Ombudsman Urges Supreme Court to Act on Complaint vs. CA Justices

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Saturday reminded the Supreme Court (SC) to act on a pending administrative complaint against seven justices of the Court of Appeals (CA), after being advised to charge erring members of the judiciary. Remulla said his predecessor, Samuel Martires, filed a case of gross ignorance of law and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service against these justices in March last year. The complaint involves the CA's reversal of preventive suspension orders issued by the Office of the Ombudsman against Antique officials, including Mayor Ernesto Tanjanlangit III of Tobias Fornier town. The CA associate justices named in the complaint were Louis Acosta, Rex Bernando Pascual, Mary Charlene Hernandez-Azura, Roberto Quiroz, Ferdinand Baylon, Marlene Gonzales-Sison, and Rafael Santos. Sison and Santos have since retired. In his radio show "Executive Session," Remulla said, "To date, there appears no public record of the Judicial Integrity [Office] or the Supreme Court having acted or resolved that complaint." This was in response to a statement last week by SC spokesperson Camille Ting urging him to file charges against members of the judiciary if he has evidence of wrongdoing, as the high court could not act on broad accusations. Remulla explained that the complaint pending with the Judicial Integrity Office, the SC's investigating body on disciplinary cases in the judiciary, stemmed from the CA's nullification of the Ombudsman's preventive suspension order in 2024 against Tanjanlangit over a dispute with then Vice Mayor Jose Maria Fornier regarding a food pack distribution. He pointed out that these were just among the cases being "overruled" by the CA. "It's about time that we examine the justice system... We cannot make the Supreme Court, (lower) courts, the judges and the justices of the appellate court sacred cows. There should be no sacred cows anymore," he stressed.