The Office of the Ombudsman has hit the pause button on its investigation into graft charges against House Speaker Martin Romualdez and other House leaders linked to the P6.325-trillion 2025 national budget.
Citing a parallel Supreme Court case that could either strengthen or collapse the allegations, Ombudsman Samuel Martires announced the suspension on Tuesday, leaving the probe in limbo until the high court rules on the budget’s constitutionality.
What’s Behind the Allegations?
The complaint, filed on February 14 by former House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Jimmy Bondoc, accuses Romualdez and his allies of falsifying legislative records and violating Republic Act No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
At the center of the controversy are “blank items” in the Bicameral Conference Committee Report—budget allocations allegedly left vague when Congress approved the budget in December 2024, only to be filled in later with P241 billion in appropriations.
The complainants argue this maneuver enabled secret fund insertions, violating transparency laws and allowing public funds to be siphoned off behind closed doors.
But the allegations don’t stop there. These same “blank items” are also the subject of a Supreme Court petition filed on January 15 by former Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez, Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, and others.
The petition, docketed as G.R. No. 27797, aims to nullify the entire 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA), arguing that the budget process flouted the Constitution by allegedly hiding up to P767 billion in allocations until after the budget was ratified.
With the GAA signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on December 28, 2024, the budget has now become a national flashpoint.
Ombudsman’s Reason for Freezing the Case
Ombudsman Martires called the Supreme Court petition a “prejudicial question,” meaning its outcome could determine whether Romualdez and others even committed a crime.
“The criminal liability of Romualdez and others hinges on those blank items, which the justices are already reviewing. We won’t preempt their ruling,” Martires explained.
Translation? If the Supreme Court rules that the 2025 budget is unconstitutional, the graft case against Romualdez gains major traction. But if the high court upholds the budget’s legality, the case could collapse altogether.
For now, the Ombudsman’s investigation is frozen, waiting on the Supreme Court’s verdict on whether the budget stands or falls.
Romualdez Dismisses Allegations as ‘Baseless’
House Speaker Martin Romualdez isn’t backing down. Calling the graft charges “baseless” and politically motivated, he defended the budget process, saying it was lawful, transparent, and designed to meet urgent national needs.
His allies in the House have echoed the same argument: the budget passed through the proper channels, and the accusations are nothing more than political maneuvering.
