Remulla vows public disclosure of Ombudsman rulings, including on Joel Villanueva

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Wednesday that he will publish the Office of the Ombudsman's resolutions on complaints filed before it, including the past decisions on the complaints filed against Senator Joel Villanueva in connection with alleged misuse of his discretionary or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“We will make the Resolutions of the office of the Ombudsman [accessible to the] public. Ipo-post namin iyong decisions, iyong Joel Villanueva decisions by Ma'am Conchita, the former Ombudsman, and the former Ombudsman Martires, both criminal and administrative," Remulla said.

(We will post the decisions on Joel Villanueva made by former Ombudsmen Conchita Carpio-Morales and Samuel Martires, both criminal and administrative.)

“It is for the information of the public because people are speculating as to which is which and what is what. So, you can, it's actually, it's public property. These are already decisions that are presumed to be valid,” he said.

It can be recalled that Remulla initially said that he would ask Senate President Vicente Sotto III to enforce a 2016 decision by Morales ordering the dismissal of Villanueva after finding him guilty of administrative charges in connection with the misuse of his PDAF.

Remulla, however, later learned that Morales' decision was reversed by Martires in July 2019, although the full copy of this resolution was never released to the public by either the Ombudsman or Villanueva. 

Upon learning of the reversal, Remulla said Martires' July 2019 decision was a "secret" decision that merits further look.

Martires earlier said he cannot recall anymore as to why his July 2019 decision on the Villanueva case was not made publicly available.

Further, Remulla said he is eyeing to make the preliminary investigation (PI) hearings available to the public, including livestreaming them, saying court proceedings are already open to the public, although not in livestream format.

“We're looking at the design where the PI can also be viewed [by] livestream. Because these are supposed to be public in nature. All court proceedings are supposed to be public in nature,” Remulla, a former Justice Secretary, said.

“You should be able to step into the courtroom. Except for cases where children are…the rights of children may be violated,” he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News