Gov’t to invoke sub judice rule in Duterte arrest complaint
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he and his co-respondents will invoke the sub judice rule in their response to the Ombudsman case filed by Sen. Imee Marcos against the Marcos administration’s turnover of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court. —Photo from DOJ FACEBOOK page
MANILA, Philippines–Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he and his co-respondents will invoke the sub judice rule in their response to the Ombudsman case filed by Sen. Imee Marcos against the Marcos administration’s turnover of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court.
On May 2, Sen. Marcos asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Remulla, his brother, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla, and three others following the committee on foreign affairs’ probe on the legality surrounding Duterte’s arrest.
READ: Imee Marcos to Ombudsman: Probe gov’t execs who gave Duterte to ICC
On May 5, the Ombudsman issued an order giving Remulla, his brother, Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla, Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil, PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) head Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Special Envoy on Transnational Crime, Ambassador Markus V. Lacanilao, 10 days to file their counter-affidavits.
READ: Ombudsman orders Remullas, 3 more: Respond to Duterte arrest complaint
They are facing cases for graft, arbitrary detention, grave threats, false testimony, perjury, usurpation of authority or official functions, and violation of R.A 7438, An Act Defining Certain Rights of Person Arrested, Detained or Under Custodial Investigation, As Well as the Duties of the Arresting, Detaining and Investigating Officers.
“We just agreed that we’ll adopt and have one answer for all procedural issues. Aside from the other allegations that are individual, then we have an answer for everyone for the commonly held issues. We will adopt a common answer for the procedural issues,” Remulla noted.
On the procedural matter, Remulla said one of the issues that they will raise is the possible violation of the subj udice rule.
A sub judice rule means that parties to a case are prohibited from discussing to the public the merits of their case while it is pending in court.
Remulla explained that the complaint may be covered by the sub judice rule since there are pending petitions before the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the government’s decision to hand Duterte over to the ICC.
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The Remulla brothers, Marbil and Torre were among the respondents in the said petitions. Remulla also said they would likely ask for an extension to file their counter-affidavits as the 10-day period is not enough./coa
