A YouTube video remarked that Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla was removed from his post following an order from former president Rodrigo Duterte. This is not true.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who appointed Remulla as head of the Department of Justice (DOJ), has not dismissed him from office. Remulla also has no ongoing administrative case in the Ombudsman that would warrant his suspension or removal from office.
Uploaded on Oct. 23, the video’s thumbnail bore the text:
“REMULLA KARMA! OMG BIGLAAN TO! PINATALSEK NA (Remulla got karma! Oh my God this was sudden! Ousted already)?”
Meanwhile, its headline read: “BREAKING NEWS:NA-EXPOSE na DOJ REMULLA sa Matinding Utos ni FPRRD! Pinatàlsik?VPSARA Giniba Sabw@tàn (DOJ and Remulla were exposed to the harsh order of FPRRD! Ousted? VP Sara destroyed the collusion).”
The former president and now a private citizen has no authority to remove any official of the government. Only an incumbent president or the Ombudsman has the power to dismiss a Cabinet official.
The clickbait video did not present proof to support its claim. It merely showed previously fact-checked vloggers criticizing Remulla for saying that the DOJ will investigate Vice President Sara Duterte for possible wrongdoing following her remarks in an Oct. 18 press conference about exhuming the corpse of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and dumping it in the West Philippine Sea.
In response, Vice President Duterte slammed Remulla and said the country’s justice secretary “does not know the law.”
Uploaded by YouTube channels BANAT KAPANIG TV and BREAKING NEWS PH, the video drew a total of 110,837 views. Facebook users also reposted the links.
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