Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla confirmed that his office is preparing to file charges against high-ranking government officials and their alleged accomplices involved in anomalous flood control projects, with a target filing date set on or before November 25.
According to Remulla, the cases involve officials with Salary Grade 27 and above, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan, while those involving officials with Salary Grade 26 and below—including their alleged partners in crime—will be handled by regional trial courts.
“The target [date of filing] is really by November 25, we will have cases in the Sandiganbayan already, meaning filed before the Sandiganbayan. Sa indictment na [namin papangalanan. We’d rather name the official when we file the case. One official, … and there are others because of the ICI filing,” said Remulla.
The Ombudsman cited the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) report recommending the filing of plunder, bribery, and corruption charges against Senate Deputy Minority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senator Jinggoy Estrada, former Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Zaldy Co and former Caloocan City 2nd District Representative Mitch Cajayon, and Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana for their alleged involvement in the flood control scam.
“Looks like the Sandiganbayan may be busy in the next few months or years, given the pace of the investigations and all of these cases [that] will be filed,” Remulla remarked.
When asked if the timeline included filing criminal cases against sitting senators, Remulla replied: “Basta indictable na sila. Indictable sila sa Sandiganbayan. That should give you enough clues… [Tingnan ninyo ang] Salary Grade.”
Under the Salary Standardization Law, members of Congress hold Salary Grade 31, earning more than ₱300,000 monthly.
Remulla also revealed that his office has received preliminary reports on 421 flood control projects currently under verification.
“We are in the process of farming them out. We have validation reports from the PNP about the projects being ghost projects. It’s just that we have to check again with the big documents about the location of these projects, so we won’t fail proving that these are ghost projects. The location is critical to this,” the Ombudsman explained.