Former Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ dismissal of the complaints against Senator Joel Villanueva in connection with the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund was “a secret decision,” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said on Thursday.
After Remulla said that he was going to ask Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III to implement former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales’ dismissal order in 2016 on Villanueva, the senator said the case against him had been dismissed in 2019.
He released documents dated Sept. 10, 2025, from both the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan certifying that he has no pending criminal or administrative cases. He also presented a copy of a July 31, 2019 Ombudsman resolution that dismissed his case after finding his signatures on PDAFdocuments were forged.
Martires then confirmed that he dismissed the raps against Villanueva.
“It only came out after I said the Ombudsman would act on it. So it is a surprise, secret decision,” Remulla said. “Nobody was raising that issue before, Joel Villanueva kept quiet over the years, Ombudsman Martires never spoke about it. Did you know that? Nobody knows about it,” he added.
Remulla said he was not being unfair to Villanueva but was merely taking action given that the Ombudsman’s 2019 decision on the case was not previously published.
“It was not published, it was never released. Nobody knew about it. Even the Senate did not know about it. Don’t you call that a secret decision?” he said.
“It is not harassment. It is what everybody thinks is still valid, but turned out to be not valid anymore due to a secret decision,” he added.
Villanueva denounced what he called “harassment and fake news” following Remulla’s announcement that he would seek the enforcement of a nearly decade-old dismissal order against him.
“We already anticipated possible harassment plus fake news,” he said.
The order issued by Carpio-Morales found Villanueva guilty of grave misconduct, serious dishonesty, and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service.
It stemmed from accusations that he misused ₱10 million from his 2008 Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) when he was a CIBAC party-list representative. Morales ruled that the funds were funneled into a bogus non-government organization for ghost agricultural projects.
In a 2016 session, Sotto, then Senate majority leader, moved to adopt the chamber’s legal counsel’s opinion stating that the Ombudsman cannot suspend or dismiss sitting legislators.
Remulla said reviving the issue now aims to clarify this jurisdictional conflict by bringing it before the Supreme Court.
The Ombudsman’s move comes as Villanueva faces renewed scrutiny over alleged irregularities in Bulacan flood control projects, which he has denied.
