'Senate panel didn't recommend indictment of Remulla'

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said yesterday that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, which he chairs, did not recommend the criminal prosecution of former Cavite Gov. Juanito Remulla in connection with the alleged anomalous titling of a reclaimed land in Kawit, Cavite.

"In fairness to former Cavite Gov. Juanito Remulla, the Blue Ribbon Committee did not recommend his indictment," Pimentel said in a press statement.

He said the Senate panel recommended for indictment only those who had a direct hand in the anomalous titling of Lot 4431 in Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, as shown in the evidence presented during the Senate hearings.

Pimentel said the Senate panel recommended that the Office of the Ombudsman dig deeper into the issue and find out if Remulla was involved in the alleged illegal titling of the reclaimed land in the name of Island Cove Resort Inc., which Remulla owns.

However, a committee report secured by The STAR and signed by Pimentel showed that the panel recommended that the Department of Justice prosecute Remulla and other officers of Island Cove Resort for their alleged unlawful reclamation of Lot 4431 without any permit or authority from the Public Estates Authority and an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and despite DENR's cease-and-desist order dated April 20, 1999.

The committee's investigation had shown that the reclaimed area was outside the alienable and disposable area of the municipality of Kawit.

The DENR regional director sought to retract last month his earlier certification that the reclaimed land was alienable and disposable, but his retraction came too late and his prosecution was recommended just the same by the Senate panel.

Meanwhile, Pimentel dismissed as "plain and simple hogwash" the allegations of Remulla regarding a supposed long-standing grudge that resulted in Remulla's removal as governor of Cavite during the term of former President Corazon Aquino.

"His allegations that I have a grudge against him because I removed him as Cavite governor at the onset of the Cory Aquino administration is plain and simple hogwash. The reason is that since I had, indeed, removed him, it is he who should have and probably still has a grudge against me; not I against him," Pimentel said.

Remulla has branded the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee report as a document of "early politicking and political persecution."

The former Cavite governor accused Sen. Ramon Revilla and his son-in-law, Sen. Robert Jaworski, as the ones who orchestrated the Senate inquiry.

Remulla insisted that the purchase of the disputed land was a legitimate business transaction which the Kawit municipal government resorted to to raise necessary funds.

But Pimentel said the findings of his committee are based on facts adduced during its hearings and not on alleged grudges that have no bearing on the issue.