Ombudsman Boying Remulla laid bare why his office is taking time to build the case against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, explaining that investigators are up against what he described as enormous financial resources, a multitude of lawyers, and an army of people on Romualdez’s payroll, and could not risk rushing forward with a weak case.
Asked about the status of the probe, Remulla told reporters to “relax”, explaining that the Ombudsman is taking a careful, methodical approach to ensure the case lands with full force.
“Hindi kasi puwedeng mag‑file diyan ng mahinang kaso. Sobrang daming pera niyan. Sobrang daming abogado,” Remulla said.
He directly pointed to the network surrounding Romualdez:
“Kita n’yo naman ang kanilang payroll sa lahat. Lahat nasa payroll niya.”
Remulla further emphasized that the massive wealth investigators are confronting is not private fortune but plundered public money.
“Sobrang daming pera, ayun ang kalaban natin diyan… pera ng taumbayan pa ’yan,” he said.
The Ombudsman case has seen witnesses walk back their statements against Romualdez, which Remulla said were deliberate attempts to derail the probe by paying off witnesses. Four former bodyguards of Rep. Zaldy Co earlier retracted claims they delivered suitcases of cash to Romualdez and other officials. Their lawyer, Atty. Levito D. Baligod, said the witnesses were offered at least ₱5 million each to withdraw their statements, while former Marine George Villalon Jr. revealed the offers later ballooned to ₱20–25 million as the investigation intensified.
Remulla dismissed the recantations being paraded by Romualdez’s lawyers, describing them as a smokescreen meant to shield the former Speaker. He insisted those reversals represent only a sliver of the evidence and accused the defense of amplifying them through media spin.
When asked point‑blank if Romualdez would “certainly” be charged, Remulla answered without hesitation:
“Oo. Bakit hindi?”
Romualdez faces a barrage of complaints before the Ombudsman—plunder, direct and indirect bribery, violations of the Anti‑Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and money laundering—tied to the ₱56‑billion flood‑control kickback scheme. Investigators accuse Romualdez, ex‑Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, and their allies of amassing ill‑gotten wealth from 2022 to 2025 through diversion and misuse of public funds.
Political pressure on Romualdez has been escalating, with President Bongbong Marcos using his latest SONA to announce that multiple cases against the disgraced former Speaker are nearing filing—and making it clear that family ties will not shield anyone from accountability. The scandal has ignited outrage across all party lines, with lawmakers demanding that those behind flood‑control corruption face prosecution and imprisonment.
Peanut Gallery Media Network has attempted to remain courageous and defiant in the face of the over 80 counts/lawsuits Romualdez has filed, fully aware that the whole thing is the former Speaker’s desperate attempt to silence the organization as he currently finds himself in the most vulnerable position of his life. Since declaring war against him 9 weeks ago, PGMN has published nearly 1,700 posts about Romualdez—clearly and honestly exposing him precisely for what he is: the most corrupt Filipino politician of the 21st century.
The barrage has since generated approximately 200 million views across all platforms and is now the most viral anti-corruption campaign against a single person in the history of Philippine social media.
