Marcoleta seeks apology from Ombudsman over 'bend the law' remark

Senator Rodante Marcoleta on Friday once again questioned Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla for his supposed affirmation that the law could be bent in order to please the people amid the flood control controversy. 

During the Senate plenary debates on the proposed P6.5-billion budget of the Office of the Ombudsman for 2026, Marcoleta made a motion to suspend the rules so that Remulla could clarify the remark himself or issue a public apology for saying such. 

Senate Deputy Majority Leader Risa Hontiveros, however, emphasized that the motion to suspend the rules especially during budget plenary deliberations is “very, very rarely given way.”

“We are not entertaining the motion, Mr. President, but the Chairman remains fully capable of addressing the important issue raised by the good gentleman,” Hontiveros said. 

Budget sponsor Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, citing answers from Remulla, said that the Ombudsman’s comment on the “bend the law” statement was only a figure of speech. 

“The current Ombudsman right now, he intimated to me that he's very strict in not bending the law. In fact, he also intimated that he will abide by the Supreme Court ruling as he believes that the rulings form part of the law and the rule of law is supreme,” Gatchalian said. 

“So he abides by those principles Mr. President, and he will carry that in his tenure as the country's Ombudsman and especially in his quest to hold people to account and to put people in jail, especially those who transgressed our laws,” he added. 

Marcoleta insisted that since the Ombudsman is a high office, Remulla should not be guided by figures of speech. 

“Our people might be misled into believing that it's alright to bend the law, provided we do not eventually break it. It should be explained succinctly, Mr. Speaker. It should be explained very well that that is not correct, that he was wrong in saying that. He was very wrong in confirming and even affirming that publicly in one of our hearings in the Blue Ribbon Committee,” the neophyte senator said. 

To recall, it was Senator Erwin Tulfo who brought up the “bend the law” remark during a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on anomalous flood control projects, as he expressed support for the return of ill-gotten assets.

“Wala ho tayong pakialaam sa batas na ‘yan. Sometimes, you have to bend the law to be able to please the people. Mas mataas po ang taumbayan sa batas,” Tulfo had said.

(We have no say in that law. Sometimes, you have to bend the law to be able to please the people. The people are higher than the law.)

He then asked Remulla if this was right, to which Remulla responded, “yes.” — RSJ, GMA Integrated News