MANILA — Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has publicly questioned the courts' practice of granting bail to government officials convicted of graft while their appeals are pending, saying such convicts should begin serving their sentences immediately rather than remain free for years. According to The Philippine Star, Remulla said his office will compile an inventory of individuals convicted by the Sandiganbayan to determine how many are actually in prison and how many remain out on bail.
"Once convicted by the Sandiganbayan or a lower court for graft, you go to jail. But the courts are being too kind. Instead, they grant bail," Remulla said during his radio program Executive Session on dzRH, as quoted by The Philippine Star. He also criticized the low bail amounts typically set by courts, proposing instead that bail should be pegged to "the cost of damage" caused by the convicted official.
The Ombudsman's remarks reflect a broader frustration with the pace of the anti-graft court system. Remulla noted that some appeals have dragged on for as long as 15 years, during which convicted officials remain free on bail with no fixed deadline for resolution. "The problem is once a motion for reconsideration is filed, a bail is granted with no deadline. Will they sit on that forever?" he said.
Remulla called on the Supreme Court to "police the judiciary" and urged the public to keep watch on both his office and the courts. He did not name specific officials currently out on bail pending appeal, and his office has not yet released the inventory of Sandiganbayan convicts he says is being compiled.
Context
Remulla's comments come as the Ombudsman's office is separately pursuing several high-profile graft and plunder cases before the Sandiganbayan, including cases tied to the flood-control corruption scandal that has dominated Philippine political news since 2025. A 2011 academic study on "time served for corruption," covering cases from 2001 to 2008, found that of 14 officials given court-issued jail sentences by the Sandiganbayan, only seven were actually serving time — a pattern Remulla's proposed inventory appears designed to update and confirm for the current docket.
The Sandiganbayan's own 2025 conviction rate was reported at roughly 47.5 percent, according to prior Inquirer reporting, meaning enforcement of sentences after conviction — not just the rate of conviction itself — has become a central accountability question for anti-corruption advocates. Remulla's proposal to tie bail amounts to the scale of alleged damage, rather than fixed schedules, has not yet been formally submitted to the Supreme Court or Sandiganbayan as a rule change.
Neither the Supreme Court nor the Sandiganbayan had publicly responded to Remulla's specific remarks as of this writing. Pulpulitiko will update this report if the judiciary or named convicted officials respond.