Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has scoffed at the claims that he has “prejudged” since “day one” before the filing in court of the charges against resigned congressman Zaldy Co.

Co’s lawyer Ruy Rondain said they were not surprised by the filing of graft and malversation cases against his client since Remulla "decided to file these cases as soon as the issue blew up."

During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 19, Remulla clarified that his job at the Ombudsman has always been to prosecute and not to judge.

He stressed: "We are not judges; we are prosecutors. We are supposed to prosecute people who commit infractions of the law.”

To Rondain, Remulla said: “So, you can eat your words because we will not change our stance that Co should be prosecuted for the crimes alleged in the information filed in the Sandiganbayan.”

While there are rumors that Co is just in the country, Remulla said that he does not believe it as "kulang sa tapang yung tao (he is not brave enough)."

He pointed out that the net is closing in on Co, especially now that they have filed criminal charges against him before the anti-graft court.

At the same time, he said that social media has rendered it impossible to hide even from ordinary civilians.

"Wala na ngayong pagtataguan yung tao kasi nagbago na ang mundo ngayon dahil sa social media, kahit saan ka magtago ngayon, ang tao’y involved na sa social media, (People no longer have anywhere to hide because the world has changed today because of social media. No matter where you hide now, people are already involved in social media)," Remulla said.

"Crowdsourcing na yan, they will tell the police kasi papa-Interpol natin yan eh (It's crowdsourcing, they will tell the police because we will ask the International Criminal Police Organization to issue a red notice against Co,” he added.