Ex-SC justice Carpio backs revival of Villanueva's dismissal case

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio agreed Thursday that the Office of the Ombudsman may still revive its controversial decision reversing a 2016 dismissal order against Senator Joel Villanueva.

Villanueva was ordered dismissed from service by former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in 2016, but her successor, retired Ombudsman Samuel Martires, allegedly reversed the decision in “secret” in 2019, according to current Ombudsman Boying Remulla.

“If indeed the prosecutor did not receive the copy of the reversal, then he can still ask for the copy of the reversal and submit his motion for reconsideration because that is the right of the prosecution,” Carpio said in an interview.

Carpio added that if Martires deliberately kept the decision private and failed to inform the prosecution—who could have contested it through a motion for reconsideration—then the former Ombudsman may have violated due process.

“It appears nobody knew about that reversal. So, most likely, the prosecutor—whoever was the prosecutor then—did not also know, so he could not have filed a motion for reconsideration,” he said.

Atty. Rico Domingo, former president of the Philippine Bar Association and chairperson of the Movement Against Disinformation, on Wednesday dispelled concerns that revisiting Villanueva’s dismissal order would result in double jeopardy, saying the case was never elevated to the Sandiganbayan.

Under the law, a person cannot be tried twice for the same offense, as doing so constitutes double jeopardy.

Domingo explained that since Martires granted Villanueva’s motion for reconsideration—which effectively dismissed his case—it did not reach the Sandiganbayan for trial.

Morales’ dismissal order found Villanueva guilty of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the interest of service, involving the alleged misuse of P10 million in his pork barrel funds during his tenure as a Cibac party-list lawmaker in 2008.

The ruling also carried an accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Earlier, the senator confirmed that the Ombudsman had cleared him of all charges and that he had no pending cases in the Sandiganbayan.

Domingo said nothing legally prevents Remulla from reopening the nearly decade-old case and launching a new investigation because “Villanueva would not be able to invoke the doctrine of double jeopardy.”

Martires earlier told Daily Tribune that Villanueva filed his motion for reconsideration within the required 10-day prescriptive period set by the Ombudsman, but it was not immediately resolved because the concerned department failed to inform Morales about the petition.

He also denied insinuations by his successor that he had reversed the dismissal order in secret, calling it a deliberate effort to divert public attention from alleged anomalies in flood control projects involving members of Congress, including allies of President Marcos Jr.

“They’re using it against me to shield them,” said the Duterte appointee, referring to lawmakers accused of receiving kickbacks from flood control projects.