 2023, but made public only on Monday, Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the filing of two counts of graft against Guanzon, citing her “improper disclosure” of information about a Comelec resolution on the pending disqualification petitions during two media interviews in 2022.

Guanzon, who is currently out of the country, posted on X (formerly Twitter) the first page of her motion for reconsideration, which was submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday afternoon.

New lawyers sought

“I have filed my motion for reconsideration in the Ombudsman,” she said. “All I ask from the Honorable Ombudsman is fairness.”

Her lawyer, Dylan Santos, reiterated her earlier plea for the Ombudsman to assign new lawyers to review her appeal.

The case against Guanzon was based on a complaint filed by the group Citizen’s Crime Watch, led by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Diego Magpantay. They accused the former Comelec official of making “premature public disclosures” about the disqualification cases against Mr. Marcos.

When she gave the interviews in January 2022, Guanzon was the presiding commissioner of Comelec’s First Division, which was handling the petitions seeking to disqualify Mr. Marcos from running in the May presidential elections on the grounds of tax evasion and his failure to file income tax returns.

In one of the interviews, Guanzon said that she had voted in favor of disqualifying Mr. Marcos on the grounds of moral turpitude.

She also claimed that the Comelec resolution on the disqualification cases was being delayed to render her vote invalid since she would be retiring in a few days.

In its resolution, the Office of the Ombudsman agreed with the arguments raised by Topacio and Magpantay, saying that the Comelec resolution was confidential.