Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said he will protest the manner by which the House Secretary General has been giving his team a hard time in getting the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of lawmakers being investigated for their alleged involvement in questionable flood control projects.
“Lately, our team is having a hard time getting the SALNs of congressmen we are investigating, because the secretary general’s office is saying, or I’ve been told, that it has to pass the plenary before they release a SALN and I don’t like that excuse,” Remulla said during yesterday’s forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
“I don’t understand the stonewalling. Probably there is a conflict of interest. I am harboring suspicions they are protecting people. Hopefully they stop,” he added.
Remulla said he will write a letter to Speaker Bojie Dy III to protest the additional requirement of plenary approval set by House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil.
“There is no such requirement. There is no need to pass through the plenary. I was in Congress before. I know that plenary by heart. We don’t do that,” he told reporters after the forum.
Over the weekend, Remulla also hit regulators and banks who are supposed to implement the Anti-Money Laundering Act for being “slow” in moving against the assets of individuals linked to anomalous flood control projects.
“We have a problem. It’s taking them too long. Not just the Anti-Money Laundering Council but AMLA itself…They are very slow in doing it,” he said.
Remulla noted the “freeze and float” scheme he has observed which allegedly allowed regulators and banks to earn interest on frozen assets.
“It’s like they created an opportunity to earn. They will float the money – freeze and float,” he said.
AMLC earlier announced that nearly P25 billion in assets linked to the flood control mess have been frozen.
