Sleight of hand in public office is not exclusive to the Palace and Congress but extends to the gods of Padre Faura and their minions in the judiciary, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said in gist on Saturday on his radio program.

In the program, the Ombudsman recalled the fertilizer fund scam, in which former Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante was cleared of plunder charges over the P723-million scam.

“The Sandiganbayan is good at acquitting, right? All the reasons to acquit the Sandiganbayan have it,” Remulla said.

He said that in the judicial system lawyers lobby for cases before the courts and he urged vigilance in monitoring judges and justices, including those handling corruption cases.

He said many “miracles” occurred in the Sandiganbayan.

“Lawyers lobby (for cases with the judges). When it comes to corruption, don’t just say it’s limited to the executive or legislative branches. It is intense in the judiciary. Watch all the judges and justices. Let’s watch them,” Remulla stressed.

Remula cited the landmark 2013 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) case, in which several prominent individuals were accused but were later acquitted.

In October 2025, the late former senator and then presidential candidate Juan Ponce Enrile, together with his former chief of staff Jessica Lucia “Gigi” Reyes and a businesswoman, were cleared of 15 counts of graft over their alleged involvement in the PDAF scam.

Too much nonsense in PDAF cases

Remulla said the Ombudsman’s evidence and information on the PDAF scam were not weak. 

“Let’s think about this PDAF (case). Were they really innocent? Those who were acquitted? There was too much nonsense that happened. There were a lot of miracles that happened in the Sandiganbayan,” Remulla said.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines, in statements to news outlets, said the Supreme Court established the Judicial Integrity Board to curb corruption. 

IBP president Allan Panolong, however, disagreed with Remulla’s claim of rampant corruption in the judiciary.

“As to whether it is rampant or not, my observation is that it is not. There are more ethical judges than corrupt ones. In the case of the Sandiganbayan, I haven’t heard of any case where a justice was involved in corruption,” Panolong said.

“Their decisions are based on an appreciation of the facts of the cases and the applicable laws. The decisions largely depend on the evidence adduced by the prosecution, so it is not fair to label them as corrupt when they dismiss a case because of weak or insufficient evidence,” he said.

Hold graft watch

The Ombudsman urged the public to conduct a “graft watch” across all branches of government amid the heat of a corruption probe into anomalous flood control projects. 

Remulla also said the Office of the Ombudsman will have 20 new lawyers for prosecution and litigation. 

“Executive, legislative, judiciary (branches), all of them should be watched,” Remulla emphasized.