Jesus Crispin "Boying" Catibayan Remulla (born March 31, 1961) is a Filipino lawyer, politician, and broadcaster currently serving as
Secretary of Justice since 2022. He previously served as the
representative of
Cavite's
7th district from 2019 to 2022, the position he previously held from 2010 to 2013, and currently the House Senior Deputy Majority Leader. He also served as the
provincial governor of Cavite from 2016 to 2019, and was the representative of the province's
3rd district from 2004 to 2010. He is also a radio host for "Executive Session" on
DZRH. Remulla is one of the vocal opponents against ABS-CBN and is among the
70 congressmen who voted to reject the franchise renewal of ABS-CBN.
Remulla took up political science as well as graduated from the
University of the Philippines College of Law in 1987, where he was a fellow of the
Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity. He passed the
bar exam in 1988. He is member of the Remulla political dynasty of Cavite: His father,
Juanito, was the provincial governor for fourteen years. His brother
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Gilbert (surname), including a list of people
Places Australia
* Gilbert River (Queensland)
* Gilbert River (South ...
, a former television reporter for
ABS-CBN, was the representative of the
2nd district from 2001 to 2007. His other brother,
Jonvic, is the current provincial governor.
Political career
In 2001, he became the chief of staff of then
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and former
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
Luisa Pimentel-Estrada, wife of former
President Joseph Estrada and spokesperson of
Puwersa ng Masa before running for
Congress in a controversial
2004 election. During the campaign, he was upset by Governor
Erineo "Ayong" Maliksi, who was a fellow member of
Partido Magdalo
Partido Magdalo is one of the political parties in the Philippines founded by Former Governor Juanito Remulla, Sr. and Former Congressman Renato P. Dragon. It is a local political party in Cavite.The new leaders of this party is current Cavite ...
, because of his support to then mayor of
Silang, Cavite Ruben Madlansacay, who ran as
independent for congressman. He won as congressman in the district more than two years after the death of his predecessor, Napoleon Beratio.
In 2007, he won for the second term as congressman against then Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Manny De Castro, also from Silang.
In 2009, he among with fellow representatives of Cavite –
Joseph Emilio Abaya and
Elpidio Barzaga, Jr. – authored the biggest congressional reapportionment in the history of the Philippines by passing Republic Act No. 9727, unofficially titled The Cavite Congressional Reapportionment Act of 2009, bringing the representatives of Cavite from three to seven.
In 2010, he defeated
Tagaytay Councilor Laureano Mendoza to claim his third consecutive term and first under the new
7th district of Cavite. On July 26, 2010, he became one of six Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives under the speakership of
Feliciano "Sonny" Belmonte, Jr.
In 2013 elections, he ran for Mayor of
Tagaytay under the
Nacionalista Party
The Nacionalista Party (Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ce ...
but lost to Agnes Tolentino of the
Liberal Party. In
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
, instead of running for Congress against
Abraham Tolentino, Remulla substituted his younger brother
Jonvic to run as governor, which he successfully won. He served as governor of Cavite until 2019, when he successfully ran for congressman of the redistricted 7th district.
In 2020, Remulla played a major role in the
ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy
The ABS-CBN franchise renewal controversy is a national dispute in the Philippines regarding the renewal of the congressional franchise that would have allowed Philippine media network ABS-CBN to continue broadcasting.
Disputes between the go ...
along with
Rodante Marcoleta
Rodante Dizon Marcoleta (born July 29, 1953) is a Filipino politician serving as the party-list representative for SAGIP since 2016. He is a former House Deputy Speaker of the 18th Congress from 2019 to 2022. A successful member of the relig ...
and
Mike Defensor. They accused ABS-CBN for tax avoidances (by using
Shell corporations
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or ...
such as
Big Dipper), selling Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) for foreigners (which is a possible violation of 1987 Constitution, prohibiting aliens for owning a mass media in the Philippines), using
Channel 43 to continue digital broadcasts after the shutdown on May 5, using ABS-CBN facilities, and submitting an alleged tampered
torrens title. He enlisted the help of the
National Bureau of Investigation to go after his critics on social media, accusing them of cyberbullying for criticizing him when he disrespected the
Philippine national anthem. On July 10, 2020, Remulla, an ex-officio member of the
Legislative Franchises, is one of the 70 representatives who voted "yes" to "kill" (deny) the twenty-five year franchise renewal of ABS-CBN, in favor of a report from Technical Working Group. After claiming continuous victory, Remulla joined with Defensor and Marcoleta for an online conversation via
Zoom and streamed on Facebook as they discuss their plans to takeover the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in the future. This forum attracted controversy and their plans to take over the network's compound were slammed by Senate President
Tito Sotto and pro-ABS-CBN advocate
Christine Bersola-Babao. The former stated that the facilities of the network are constitutionally protected while the latter called the congressmen who initiated the forum as "evil".
