The Sandiganbayan on Wednesday issued a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) against former Speaker Martin Romualdez, a travel restriction sought by the Ombudsman in connection with the case it is preparing against the lawmaker and several others being linked to the flood control corruption scandal.
The anti-graft court’s Seventh Division granted a petition filed earlier that day by the Office of the Ombudsman through a special panel of investigators, who said Romualdez ‘presents an exceptionally high probability of flight.’
The investigators, led by Deputy Special Prosecutor Omar Sagadal, said they had already made a preliminary finding of probable cause against Romualdez for plunder, direct and indirect bribery, and money laundering.
‘Evade arrest’
‘The complaint-affidavit involves the alleged kickback scheme tied to flood control projects, purportedly masterminded by the respondent (Romualdez), with the total amount of such kickbacks reaching approximately [P56 billion],’ they said in their petition dated April 20.
In the PHDO it issued, the Seventh Division said it found probable cause ‘to believe that respondent will depart from the Philippines to evade arrest and prosecution of crime/s being charged against him.’
The court ordered the Bureau of Immigration to include Romualdez in its hold-departure list.
The Leyte congressman, who is also a cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., earlier sought clearance from the House leadership to be in Singapore from April 20 to May 4 ‘for a long overdue follow-up on my angioplasty surgery.’
Speaker Faustino ‘Bojie’ Dy III granted his predecessor’s request for a travel clearance on Tuesday.
‘Other people’s corruption’
On the same day, however, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla held a press conference to say he was blocking Romualdez’s overseas trip.
Remulla also disclosed that his office had taken initial steps to secure a freeze order on the former Speaker’s assets, and that a plunder complaint may be filed against him in May.
Later in the day, Romualdez released a video defending himself against allegations implicating him in the public works mess and in the controversial insertions made in the 2025 national budget.
‘I will not be the fall guy for other people’s corruption,’ said Romualdez, who stepped down two months into his second term as speaker in the current 20th Congress, after he was dragged into the corruption scandal.
He stressed that he was not part of the bicameral conference committee or the ‘small committee’ that introduced changes to the budget bill.
The insertions, he said, were decided by Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero, then Senate President, and former Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy ‘Zaldy’ Co, then House appropriations chair.
Also on Wednesday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Romualdez should have appeared before the Senate during its inquiry into the flood control projects.
Lacson, who heads the Senate blue ribbon committee, said the former House leader should have ‘heeded [our] invitations’ to attend the panel’s hearings, especially after Co, in a series of video recordings in November last year, claimed that Romualdez took part in ‘mangling’ the 2025 budget.
No ‘modus’ in Senate
Sen. JV Ejercito also on Wednesday noted that the ‘modus of selling [infrastructure] projects’ was prevalent among ‘contractors’ – a portmanteau of congressmen and contractors.
There is no way the Senate could ‘gain’ from this scheme, Ejercito said. ‘It’s not that I’m defending the Senate, but you’ll never hear about that here [in this chamber].’
‘I hope those involved will be held accountable,’ the senator said.
A former member of the chamber, Ramon ‘Bong’ Revilla Jr., is currently detained over graft and malversation charges in connection with the flood works mess. The former senator and two others had also been implicated in the 2013 pork barrel scandal.