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Emmanuel Tupas - The Philippine Star
January 23, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — No special treatment of any kind is being accorded to detained former senator Ramon Revilla Jr., according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who claimed the privileges in detention of his “lifelong close friend” were the same as the inmates accused of shoplifting.
Remulla showed the public mugshots of Revilla and his six co-accused taken when they underwent booking procedures. The images were blurred to protect their rights.
The mugshots were released two days after Revilla surrendered but Remulla maintained there was no intention on his part to withhold the photographs. “Everything just happened too fast,” he said at a news briefing at Camp Crame.
Revilla and his co-accused are facing charges of malversation and falsification of public documents before the Sandiganbayan over an alleged anomalous flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan worth P92.8 million. Revilla is detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Barangay Payatas.
Instead of regular clothes, Revilla is wearing a yellow T-shirt and shorts or long pants with stripes. He also has no access to cellphones and other gadgets. The only time he can use gadgets is when he meets with his lawyers in a separate room.
While he is saddened by Revilla’s situation, Remulla said personal relationships can never override his responsibility to the country.
“Sino sa inyo may kaibigan na nakulong? It pains me to see a friend go to jail but my commitment to country goes beyond friendship,” he said.
He emphasized that national interest must always prevail over his lifelong friendship with Revilla.
Revilla and his co-respondents are staying in separate cells as part of the mandatory seven-day quarantine period required for all newly admitted inmates. After seven days, Revilla and his co-accused will have to join the general jail population.
Confident
Meanwhile, Malacañang has expressed confidence in the capability of the Office of the Ombudsman to look into the allegations against Vice President Sara Duterte as it stressed that those guilty of wrongdoings should face the consequences of their actions.
Duterte, a close ally-turned-arch critic of the Marcos administration, is facing plunder, malversation and graft complaints over the alleged irregularities that happened under her watch as education secretary and Davao City mayor.
In a complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and members of civil society group The Silent Majority accused Duterte of misusing her confidential funds and of violating a number of laws, including those on plunder, graft, bribery and money laundering.
They also cited alleged anomalies in the purchase of P8-billion laptops and the billions of pesos in unliquidated cash advances and disallowances during her stint as education chief.
Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro emphasized there has been no discussion within the administration with regard to the complaint against Duterte, but reiterated that all allegations of wrongdoing should be probed.
“The President believes in the capability of the ombudsman and believes in the truth. Again, whoever is accountable should be held to account. If there is truth to the allegation against an official, it should be investigated,” the Palace press officer said at a press briefing.
Senators, meanwhile, are eyeing the legislation of a dedicated law enforcement unit for the Office of the Ombudsman, Senate President Pro Tempore and Blue Ribbon committee chairman Panfilo Lacson said on Wednesday.
In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, Lacson decried what he described as unfair criticisms directed at them over the slow arrest of alleged perpetrators in flood control projects.
“We are not the ones doing the prosecution… To blame us, the Blue Ribbon committee, for the slow pace of arrests is unfair. That is not part of our job description. It is not our mandate,” he said in English and Filipino.
“We are already developing pieces of legislation that we can incorporate into the committee report,” he added, noting that their ongoing probe is in aid of legislation.
One of these possible legislation, he said, is the creation of a dedicated law enforcement unit for the Office of the Ombudsman, which is in charge of prosecuting high-level graft and plunder cases.
“Their fact-finding team cannot file for a search warrant. While they can issue subpoenas, they do not have contempt powers,” Lacson said.
“One option we are considering is whether they can be granted contempt powers… We will try to have this studied by constitutional law experts, we will ask retired Supreme Court justices, to see if it can be incorporated into the ombudsman,” he added.
Lacson also described as “too unfair” some allegations that the Blue Ribbon committee is protecting certain individuals in its probe.
He called out the so-called minority report on the flood-control investigations, which tagged the ongoing probe as lacking.
“We’re going the extra mile to help the investigation of the executive department and the ombudsman,” he said.
“Don’t accuse me of covering something up. That’s very unfair – not just to me, but to the other members as well,” he said. – Alexis Romero, Janvic Mateo
