Baste Duterte’s lawyers question Ombudsman over alleged ‘clearance’ for Remulla 

The camp of Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte sought clarification from the Office of the Ombudsman if a “clearance” was allegedly issued to Department of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla after multiple charges were pressed against him and others over the March 11 arrest of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Our office received information that there is a circulating document on social media pertaining to an alleged letter from ‘Concerned OMB Employees’ addressed to His Excellency President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” the legal counsels said in a letter addressed to Acting Ombudsman Dante Vargas and Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Anderson Lo. 

“This letter, allegedly from concerned Ombudsman employees, claims that an Ombudsman Clearance was issued in favor of Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and that the cases filed by our client, Sebastian Z. Duterte, were ‘un-docked’,” they added in the letter dated September 20. 

Duterte’s lawyers, led by Israelito Torreon, filed the complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman for Mindanao last September 15. 

Aside from Remulla also charged were his brother Interior Secretary Juan Victor Remulla, as well as Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, former Philippine National Police chiefs General Nicolas Torre III and Rommel Marbil, Markus Lacanilao, Anthony Alcantara, Richard Anthony Fadullon, and PNP spokesperson Brigadier General Jean Fajardo.

They were charged with kidnapping, arbitrary detention, qualified direct assault, expulsion, usurpation of judicial functions, all under the Revised Penal Code, and for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019).

The lawyers argued that any “clearance” issued to the Justice Secretary “would imply the unjustified removal, undocketing, or dismissal of these complaints, despite the respondents not having filed their counter-affidavits.” 

“As to the alleged issuance of an Ombudsman clearance, our office vehemently objects to any issuance of an Ombudsman Clearance in favor of Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla. Our office, as of writing, has not been informed of any dismissal of the cases filed last 15 September 2025,” the lawyers said. 

Remulla earlier said that the filing by the younger Duterte is an “organized effort to shoot down” his application for the position of Ombudsman. He also called the filing “forum shopping” as there is already a pending petition with the Supreme Court. 

“They really timed it in that way na at they made it possible— they want to make it impossible for the JBC to get the requirements that I have to submit. Ganun talaga ‘yan. It’s really an organized effort from them to shoot down my candidacy as Ombudsman,” he said. —Vince Angelo Ferreras/LDF, GMA Integrated News