THE Office of the Ombudsman has dismissed the cases filed against Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and several others in relation to the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his transfer to the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Dismissed were the complaints of arbitrary detention, grave threats, usurpation of authority, perjury, grave misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service against Remulla; former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Nicolas Torre III; former PNP chief General Rommel Marbil; Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla; Special Envoy on Transnational Crimes Ambassador Markus Lacanilao; Department of Justice Prosecutor General Richard Fadullon; and DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty.
In April, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, chaired by Senator Imee Marcos, recommended to the Office of the Ombudsman the filing of charges against the officials involved in the arrest of Duterte and his transfer to the International Criminal Court in The Hague “without due process.”
The recommendation came after the panel’s inquiry into Duterte’s arrest.
In a statement, Marcos said she had filed a motion for reconsideration against the Ombudsman’s order.
“Ayon sa Rules of the Office of the Ombudsman (A.O. 7 series of 1990), maaaring magsampa ng mosyon para sa reconsiderasyon sa loob ng limang (5) araw mula nang matanggap ang abiso ng desisyon. Inihain ko ang aking mosyon sa mismong araw na inilabas ang desisyon,” she said.
(According to the Rules of the Office of the Ombudsman [A.O. 7, series of 1990], a motion for reconsideration may be filed within five days from receipt of the notice of the decision. I filed my motion on the same day the decision was released.)
“Malinaw na naisampa ito nang nasa tamang oras. Samakatuwid, may nakabinbin pa ring kaso si Secretary Boying Remulla sa Office of the Ombudsman. Anumang Ombudsman clearance na nagsasabing kabaligtaran nito ay malinaw na hindi totoo, at ang sinumang maglalabas ng ganoong clearance ay kasabwat sa panlilinlang na ito,” she added.
(It is clear that this was filed within the proper period. Therefore, Secretary Boying Remulla still has a pending case with the Office of the Ombudsman. Any Ombudsman clearance claiming otherwise is clearly false, and anyone issuing such a clearance is complicit in this deception.) (TPM/SunStar Philippines)