Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez has been ordered to formally answer plunder, graft, and direct bribery complaints tied to the flood control controversy, placing him under a 15-day deadline as the Office of the Ombudsman pushes the case deeper into preliminary investigation.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano confirmed on Tuesday, July 28, that the investigating panel had directed Romualdez and the other respondents to submit their counter-affidavits.
“The order states that they have 15 days upon receipt to submit their counter-affidavit,” Clavano said.
The deadline begins once each respondent receives the order. Their counter-affidavits will serve as their formal defense against the accusations under review. After the submissions are completed, the panel will evaluate the records and decide whether the complaints should be dismissed or elevated into criminal cases before the courts.
Named with Romualdez were lawyer Jose Paras, Jocelyn Sereno, Hermogene Real, D.S. Tantuico and Associates, and Samchan Foreign Exchange Corporation through members of its board.
The Ombudsman’s confirmation came one day after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. used his State of the Nation Address on Monday, July 27, to warn that multiple cases were nearing filing against the former Speaker over his alleged role in the flood control controversy.
“This pains me, but we have to do what is right,” Marcos told Congress.
Romualdez is the President’s cousin, placing the case at the center of the administration’s anti-corruption drive and exposing Marcos’s promise of accountability to a direct political test.
The investigation was already advancing before the speech. On July 24, an Ombudsman panel sought a preliminary investigation involving Romualdez and former congressman Zaldy Co for possible plunder, direct and indirect bribery, graft, and money laundering.
Romualdez has denied wrongdoing. He said he never asked for special treatment and would face the complaints through the legal process.
The order now compels the former Speaker to answer the accusations on record. No finding of guilt has been issued, and no criminal case has yet been filed in court.
