Inquirer
Villanueva: Case dismissal not a secret decision
Ombudsman Samuel Martires defended his 2019 decision to reverse a 2016 dismissal order against Senator Joel Villanueva, citing no probable cause and forged signatures.
Martires stated he was not obligated to announce all decisions and aimed to protect a person's dignity.
Villanueva had been accused of misusing P10 million in PDAF allocations in 2008 when he was a representative of the CIBAC party-list.
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla initially intended to enforce the original 2016 dismissal order but dropped this bid after Martires revealed the reversal.
Villanueva refuted Remulla's remark that the dismissal was a "secret decision," showing evidence of his awareness in 2021 and a privilege speech in 2024.
Lawyer Paolo Tamase described the secrecy of the reversal as unusual, given the public nature of the initial dismissal.
Topics in this story
Explore more stories about these topics.
🤖
This story was generated by AI to help you understand the key points. For more detailed coverage, please see the news articles from trusted media outlets below.
News Sources
See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.
Malacañang has requested the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate a supposed secret decision that overturned a 2016 dismissal order against Senator Joel Villanueva.
Read more →
The Office of the Ombudsman has released documents concerning past complaints filed against Senator Joel Villanueva for alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).
+1
Read more →
Former Ombudsman Samuel Martires stated that his 2019 decision to dismiss cases against Senator Joel Villanueva was not a secret, and that the Ombudsman's office has the discretion whether to publicize rulings.
Read more →