Former Vice President Teofisto Guingona and several other citizens today filed a suit against President Arroyo in connection with the controversial National Broadband Network project.

The case filed at the Office of the Ombudsman is a direct challenge to “presidential immunity from suit” which complainants dubbed as a “colonial jurisprudential legacy”.

PCIJ posted the full text of the complaint here.

Quoted by PCIJ, complainant and lawyer Harry Roque says:

Today, a culture of impunity in government reigns — extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and as addressed in this case, graft and corruption. What has the President done to solve this problem? Instead, as in this case, we find the President herself abetting and allowing the commission of a crime involving a member of her own Cabinet in the anomalous ZTE broadband deal.

Guingona et al accuses Arroyo of:

• abetting or tolerating the commission of a crime
• knowingly and willfully obstructing, impeding or delaying the apprehension of suspects and the investigation of criminal cases
• manifest partiality, evident bad faith, or at least, gross inexcusable negligence

all in connection with the scandal-tainted NBN project.