Investigate the timeline of events that led to retired Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ ‘secret’ 2019 reversal of the dismissal order against Sen. Joel Villanueva, a lawmaker urged Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday.
In a statement, House infra committee chair and Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the ‘most important question’ regarding the reversal was when Villanueva appealed for the reversal of former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales’ 2016 order dismissing him from public office.
The senator allegedly misused his pork barrel funds when he was a representative of an anti-corruption party list group in the House.
In June 2008, then CIBAC party-list Rep. Villanueva requested the release of P10 million from his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for what was later deemed a non-existent project.
Ridon cited records and reporting that suggested inconsistencies in the handling of Villanueva’s appeal.
He urged Remulla to ‘look deeper into these timelines, in order to finally settle the questions surrounding Senator Villanueva’s Ombudsman case.’
For one, Ridon said, there were news reports in 2016 quoting Villanueva as saying he had already filed his motion for reconsideration (MR) in November 2016, and had left the enforcement request to the discretion of the then Senate President Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel.
The Dec. 5, 2016 Senate Journal likewise recorded Villanueva’s filing of the MR within the ten-day period prescribed under Ombudsman rules.
Then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales also acknowledged the MR’s existence in a Dec. 14, 2016 report, saying: ‘They said they are waiting for the resolution of the motion for reconsideration. So, we’ll cross the bridge when we get to it.’
‘However, the supposed Motion for Reconsideration was never resolved by Ombudsman Morales within the prescribed five-day period from its submission,’ Ridon noted. ‘If the MR was indeed filed in November 2016, it should have been resolved by December 2016.’
Ridon pointed out that Morales had until her retirement on July 26, 2018 – one year and eight months later – to act on the motion.
‘Had Ombudsman Morales resolved it within that extended timeframe, Ombudsman Martires would not have had the opportunity to act on it much later, on July 31, 2019,’ he said.
‘On the other hand, if the MR was filed out of time, then Ombudsman Martires had absolutely no discretion to entertain or resolve it in 2019, as the dismissal would have already been final and executory as early as 2016,’ Ridon explained.
Villanueva is accused of benefiting from flood control projects, particularly from the Bulacan first district engineering office – allegations that first surfaced during the now-suspended House infra-committee hearings last September.
This prompted Carpio-Morales to comment in an ANC interview that the Philippines was the ‘laughing stock’ of other countries because it could not even enforce its own laws, referring to her now-scuttled dismissal order against Villanueva. Remulla on Thursday said he would write a letter to Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto to try to enforce Morales’ order but he was surprised to learn that Martires, a Duterte appointee, had already reversed it.