The Bureau of Immigration, has enforced the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s hold-departure order against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and his three co-accused in the ₱7.44-billion plunder case over flood-control kickbacks.
The order covers Romualdez, former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co, Romualdez’s personal aide Joselyn Tragua Serenio and businessman Felicito Guevarra. It bars any of the accused still in the Philippines from leaving the country while the case is pending.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division issued the hold-departure order and arrest warrants on Sept. 7, just hours after the Office of the Ombudsman filed the plunder case.
Romualdez had been under a separate precautionary travel ban since April 22, while the Ombudsman was investigating complaints against him. The Sept. 7 order covered all four accused after the case reached the Sandiganbayan, which found probable cause to issue the arrest warrants. The finding allowed the case to proceed but did not establish their guilt.
Immigration records showed that Romualdez and Guevarra remain in the Philippines. Romualdez is detained at the New Quezon City Jail after being transferred from hospital confinement.
The court order, however, came too late to stop Co and Serenio from leaving the country.
Co left the Philippines in July 2025, months before the latest order. He was later detained in Prague over immigration issues before traveling to France, where Malacañang confirmed he was seeking political asylum based on his claim of political persecution.
The BI confirmed on Sept. 17 that Serenio had already left the Philippines before the Sandiganbayan issued the order. The bureau did not disclose when she left or where she traveled.
The Ombudsman identified Serenio as Romualdez’s close personal aide and mayordoma at his estate on 42 McKinley Road in Forbes Park, Makati City. Investigators alleged that she received suitcases containing money that were delivered to the property.
Romualdez was arrested on Sept. 7 and later transferred to the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas after PGH doctors found him clinically stable and no longer in need of acute hospital care.
He pleaded not guilty to the plunder charge via videoconference on Sept. 16.
