SENATOR Rodante Marcoleta on Friday renewed his call for Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla to explain his earlier public statement suggesting that it was acceptable to “bend the law” as long as it was not violated.
During the Senate plenary debates on the proposed 2026 budget of the Office of the Ombudsman, Marcoleta argued that such remarks run counter to Supreme Court (SC) rulings and may mislead the public about how the law should be applied.
Citing several SC decisions that reprimanded the Ombudsman’s office for “grave abuse of discretion” or for “bending or twisting the law,” Marcoleta asked whether Remulla believed those rulings were wrong or not binding.
“We all know that the present Ombudsman publicly expressed his preference to bend the law. Does he believe the Supreme Court decisions are wrong and that he is not bound by them?” Marcoleta asked.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the sponsor of the agency’s budget, said the Ombudsman had “intimated” to him that he abides by Supreme Court decisions and upholds the rule of law.
Marcoleta, however, insisted that Remulla’s public statements contradict these assurances.
“You say you strictly follow the law, but publicly claim you can bend it. How is that?” he asked, saying the public deserved a clear explanation or even a public apology.
Gatchalian responded that Remulla’s earlier statement was merely “a figure of speech.” Marcoleta disagreed, saying high-ranking officials should avoid figurative language when discussing legal principles.
“Our people might be misled into believing it’s alright to bend the law so long as it is not broken,” he warned.
Marcoleta then moved to suspend the rules to allow the Ombudsman to personally answer the questions.
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III asked what the motion would entail, while Senator Risa Hontiveros noted that the Senate “very, very rarely” grants such requests during budget debates.
“We are not entertaining the motion,” she said, adding that the committee chair could continue addressing the issue.
Gatchalian thanked Marcoleta for flagging the concern, saying it allowed the Ombudsman, through his sponsor, to clarify that he had “no intention to bend the law.”
He emphasized that Remulla’s guiding principle is to uphold the law, asserting that “the rule of law is supreme.”
He reiterated that the remark was a figure of speech and that the Ombudsman intends to enforce the law with integrity and fairness.