DoJ heads prelim probe on Bulacan ‘ghost’ infra
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla discloses that he received a call from a friend regarding a Quezon City congressman who wants to ‘tell all’ about the controversial flood control projects.
PHOTOGRAPH RALPH HARVEY RIRAO FOR DAILY TRIBUNE
The Office of the Ombudsman has deputized the Department of Justice (DoJ) to take over the preliminary investigation and case filing for five alleged “ghost” flood control projects in Bulacan.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Wednesday that the move leverages the DoJ’s existing case records and witnesses to prevent a repetition of the process and expedite prosecution in the Regional Trial Court.
“The five flood control cases filed by the DoJ, we are returning it to them already. They will conduct the preliminary investigation and they will be the one who’s going to work on that and file the case, since they already have the witnesses, so that the process here won’t be repeated,” Remulla said.
The Ombudsman added that while the DoJ will file the cases directly in the RTC, they must first conduct a preliminary investigation to gather the responses of those charged.