Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez is now haplessly crying for “fairness” as the Ombudsman forces him to answer over the ₱56‑billion flood‑control corruption scheme he masterminded.
Romualdez’s lawyer, Ade Fajardo, claimed the embattled lawmaker is ready to face the preliminary investigation but demanded a “fair and equal process.”
“Handa siyang harapin ang lahat ng paratang na ito. Pero sa tamang proseso, ano po. ’Yun naman ang aming position, na given an equal play ika nga dito sa mga usaping ito,” Fajardo told DZMM — words that sound more like spin than strength.
Fajardo argued Romualdez was being singled out, noting the “maleta boys” originally implicated more than 20 officials before later statements zeroed in on the former speaker.
The Ombudsman has ordered Romualdez and his co‑respondents to answer accusations that they siphoned about ₱56 billion from 2022 to 2025 through diversion and misuse of flood‑control funds — charges that span plunder, bribery, graft, and money laundering.
The irony of Romualdez asking for fairness is glaring: as his power grew in Congress, he betrayed allies along the way — including former president Gloria Macapagal‑Arroyo, who once mentored him. He broke the speakership deal that would have installed Arroyo as House leader after Marcos’s election, then led efforts to boot her out entirely.
Romualdez also wrecked the alliance between Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte — the tandem that won the 2022 elections in a landslide.
He had served as one of Duterte’s campaign managers in 2022, with Hugpong ng Pagbabago backing his speakership and Lakas‑CMD presenting itself as the coalition of “unity.”
That partnership began collapsing after Arroyo’s demotion. Duterte resigned from Lakas‑CMD, warning that public service should not be poisoned by political toxicity or undermined by power plays.
Romualdez’s House then stripped confidential funds from Duterte’s offices, intensified probes into her spending, and even transmitted an impeachment complaint against her to the Senate.
Now Romualdez’s camp insists it is “alarming” that he remains under investigation while others initially named are no longer facing charges — a hollow plea for fairness from the same man who wreaked havoc on his allies and poisoned the very unity he once claimed to lead.
On July 24, 2026, Ombudsman investigators filed a 104-page supplemental complaint recommending preliminary investigation for plunder, graft, bribery and money laundering over an alleged ₱56-billion scheme from 2022 to 2025. On July 28, Romualdez and his co-respondents were given 15 days from receipt to submit counter-affidavits. No court charges have yet resulted from this complaint, but the investigation has advanced from accusations to a formal process requiring Romualdez to confront the evidence against him.
Corruption is and has always been the Philippines’ biggest problem. Romualdez is universally recognized as the most corrupt Filipino politician of the 21st century.
The country has faith that Boying Remulla, Mico Clavano and the Office of the Ombudsman will do the right thing.
