Several Facebook posts are claiming the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has disqualified Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla from the race for Ombudsman. This is false and has been denied by the Supreme Court.
Posted on Aug. 8, multiple FB accounts cited a report published on the same day by ABOGADO.COM.PH, an online resource for legal news, claiming that the justice secretary had been removed from the list of applicants for Ombudsman due to a pending case against him.
The report partly read:
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has disqualified Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla from the Ombudsman post, a source with knowledge of the matter told Abogado.com.ph on Friday.
The source, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the matter, said the disqualification was due to a pending case against Remulla, ironically pending with the Ombudsman, in connection with the arrest and transfer of former President Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague.
The report further claimed that the JBC also disqualified Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chair Felix Reyes, accused of alleged case-fixing for businessman Atong Ang in connection with the missing sabungeros case. Reyes denied the accusation last July 8, but not the disqualification issue.
In a statement sent to reporters on Aug. 8, SC Spokesperson Camille Ting said, “the [JBC] has not yet commenced the vetting process, as the official list of applicants under consideration has yet to be published.”
In an Aug. 10 report in Philstar.com, Remulla categorically said the disqualification rumor was “not true.” The Justice chief told reporters he was “not giving up” on his application.
In May, the Ombudsman ordered Remulla and other government officials to file their counter-affidavits in the administrative and criminal cases filed by Sen. Imee Marcos’ Committee on Foreign Relations regarding the arrest and turnover of former president Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The inaccurate ABOGADO.COM.PH report, which has been cited and shared by FB pages and users, emerged more than a week after former ombudsman Samuel Martires officially ended his seven-year term last July 27.
An ombudsman must be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees proposed by the JBC. Under Rule 1, Section 2 of the 2020 Revised JBC Rules, a vacancy in the Office of the Ombudsman shall be filled within three months from its occurrence.
Published on Aug. 8 and 9, at least eight FB posts that carried the false claim have collectively garnered 14,972 reactions, 4,408 comments, and 1,655 shares.
