Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla declared the reversal of Senator Joel Villanueva’s dismissal order a “secret decision” on Thursday.

In a press conference, Remulla expressed shock over former Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ approval of a motion for reconsideration for Villanueva’s dismissal in July 2018, reported RH 5 Val Gonzales.

“So we were surprised by the decision. Lumabas lang siya noong sinabi kong may gagawin ang Ombudsman tungkol diyan. So it’s a surprise, secret decision that came out. No one was raising that issue before, Joel Villanueva kept quiet through all the years; Ombudsman Martires never spoke about it. Diba parang secret decision siya? Alam mo ba ‘yun? No one knows about it,” he told the media.

In an earlier statement, Remulla announced he was going to write to Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto to urge him to carry out the dismissal order issued against Villanueva in 2016 in relation to his purported involvement in the infamous pork barrel scam while serving as a CIBAC Party-list representative.

However, Villanueva argued this was a form of harassment, and presented copies of certifications from the Office of the Ombudsman itself and from the Sandiganbayan clearing him of criminal or administrative cases.

Remulla disputed that previously seeking the order's enforcement constituted harassment, asserting that no one, himself included, knew that the dismissal order had been overturned.

“It’s not harassment. It’s something that everybody thinks to be still valid, but it turned out to be not valid anymore due to a ‘secret decision.’ Hindi naman na-publish ‘yan, hindi ‘yan nilabas, nobody know(s) about it. Kahit sa Senate mismo, ‘di nila alam ‘yan—even Tito Sotto didn’t know about it, ngayon lang nila nilabas. So don’t you call that a secret decision?” he said.

The anti-graft chief is set to pay the Senate a visit on Friday, coinciding with the ongoing budget deliberations. He expects to meet Villanueva there.

Villanueva earlier dismissed the move to enforce a near decade-old order as expected harassment and fake news. He produced documents backing his clearance from any case, although he did not explain why these had been filed for.