Ombudsman starts probe of gov鈥檛 officials for role in Duterte arrest
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman has directed Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and four other government officials to answer the complaint filed against them by the Senate committee on foreign relations headed by Sen. Imee Marcos over the March 11 arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his turnover to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
According to two separate orders issued by the Ombudsman on Tuesday, Remulla and his brother, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, along with Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Rommel Marbil, PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Nicolas Torre III, and Special Envoy for Transnational Crimes Markus Lacanilao, were directed to submit their counteraffidavits within 10 days, along with their witnesses’ affidavits.
READ: Imee Marcos to Ombudsman: Probe gov’t execs who gave Duterte to ICC
“Failure to file counteraffidavit within the aforesaid period shall be deemed as waiver of respondents’ right to submit controverting evidence and the preliminary investigation shall proceed accordingly,” the Ombudsman said.
The orders signed by Director Nellie Boguen-Golez of the Ombudsman’s Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication Bureau were in response to the recommendations of the Senate committee, which looked into Duterte’s arrest.
Possible violations
In the committee report transmitted by Marcos to the Ombudsman on Friday, she asked the antigraft body to investigate the five officials for possible violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act on top of administrative offenses.
According to Marcos, Remulla should be probed for antigraft law violations and usurpation of judicial functions for supposedly causing an invalid arrest.
Jonvic Remulla, on the other hand, should be held liable also for antigraft law violations, she said.
Torre, who read the Miranda rights to Duterte and explained that he was “deputized” to implement the ICC arrest warrant, should face charges of arbitrary detention and grave threats, according to Marcos.
As for Marbil, the senator recommended that he be charged with arbitrary detention while Lacanilao be held liable for usurpation of authority or official functions, false testimony in other cases, and perjury under the Revised Penal Code.
Marcos said all five officials should also face administrative offenses, namely, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, for their supposed roles in the arrest of Duterte.
The former president is currently detained at the ICC prison facility in The Hague after the tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber 1 found sufficient basis to accuse him of being an “indirect coperpetrator,” or a mastermind, in the drug war killings that happened while he served as Davao City mayor and during his presidency.