Remulla was reelected to the Congress in
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
, unopposed. However, on May 23, 2022, Remulla accepted the offer to become the
Secretary of Justice under the incoming
administration of president-elect
Bongbong Marcos
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. ( , , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials PBBM or BBM, is a Filipino politician who is the 17th and current president of the Philippines. He previously served as a senat ...
, thus resigning his rights to the seat before his new term began in order to assume the position. His successor is yet to be determined through
an upcoming special election. He took oath as Justice Secretary on July 1, 2022, before Marcos.
On July 13, 2022, Remulla issued Department Circular No. 027, which creates the Prosecution Integrity Board to look into misconducts of government prosecutors and recommend sanctions against them if necessary, as his first order as Justice Secretary. He also issued a circular that would give himself additional powers over the National Prosecution Service (NPS), a unit under the
Department of Justice. On July 28, 2022, he also said that he doesn't think that "we need to spend the next 100 years running after the
Marcoses" while discussing the functions of the
Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) that went after the
ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family
The Marcos family, a political family in the Philippines, owns various assets that Philippine courts have determined to have been acquired through ilicit means during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos from 1965–1986.Tiongson-Mayrina, Karen and ...
. He added that there is no need to abolish the PCGG.
In November 2022, Remulla rejected the recommendations for the Philippines to adopt
SOGIE bill, laws legalizing
same-sex marriage, divorce and abortion, and many more citing it "not acceptable in the Philippines, being a pre-dominantly Catholic nation." He added that "they want the SOGIE Bill for same-sex marriage to have the same as in their countries. So, that's not acceptable for us. They really want a lot to be implemented here." The justice department defended Remulla's decision to immediately reject all the recommendations.
Controversies
Alleged payment and red-tagging of Robredo supporters
On a radio show on
DZRH, Remulla questioned the large turnout of individuals during a political rally of
presidential aspirant and Vice President
Leni Robredo conducted in
General Trias City,
Cavite. He alleged that the supporters of the candidate were paid P500 each to join the rally and that some individuals were simply ferried to the venue from other areas of the city to artificially create a large crowd.
With uniformed volunteers and possibly local politicians simply leading or paying random passerby to join the rally. The grand rally in question is reported to have been the largest rally of the presidential candidate as of March 6, 2022, with at most 50,000 individuals joining the rally according to a local news report.
Remulla further stated that there were leftist student activists who joined the crowd. He alleged that these students were supposedly trained by the
National Democratic Front, a leftist organization with ties to the
Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines ( fil, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a far-left, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is desi ...
. He also alleged that Robredo had come to an agreement with the communists as well.
Remulla was also joined by presidential candidate and provincemate
Ping Lacson
Panfilo "Ping" Morena Lacson Sr. (; born June 1, 1948) is a Filipino former politician and police general who served as a Senator for three terms: from 2001 to 2013 and from 2016 to 2022. He was the Director General of the Philippine National ...
who, upon reading a
articleabout Remulla's allegations, tweeted a warning about the dangers of a coalition government with the communists.
Robredo has since denied these claims and decried the
red-tagging of Remulla's fellow "Caviteños" (term used to describe individuals from the province of Cavite),
describing such red-tagging and accusations of vote-buying as an insult to Remulla's provincemates.
Remulla is a supporter of presidential candidate
Bongbong Marcos
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. ( , , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials PBBM or BBM, is a Filipino politician who is the 17th and current president of the Philippines. He previously served as a senat ...
. Together with the incumbent governor of
Cavite Jonvic Remulla, Jesus Crispin has actively campaigned for Marcos.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Remulla, Jesus Crispin C.
20th-century Filipino lawyers
People from Imus
University of the Philippines Diliman alumni
1961 births
Living people
Nacionalista Party politicians
National Unity Party (Philippines) politicians
United Nationalist Alliance politicians
Members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from Cavite
Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives of the Philippines
Governors of Cavite
Filipino radio personalities
Duterte administration personnel
Bongbong Marcos administration cabinet members