Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano clarified the Ombudsman’s role in the ongoing flood control investigation and addressed delays in the probe during a Monday press conference.

“The ICI, DOJ, Ombudsman are coming together to collate our information,” Clavano said.

“We want to present all the pending cases with each of our offices and we can have some sort of dashboard where we can see how many cases have been filed, who filed them, what are the status updates on those cases,” he added.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is responsible for collecting evidence as the fact-finding committee, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) handles the filing of cases.

“We want to make sure that we hit those involved where it hurts and that is their freedom and the money that they stole,” Clavano said.

Clavano also said the Ombudsman initially had only 15 investigators assigned to the flood control issue, but 15 more were added in the past week.

He defended Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla from critics describing him as too “lousy.”

“I beg to disagree from that statement, that Ombudsman Remulla is clumsy,” Clavano said, explaining that Remulla has always been evidence-based.

“Statements like that are a matter of opinion and we respect everybody's opinion but I think results will show that our Ombudsman is not clumsy,” he continued.

Clavano added that it is wrong to expect the Ombudsman to coerce, intimidate, or threaten anyone, and encouraged people with crucial information about the investigation to share it voluntarily.