Imee Marcos files motion to inhibit Ombudsman, probers from Duterte arrest case

Senator Imee Marcos has filed an urgent motion seeking to inhibit acting Ombudsman Dante Vargas and the panel of investigators from the appeal she filed on the alleged arbitrary detention of former President Rodrigo Duterte on March 11, 2025.

In her motion to the Office of the Ombudsman, she said several circumstances displayed the "bias" of Vargas and six probers, and thus, they "must inhibit" from the resolution of her motion for reconsideration (MR), which she filed on September 12, 2025.

The MR challenged the Ombudsman's dismissal of her graft, usurpation of authority, and arbitrary detention complaint against Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and six others.

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.”

In her latest urgent motion, Marcos said Remulla did not disclose to the parties that the spouse of Vargas was his classmate in the University of the Philippines law school, which the senator said was "highly irregular and improper."

Marcos said Vargas' dismissal of the complaint against Remulla raised prejudicial questions, stressing that "the set of issues in those cases is vastly different from the instant case."

"Moreover, even assuming arguendo that there are prejudicial questions, Rule 111 of the Rules of Court, which applies in suppletory character to the Rules of the Honorable Office, clearly provides that there should be a petition filed by the interested party to have the criminal proceedings suspended.  Dismissal, with or without prejudice, is not one of the courses of action under said Rules," the motion read.

"What is more, on the day the decision was rendered, Secretary Jesus Remulla was already at the Office of the Ombudsman to claim his clearance," it added.

Aside from Remulla, the investigators that Marcos wants excluded from the case are Sandy Alcantara, Roseann Claudine Pasion, Corinne Joie Garillo-Arellano, Napoleon Regan Malimas, Leilani Tagulao-Marquez, and Nellie Boguen-Golez.

GMA News Online is trying to reach out to Remulla and the investigators for their comment. —LDF, GMA Integrated News