Moist eyes on presidency

Earlier dropping hints about his political plans in the next national elections scheduled in May, 2028 yet, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla has shifted to playing coy to his probable run for the presidential race. Dressed in expensive Alo brand of AIRism shirt, the 58-year old Remulla came in prepared and ready to make a jogging run instead.

Dressed in his signature AIRism shirt and matching pants, Remulla appeared in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday. Fashion sense aside, Remulla insisted he is focused more on his job as DILG Secretary. In his opening spiel, he rendered ala state-of-the-department-address, or SODA for short.

After all, he used to do an annual state-of-the-province address while he was Governor of Cavite. He first served at the local chief executive of the provincial capitol in 2010 until 2016. Remulla got re-elected in 2019 and in 2022 until October 8, 2024 when he decided to join the Cabinet team of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM).

Remulla touted as “tremendous strides” he accomplished for the past one year and five months since he joined the Marcos Cabinet. He lined up some of the DILG programs and projects he is set to undertake this year. By next month, he announced the inaugural deployment of 800 “tourist cops” in prime tourist destinations across the Philippines under a joint project with the Department of Tourism.

As the DILG Secretary, Remulla has direct supervision of several attached agencies. Among them are, the Philippine National Police (PNP); the National Police Commission (Napolcom); Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP); and, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

As ex officio chairman of the Napolcom, Remulla cited the Napolcom have been able to clear up more than 15,000 backlog of administrative cases filed against erring uniformed PNP personnel. Practically “archived,” he blamed the backlog why the so-called “bad eggs” remained in the 390,000-strong police force.

These pending cases were cleared out by Napolcom that Remulla claimed were done under his tight watch. Some of them, he added, led to dismissal from the PNP and conviction in courts of so-called “ninja cops,” or policemen who peddle seized illegal drugs, to the so-called “kotong cops,” or those engaged in extortion activities, including those accused of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and kidnap-for-ransom crimes.

As of date, there is now “zero,” or no more backlog of cases, Remulla bragged. He directed the Napolcom to resolve within 60 days after the filing of complaint against anyone in the rank-and-file of the PNP. “Now, there is better behavior. Now, there is more professionalism,” he pointed out. “I can say with confidence, the PNP is enjoying now a record high public trust rating,” Remulla enthused.

Remulla particularly cited as a major accomplishment his being able to break the back of “extortion syndicate” at the BFP. Grafters in the 40,000 BFP have been operating with impunity, he rued. He earlier tagged the BFP as “the most corrupt” agency under the DILG. He estimated about P15 billion a year in kickbacks in BFP services were illegally earned from corruption.

At our Kapihan, Remulla gave the go-signal for the filing of grave misconduct and corruption charges against BFP Director Jesus Fernandez. For allegedly pocketing millions of pesos in public funds, Fernandez was charged before the Office of the Ombudsman, headed by elder brother Juanito Crispin “Boying” Remulla. He disclosed he will soon also file cases against 50 other current and former BFP officials who were found to be involved in alleged bid-rigging schemes in the fire truck procurement programs of the bureau from 2021 to 2025.

Likewise, the DILG chief vowed to take swift action against BFP personnel named in a number of extortion complaints by business owners. Reports received by his office accused BFP personnel who purportedly forced establishment owners to purchase “overpriced” fire extinguishers from certain favored suppliers in exchange for the approval of business permits. He did not identify the accused BFP personnel while investigations are still ongoing.

With 10,000 uniformed BJMP personnel, Remulla cited he keeps a close tab of “high-profile” inmates under the watch of jail guards of this agency. He revealed making a recent “surprise” inspection visit at the BJMP detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City to check on former Negros Rep.Arnulfo Teves who is undergoing trial for multiple murder cases.

A great part of his job as DILG Secretary, Remulla’s experience as provincial governor enables him to navigate the supervision of local government units (LGUs). He has to deal with  thousands of elected city, municipal and town mayors to 82 provincial governors as well as Sangguniang Bayan councilors to more than 42,000 barangay captains and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials.

Just recently, Remulla had to step into the reported “road rage” incident along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) involving the vehicles of Bulacan Gov. Daniel Fernando and his close-in security escorts. Rumors have it the “road rage” victim allegedly was one of PBBM sons. Remulla clarified he had to act on it based on other reports he received against Gov. Fernando.

He told Fernando to stop his “king-like” behavior when traveling along the expressway. “We received complaints doon sa ginagawa niya paghaharang,” Remulla narrated.

Remulla, however, dismissed with hearty chortle about his supposed clenched fists landed on the governor’s face. But was Fernando reprimanded in black and white official document, at the very least?

“Stupidity is not a crime,” the DILG chief quipped, without batting an eyelash.

Remulla stepped the break though on talks about his personal political plans. But he freely pointed to four politicians who can give Vice President Sara Duterte a stiff fight in the 2028 presidential race. He named former vice president and Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo, Senators Raffy Tulfo, Bam Aquino and Risa Hontiveros.

In a TV interview last month, Remulla virtually declared his probable presidential run in 2028. He believes Governors like him and PBBM are qualified to train their moist eyes for the presidency.