Putting ‘big fishes’ in jail

One of the current big news items is the much anticipated appointment of Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla.

- ELFREN S. CRUZ

The process for selecting Remulla started with a list of 17 applicants who were then interviewed by the Judicial and Bar Council. The public reception to this appointment was extreme. On one side, there was anticipation that Remulla would finally run after Sara Duterte. On the other side, there was apprehension, for better or for worse, that his major task would be to run after the Duterte group.

When he finally takes his oath, he will have two major cases that he would have to contend with. The first is a pending case against Sara Duterte for the alleged misuse of the P600-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President. It should be noted that the plunder law says that any amount over P50 million that is misused by a government official is classified as plunder. If found guilty, government officials will be removed from office and imprisoned and held without bail even while the trial is going on. All these judgments are the sole discretion of the ombudsman.

The second category of major cases are all those flood control corruption cases that will be referred to the ombudsman by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI). If Remulla is able to put all these people in jail, including contractors, senators and congressmen, he will be hailed as a hero by the majority of the Filipino people.