Gov't looking at one state witness so far in flood control mess —Remulla

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday said that the government is eyeing at least one state witness who is involved in alleged anomalous flood control projects.

“Meron na kaming kinoconsider [na state witness]. You'll find out. Malapit na ‘yan. Evaluation, konting evaluation na lang. May isa na kami,” Remulla said in his first press conference as Ombudsman.

(We are considering someone. You’ll find out soon. We are about to be done with the evaluation. We already have one.) 

Asked why only one, Remulla said that granting a state witness status cannot be done haphazardly since current laws have limitations.

“Our state witness law was not created for a multitude of crimes committed by one person. Usually, iyong nag-a-apply na state witness, kasama siya [sa krimen], hindi siya ang most guilty, tsaka isa lang iyong pangyayari. Pinakarami na iyong dalawang pangyayari,” Remulla said.

(Usually, applicants are involved in the crimes, are not the most guilty, and is testifying on a single scheme, two schemes at most.) 

“Ito, ano to eh, daan daang kaso. Iba-ibang kaso. Bid-rigging, RA 3019 (graft), malversation, malversation through falsification of public documents. You’re talking about a multitude of crimes so it is not easy to grant state witness status and give them blanket immunity [from suit],” Remulla added. 

(We are talking about hundreds of cases here.)

Remulla said that cases are expected to be filed against those involved in the flood control mess by November.

“I don’t have a specific timeline, but it's sooner than many people would think. It is hard to make a promise to file it within the month, so I would say by November,” he said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News