Administration allies defeated on Tuesday an attempt by some opposition lawmakers to impeach Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez over allegations she was sitting on cases involving personalities close to Malacañang.

The House of Representatives’ committee on justice dismissed the impeachment case against Gutierrez by 37 votes, saying it was “insufficient in substance.” The complaint accused Gutierrez of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for her alleged “inaction and mishandling” of high-profile cases pending before her office, some of these leading to President Arroyo herself and that of her close associates.

Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, chairman of the House justice panel, did not count the votes of those who were against the dismissal of the complaint. Defensor said there was no need to find out their number as the members who voted for the insufficiency in substance of the complaint was more than the required “absolute majority” of 28 members. The committee has a total of 55 members.

The voting came amid strong opposition from the minority. “You didn’t even have the decency to count our votes,” shouted Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello. Bello was among the endorsers of the impeachment complaint filed in March by 21 leaders of civil society leaders and former Cabinet officials led by former Senate President and founder of judiciary watchdog Bantay Katarungan Jovito Salonga.

All 37 members who voted for the dismissal of the complaint were allies of President Arroyo. They said the complaint lacked substance as the “allegations do not constitute recital of ultimate facts.”

“They are bare conclusions of facts and law, and innuendos which border on editorializing like the reference to the completely irrelevant NBN-ZTE deal,” said Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan.