Ombudsman junks raps vs. SOJ Remulla over Duterte arrest

The Ombudsman has dismissed the complaints against Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin "Boying" Remulla in connection with the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Remulla and Sen. Imee Marcos, then the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who recommended the raps before the Ombudsman, both confirmed the junking of the raps.

The justice chief is a candidate for the position of Ombudsman.

Marcos said she already filed a motion for reconsideration.

To recall, Marcos in May submitted to the Ombudsman a chairman's report on Duterte’s arrest and transfer to The Hague, Netherlands, to face charges for crimes against humanity over the drug war.

The letter said the inquiry “uncovered acts by high-ranking government officials which very likely constitute criminal and administrative offenses.”

Remulla has said that he would file a motion asking the Ombudsman to resolve the issue “as soon as possible.”

Pending case

With a motion for reconsideration filed on September 12, the senator said that Remulla “still has a pending case before the Office of the Ombudsman.”

“Under the Rules of the Office of the Ombudsman (A.O. 7 series of 1990), a motion for reconsideration may be filed within 5 days from notice of the decision. I filed my Motion for Reconsideration within the day the decision was rendered. It was clearly filed on time,” Marcos said. 

“Any Ombudsman clearance to the contrary is simply untruthful, and the people who will issue such a clearance are complicit in this deception,” she added. 

GMA News Online has reached out to the Ombudsman for confirmation of the said decision, but it is yet to reply as of posting time. 

Rodrigo Duterte was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities on March 11, based on a warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

He is currently detained in The Hague for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during the controversial war on drugs. –with a report from Joahna Lei Casilao/NB, GMA Integrated News