Plunder charges filed vs. Martin Romualdez over flood control kickback scheme
The Office of the Ombudsman filed plunder charges against Leyte 1st District Rep. and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez in connection with his alleged involvement in a kickback scheme from anomalous flood control projects.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano was seen at the Sandiganbayan around noon on Monday, Sept. 7.
ABS-CBN News reported in the afternoon that the Sandiganbayan Judicial Records Division has confirmed the filing of charges against Romualdez as well as former Rep. Zaldy Co and others.
On July 24, the Ombudsman filed a complaint for preliminary investigation against Romualdez and Co for plunder, direct and indirect bribery, graft, and money laundering.
Per the Ombudsman, his office was pursuing the investigation due to the respondents' "concerted and coordinated acts, performed in conspiracy with one another, of unlawfully amassing, accumulating, and acquiring ill-gotten wealth" from 2022 to 2025 amounting to approximately P56 billion.
Clavano, at the time, said the evidence gathered by the Office was enough to warrant a full inquiry into whether the case could be filed in court.
In a video statement posted on April 21, Romualdez addressed talk that he was the mastermind of the flood control scam.
"How can I be the mastermind? I was the former Speaker of the House of Representatives," he said, adding that Congress is not the sole entity involved in how the national budget is conceived, executed, implemented, bid out, supervised, and completed.
"I will defend myself fully. I will not allow myself to be turned into a scapegoat so that others who are actually accountable can walk away clean. If this is a political play to push me out and close the story, tarnishing my name and my reputation, then I'm telling everyone now, I will not go quietly and I will not go alone. I will not be the fall guy for other people's corruption," Romualdez said.
Later in the video, he said Sen. Chiz Escudero and Co were "instrumental" in making decisions on the budget. Romualdez also said he did not take part in the BiCam and the Small Committee budget deliberations.
Co, meanwhile, has been in hiding since an arrest warrant was issued against him in November 2025 over his alleged involvement in the flood control scam. His last publicly known location, as of May 2026, was in Paris, France, according to Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
Note: This is a developing story.
