Remulla reports 79 flood control cases filed before Sandiganbayan
The Office of the Ombudsman has filed a total of 79 flood control cases at the Sandiganbayan involving numerous public officials, contractors, and private individuals believed to have involvement in the widespread national issue, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said.
The report was made during a press conference on Friday, wherein the Ombudsman noted that there were plenty more cases currently being investigated at their office.
“This is ongoing, because the ‘cong-tractor’ case is ongoing and we have another congressman on the block there for flood control. Far more, far more congressman pending filing,” Remulla stated.
From the 79 cases, two were reportedly plunder charges, 22 were for malversation of public funds, while the remaining 55 were for varying violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act involving P10.78 billion worth of government funds.
Attempting to provide a greater picture of the funds that were allegedly lost to corruption, Remulla said that the P10.78 billion could have been used to buy 8.98 million sacks of rice and build 4,312 classrooms.
As for the total number of officials involved in the cases, Remulla said that there were 67, including one senator, one former senator, four congressmen, one former congressmen, and 40 former and incumbent officials from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Besides flood control, the Ombudsman also reported that there had been a total of 57 cases that were filed before the anti-graft court in October alone with 138 total accused concerning P13.12 billion public funds.
Remulla explained that his reason for presenting the figures was meant to establish that their work at the Ombudsman has made it difficult to publicly appear, particularly as some social media posts have began to claim that the reason was much grimmer.
“I cannot be visible every day. We have to make decisions every day. It’s a job that’s really it’s a golden concern that has to keep our attention the whole time. And I cannot answer all the questions in social media or all of these things,” he stated.
“I don’t think anybody likes to be a victim of fake news, right? I’m here, you see me and obviously, I think that it’s obvious that I’m pale and hearty,” he added.
The Ombudsman earlier said during the same press conference that they would be taking action against social media profiles and pages that were spreading deceitful information against him and the work of their office.