Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla and his co-respondents plan to invoke the sub judice rule to prevent the Office of the Ombudsman from moving forward with the preliminary investigation into the complaints filed by Senator Imee Marcos.

The complaints center around the alleged “kidnapping” and subsequent transfer of former President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Remulla explained that he and his co-respondents have agreed to raise similar arguments on procedural issues, while individually addressing other substantive allegations raised by Marcos.

On 5 May, the Office of 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 Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Special Envoy on Transnational Crime Ambassador Markus V. Lacanilao 10 days to file their counter-affidavits. These complaints — covering charges such as graft, arbitrary detention, grave threats, false testimony, perjury, and violations of R.A. 7438 (Defining Certain Rights of Persons Arrested or Detained) — stem from an investigation led by Marcos’ Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The complaints follow a Senate inquiry into the quick facilitation of Duterte’s transfer to the ICC despite the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2018.

Remulla mentioned that the sub judice rule would be one of the procedural issues raised in their counter-affidavits.

“We all agreed to adopt a common response to the procedural issues,” Remulla said. “For individual allegations, we’ll address them separately, but for the procedural concerns, we’ll present a unified response.”

The sub judice rule restricts public comment on ongoing judicial proceedings and is designed to prevent external influence on cases.

Remulla suggested that the rule could apply to the current case, given that there are petitions before the Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision to hand over Duterte to the ICC.

Those petitions include consolidated writs of habeas corpus filed by Duterte’s children — Vice President Sara Duterte Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, and Veronica Duterte. Remulla, Marbil, and Torre are among the respondents in those petitions.

Additionally, Remulla noted that they might request an extension to submit their counter-affidavits, as the current 10-day period feels insufficient.