Ombudsman: 18 ex-Marines sought to create ‘political tipping point’

Amid their allegations of cash delivery to officials, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday said that the 18 alleged former Marines sought to create a “political tipping point” for a branch of the service to “rise up in arms.” 

“They’re trying for a political tipping point. What more? Alam na natin ‘yun (we know that). They want to— a branch of the service to rise up in arms. ‘Yun lang naman ‘yun. They’re creating a tipping point,” Remulla said in an ambush interview.

When asked about who may be behind this, he said his office is looking at numerous personalities.

He said the motive was “political” but later added that some may have “economic motives.”

GMA News Online reached out to the ex-Marine's lawyer, Levito Baligod, for comment, but he has yet to reply as of posting time. 

Remulla was at the DOJ to attend the department’s anti-corruption workshop.

To recall, the Marines and Baligod accused several individuals of allegedly receiving cash from Zaldy Co, among others.

Remulla said the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Bureau of Investigation are validating the identities of the marines.

“Not all of them are marines, not all of them are in active service, and many of them were dishonorably discharged. Marami doon discharged and there’s many of them even had murder cases,” he said.

He said that six of the marines had murder cases.

Meanwhile, Baligod submitted the notarized affidavit with the Office of the Ombudsman last week.

According to Remulla, the marines should submit individual affidavits.

“Kasi personal knowledge eh (because of personal knowledge). An affidavit is supposed to be based on personal knowledge,” he said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News