Ombudsman Boying Remulla Claims Reversal of Dismissal Order vs. Sen. Joel Villanueva Allegedly Made in “Secret”
Ombudsman Boying Remulla spoke on the reversal of the dismissal order against Senator Joel Villanueva over an alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
Previously, Ombudsman Remulla expressed his desire for the dismissal order against Sen. Joel Villanueva to be implemented. According to him, he will write to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III to try to convince the Senate Chief to enforce the 2016 order.
However, shortly after Remulla made the statement, reports about the previous reversal of the dismissal order against Villanueva crossed the surface. The dismissal order was issued by former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales over the alleged misuse of Villanueva’s PDAF in 2008 when he was still a congressman.
The documents showed that the dismissal order against Sen. Joel Villanueva was reversed by the ruling issued by former Ombudsman Samuel Martires who retired in July. Based on a report on ABS-CBN News, Ombudsman Boying Remulla is disappointed over the alleged secret reversal of the dismissal order against Villanueva.
Remulla shared that it was after his interview with Karen Davila that he was given the copy of the decision of former Ombudsman Martires when he arrived in his office. He stressed that it was never released in public.
“Walang nakakita noon e. It’s never been made public, he released a statement hinanap niya ‘yung decision,” the country’s current chief graft-buster said.
According to Ombudsman Remulla, Sen. Villanueva is allegedly trying to make it appear like he is allegedly being politically-harassed when he was supposedly quiet “the whole time” about the reversal of the dismissal order against him. He raised a question why the Senator did not speak about it before.
“Tama ba yon? Ba’t hindi sinabi sa ‘ting lahat, may interes ang taong bayan, binoto natin ang tao tapos ganoon? Itatago mo sa amin ang katotohanan?” Remulla said.
Based on the report, Ombudsman Boying Remulla stressed that no one allegedly knew about the 2019 decision of then-Ombudsman Samuel Martires except him and possibly Sen. Joel Villanueva. According to Remulla, they are not yet done and they might refile the case.
“Silang dalawa lang ang may alam. Hindi pa kami tapos… pag aaralan namin. We might have to refile the case, wala namang double jeopardy ‘yun. For now aral muna… aral ulit,” he said.
Aside from the issue about his PDAF in 2008, Sen. Joel Villanueva is also currently faced with a flood control issue. Despite his denial, Sen. Joel Villanueva and his family were spotted on a boat with former DPWH official Henry Alcantara.