Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla . Photo courtesy of Joan Bondoc/PNA
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday ruled out a run for Chief Justice, saying he intends to remain at the anti-graft office and finish the job he took on less than a year ago.
“I am not applying,” Remulla told reporters during the Senate finance committee’s deliberations on the Ombudsman’s proposed 2027 budget. He added that he had no further aspirations for another post and wanted to complete his term as Ombudsman, which runs until 2032.
His remarks came as the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) began the search for the next head of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo is set to retire on Nov. 6 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
The JBC has invited Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Ramon Paul Hernando, Henri Jean Paul Inting and Rodil Zalameda to apply. Applications are due on Oct. 13.
Remulla instead used his Senate appearance to focus on the Ombudsman’s workload and resources. The agency is seeking a Php 7.23-billion budget for 2027, including Php 51.468 million in confidential funds to support investigations.
The Ombudsman said the office has become more aggressive in pursuing investigations and needs confidential funds for information and other requirements that cannot be handled through ordinary expenditures. The Senate finance panel has also signaled that it could consider increasing the amount.
Remulla also raised a separate concern about decisions of the Court of Appeals that reversed Ombudsman rulings, describing the pattern as discouraging for investigators and prosecutors who had spent time building cases.
He said he had discussed the issue with Leonen and argued that repeated reversals were a concern the justice system could no longer ignore, even if lawyers generally avoid publicly criticizing the courts.
The Ombudsman is simultaneously handling a large volume of corruption cases. Remulla told senators that 35 cases linked to alleged irregularities in flood control projects had already reached the courts, while another 166 were undergoing preliminary investigation.
For Remulla, however, that growing workload appears to have settled speculation over his next move: rather than seek the judiciary’s highest post, he said he intends to stay at the Ombudsman and complete his seven-year term.